Carven Ong's Chinese opera inspired CNY collection
Fun fact - did you know he was behind the iconic two-piece waterproof wedding gown and the sequin jumpsuit worn by the character Araminta Lee in hit film, Crazy Rich Asians?
With the Chinese New Year just around the corner, we take a look at his creations for the festive season.
Recently, Ong collaborated with Intermark Mall to display his latest collection designed exclusively for the event of ‘Opera Opulence’, a showcase of Chinese Opera heritage and costumes with meticulously embroidered designs and impressive headgear.
He displayed a collection of gowns with unique designs inspired by the Chinese Opera which took 3 weeks for him to complete.
“No one has done designs based on Chinese Opera before, so this was interesting because I could already envision what I wanted for this collection. It was very challenging but at the same time, very fun to me,” Ong said during an exclusive interview with Sinar Daily.
“Some designs are lady-like or elegant while others are a bit fierce as I imbued characters from the Chinese opera where each of them has their own costumes,” he said.
He said that the elegant designs represent the costumes of a princess or a queen where feminine colors like pastel were used while the fierce designs in colorways of silver, dark gold and ark blue were inspired by warrior costumes.
“The motive and colors used to represent the Chinese opera can be excessive for the festive season because they use embroidery,” he said.
“The gold thread and beadings are also what I took into consideration since for Chinese New Year, people put on informal wear. Unless they want their outfits to be custom-made, then it can be more formal with added embroidery,” he said.
