Director of the National Museum of Singapore, Chung May Khuen, talks about fashion as wearable time capsules

Last month, the Metropolitan Museum of Art achieved its highest fundraising results, with the annual Met Gala raising more than $2.6 million ($3,521,631) to support the Costume Institute of the museum. The Costume Institute's vault, which contains more than 33,000 objects representing fashionable clothing and accessories from five continents and across seven centuries, is certainly impressive, but it pales in comparison to the 100,000 objects in the sartorial history of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

And as the legendary success of exhibitions like the Mets' world-touring “Christian Dior: Maker of Dreams” and “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” also seems to prove, people really care about what others are wearing.

So it's no surprise that Chung May Khuen, director of the National Museum of Singapore (NMS), wants to give fashion a bigger runway as the institute undergoes its current overhaul. But the source of his inspiration hits closer to home.

Style stories

When Chung joined the NMS (then called the Singapore History Museum) as a curator, she was tasked with creating her first fashion gallery, part of the Living Galleries' permanent exhibitions which sought to tell the story of Singapore through four thematic lenses: photography, cinema and wayang, food and fashion.

My role was to document the evolution of women's identities in post-World War II Singapore, from the 1950s to the 1970s, using fashion as an entry point, she says.

After speaking to about 50 women over two years, she discovered a deeper appreciation for the stories hidden in our discussions. Many of them wondered why I wanted their old clothes since they were neither new nor expensive, she recalls.

But I really collected stories, like how cheongsams helped them stay in shape because of their tight waistline. These dresses were not only a reflection of an individual identity, but a collective one, and I think that is the power of fashion to take us back to our history.

Chung's fond memories of curating the Fashion Gallery inspired the launch of the exhibition “In the Mood for Cheongsam” in 2012. The exhibition featured more than 150 pieces of traditional Chinese clothing style and examined the rise of modified cheongsam of modern Shanghai and its evolution. and introduction to Singapore in the 1920s.

One of the missions of the NMS is to tell Singapore's story and bring the world to Singapore, she adds. This also means collecting international fashion, as not everyone can travel and we want to expose our visitors to different cultures.

Fashion exhibitions are very three-dimensional; dresses come to life in a way that paintings cannot.

Chung May Khuen, director of the National Museum of Singapore

Therefore, in the same year, Chung presented a collection of bridal costumes and accessories from Victoria and Albert Museum, presenting the evolution of the wedding dress over two centuries. Additionally, she included a selection of Chinese, Indian and Malay wedding dresses to ensure the exhibition remained culturally significant to the local community.

One of the main lessons she took away from this exhibition was the realization that the curator was not the most important person in an exhibition. She recounted the challenge of presenting a wedding dress with a seven-metre train, requiring the construction of the largest bespoke display case she had ever overseen to ensure optimal viewing from all angles.

It took us 10 people, all moving in sync, to carefully install the dress, then we had to figure out how to light it in a way that highlighted its beauty. Exhibitions involve many people working behind the scenes.

The power of fashion

And it is this dynamism which, according to her, will captivate the public. Fashion exhibitions are very three-dimensional; dresses come to life in a way that paintings cannot. Model silhouettes should also accurately reflect how the clothes were worn, so you can see how people's bodies change with age.

The NMS has a long list of criteria to determine which garments will be retained. How do they relate to Singapore's history? What influence did this have on us? What was the impact? Who owned it and who made it? Everything must align with the NMS vision of focusing on social history.

How museums realize this vision, however, has changed. When I started 20 years ago, it was common for the conservative voice to be the sole authority. But people no longer just want to go to a museum to download information. So we want to offer different perspectives and let them create a dialogue, she says.

The museum continues to build its fashion collection, working with local talents like fashion and costume designer Yang Derong, as well as collectors, to preserve their gifts in our country's collective memory. Those wishing to share their views on the approaches and content they want to see in the revamped NMS can register their interest on its website for its ongoing engagement sessions.

And you might want to start saving outfits that you've outgrown and that Allsaints leopard-print paisley shirt might become a museum artifact generations from now.