"Red Thread of Fate"

The garment was first inspired by Rafflesia, as someone from Semenanjung, Rafflesia reminds me of Sarawak. In between that, I tried to blend in with the multiculturalism of Sarawak which is one of the distinctive stuff in here.

The top is from Marik Empang, an accessory in Iban dress, usually to cover the chest. It was meant to hold to form a circle, just like Iban people form a circle, dancing while holding hands. Instead of using beads, paper is used to hold out the shape, to create a sense of distance from other people.

Then the entire dress and inner top was from the Hundred Wishes Quilt, a quite famous blanket in Chinese tradition. In old times, people collect all the unused clothes in the neighborhood, combine them to become a blanket for the newborn, meaning to bring wishes and lucks for the child.

After that, comes to the sleeve on the right hand. Referring to the Kaul festival by Melanau people, they believe that the world is divided into 7 layers, so the big basket (Serahang) is created by seven colours of flag poles, 7 feet tall with 7 tertilip, reflects to the numbers of spirits and layers of earth. Hence the sleef is formed by using string tied around the entire hand with 7 layers in total. It was applied on the right hand because for Malay, they believe that all good things are done with the right hand.

The headgear as well was inspired by the musical instrument, Sapeh. Two long string on the headgear is designed based on the story of the carving on Sapeh where the creator intended to carve the journey of him and his wife after his wife passed away and keep as a memory.

Therefore, the whole dress was infilled with stories, traditions, habits, and so on of Sarawak people, which is why it was named with Red Thread of Fate, meant to hold the people altogether and to emphasize the concept of: Diversity can because of unity.