The tissue dress
IT’S probably the biggest day of a woman’s life. From the flowers, location and decor, to most importantly, the dress, they all need to be perfect. It’s not called a “dream wedding” for nothing.
But would you get married in a dress made out of tissue? Yes, tissue paper. One Malaysian woman did, and she looked very much like a vision of perfection for her big day.
Twenty-nine-year-old Shervyn Chua tied the knot with her sweetheart of 11 years, Anthony Wong, 31, wearing a tissue dress custom made by celebrated local designer Nurita Harith.
The subtly stylish design featured soft layers and drapes of tissue, incorporated with additional netting, lining and embellishment. Tissue made up 75% to 80% of the dress.
“The design part was easy, but making the dress took some time. The challenge was sewing the tissue together. It took about three weeks to construct,” points out Nurita.
She however says that the process was simpler than expected. According to her, the tissue used looks and feels almost like cotton fabric – a much coarser form of it though.
“I used 15 to 20 metres of tissue for this dress. It came in the form of very large pieces. Like fabric you buy from the store. But it’s still the same three-ply commercial tissue.”
This will not be the last time that Nurita will be making a wedding gown out of tissue. She says that she does not mind offering tissue wedding dresses to customers if they really want it.
“The dress Shervyn wore to wed Anthony? I would probably quote it at more than RM10,000. It takes time to make, and I’ll need to get my assistant to attend to you when you put it on,” adds Nurita.
The Malaysian couple’s wedding – held at the PJ Trade Centre in Damansara Perdana, Petaling Jaya, last week – was opened to members of the media as part of a Vinda Deluxe tissue launch.