Substance Meets Style

With their priorities suddenly reordered, a group of designers unite to make a more noble fashion statement

In a show of solidarity, Malaysia’s biggest names in fashion came together to use their skills to sew PPE for medical frontliners in an initiative led by Malaysia Official Designers Association. The fashion community, including Radzuan Radziwill, Khoon Hooi, Celest Thoi, Alia Bastamam, and their teams of seamstresses and volunteers, worked to cut fabrics and sew thousands of PPE items to meet the neverending demand from local hospitals.

Touched by the countless acts of kindness she’s seen, MODA president Melinda Looi posted an Instagram video in which she said, “I have so much emotion going on, I can cry anytime, but these are tears of happiness to see people coming together.”

She also mentioned instances of frontliners sending private messages “saying how grateful they feel that they are finally not wearing, you know, garbage bags, but gowns that are made by people of Malaysia.

It’s giving them a lot of encouragement, a lot of positive vibes, they feel loved.”

MODA has joined forces with FashionValet in a fund raising campaign to buy nonwoven hospital-standard materials. MODA is also working with the Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia, which will distribute the gowns to its network of hospitals.

Meeting the demand is a major challenge even with a host of designers and volunteers who are working non-stop, as the production is entirely home-based. In an effort to let the public know the stakes, Looi noted, “A consumption of 15,000 sets of PPE items is needed per week per hospital.”

Her call didn’t go unheeded as more and more people are coming forward to help in whatever way they can, whether by monetary donations or lending their much-needed skills.