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SINGAPORE — The founder of a homegrown fashion label said she is sorry about the race-related remarks she made during a virtual lecture organised by the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) last year, calling them “clumsy, hurtful and insensitive”.
Ms Priscilla Shunmugam, founder of the Ong Shunmugam fashion brand, told TODAY on Friday (March 25) that she is “rightly being held accountable” for what she said.
“I apologise unreservedly for the comments I made,” she said.
The lecture, titled ACMtalks: Nadya Wang and Priscilla Shunmugam, was held on Sept 16 last year, but snippets of the remarks by Ms Shunmugam were picked up only recently and went viral after Instagram page profile Kebaya Societe uploaded them on Wednesday.
Ms Wang is a lecturer at the School of Fashion at Lasalle College of the Arts, and the talk was facilitated and moderated by Ms Jackie Yoong, a senior curator for fashion and textiles at ACM and the Peranakan Museum.
ACM has published other editions of its lectures, which revolve around themes such as maritime trade, faith and belief, as well as materials and design, but the original video with Ms Shunmugam is no longer available on its Facebook page.
In the recent video snippets, which are around two minutes long, Ms Shunmugam is heard responding to a question that was cut out.
She told TODAY that she was asked why the cheongsam — a traditional Chinese dress worn by women — is a recurring silhouette in her work.
She replied to the online audience then about how Chinese women have “progressed significantly faster and further as compared to their Malay and Indian counterparts”.
She also said, among other things, that Chinese women were the “first Asian women to shake hands with men”, long before it was acceptable for Indian and Malay women to do so.
“If you study that, if we understand that, then the fashion answers come from that,” Ms Shunmugam said at the lecture.
“I think as a designer, I can only say that when I play around with the cheongsam, I feel not that there are less restrictions, but I can have more fun, and that Chinese women are more receptive, or they can be more receptive,” she added.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...ogises-race-related-remarks-acm-event-1855321
Ms Priscilla Shunmugam, founder of the Ong Shunmugam fashion brand, told TODAY on Friday (March 25) that she is “rightly being held accountable” for what she said.
“I apologise unreservedly for the comments I made,” she said.
The lecture, titled ACMtalks: Nadya Wang and Priscilla Shunmugam, was held on Sept 16 last year, but snippets of the remarks by Ms Shunmugam were picked up only recently and went viral after Instagram page profile Kebaya Societe uploaded them on Wednesday.
Ms Wang is a lecturer at the School of Fashion at Lasalle College of the Arts, and the talk was facilitated and moderated by Ms Jackie Yoong, a senior curator for fashion and textiles at ACM and the Peranakan Museum.
ACM has published other editions of its lectures, which revolve around themes such as maritime trade, faith and belief, as well as materials and design, but the original video with Ms Shunmugam is no longer available on its Facebook page.
In the recent video snippets, which are around two minutes long, Ms Shunmugam is heard responding to a question that was cut out.
She told TODAY that she was asked why the cheongsam — a traditional Chinese dress worn by women — is a recurring silhouette in her work.
She replied to the online audience then about how Chinese women have “progressed significantly faster and further as compared to their Malay and Indian counterparts”.
She also said, among other things, that Chinese women were the “first Asian women to shake hands with men”, long before it was acceptable for Indian and Malay women to do so.
“If you study that, if we understand that, then the fashion answers come from that,” Ms Shunmugam said at the lecture.
“I think as a designer, I can only say that when I play around with the cheongsam, I feel not that there are less restrictions, but I can have more fun, and that Chinese women are more receptive, or they can be more receptive,” she added.
More at https://www.todayonline.com/singapo...ogises-race-related-remarks-acm-event-1855321
