Some majestic shades
Emily, that famed matriarch of Emerald Hill, is one of Singapore’s great literary and stage icons. The Stella Kon play has been staged many times, and is an iconic expression of Peranakan culture and identity. An indelible part of the nyonya expression is the sarong kebaya, a style of clothing that conjures a sense of heritage and tradition. Here, a sarong kebaya created by Raymond Wong, the designer at Rumah Kim Choo who also contributed bespoke costumes for this year’s hit television series Emerald Hill – The Little Nyonya Story. That series features, as it happens, the dual cover stars of Vogue Singapore’s ‘Home’ issue: television legend Zoe Tay, and ingenue of the moment Tasha Low. This costume was commissioned by Ivan Heng, a luminary of Singapore theatre, who has stepped into the beaded shoes of the play’s titular Emily Gan over 100 times. Its meanings are subtly coded: peony and phoenix motifs, as well as a vibrant palette, that allude to rebirth and blossoming in spring.
The Parisian jeweller Frédéric Boucheron was a maverick in his time. While his contemporaries thought of jewels as standalone objects, he was thinking of them as part of a complete stylistic message. Hence his invention in 1879 of the Question Mark necklace, a liberated jewel without a clasp that could be worn without assistance. That expression and philosophy evolved by 1883 into peacock feather, or plume de paon, designs that aimed to evoke the fluttery lightness of its inspiration. Most recently, the house’s creative director Claire Choisne has taken the feather motif and given it brilliant chromatic life, by fusing white gold with coloured titanium to give her peacock feathers even more nuanced gradations of colour.
Function and flair
Traditional Peranakan terrace houses tend to feature pintu pagar, a Baba Malay term for which the literal English translation is ‘fence door’. Constructed at half height, these doors are meant to provide ventilation, as well as a little privacy and security during the day when they are left open. This one from the Asian Civilisations Museum’s collection is a rare and unusually ornate example. Fine carving and gilt work are present on both sides, as opposed to the usual one, and it features an eclectic mix of Chinese and European motifs—a symbol of status, displayed to visitors, for what was perhaps a wealthy Peranakan family.
Van Cleef & Arpels is deeply feminine and romantic, but some of its most inventive and enduring creations were born out of functional, industrial advances. In 1934, amid burgeoning serialised production and the Bauhaus school’s design philosophy of replicability, the Parisian maison embarked on a creative quest. It designed the Ludo (a nickname of Louis Arpels), inspired ostensibly by the wraparound function of a belt, with a supple, new-at-the-time gold mesh technique. It has endured as a Van Cleef & Arpels signature, taking on stylistic evolutions in keeping with its time. This modern example is crafted with classic details: hexagonal briquette links, star-set round rubies and a functional twisting jewelled clasp.
Artistic roads
Tiles are one of the more unassuming but vibrant expressions of a culture’s artistic heritage. Geometric motifs, for instance, are one of the core modes of artistic expression in the Islamic world. Some scholars posit that the repeatable infinity of geometric designs connects with the infinite nature of the divine. Twelve-pointed stars, arabesques and diamond-shaped motifs, which feature on these tiles, are elements of this rich visual canon which has had a wide and lasting influence.
The simplest of design motifs has also a way of travelling across cultures, escaping boundaries and finding its way into artistic heritages the world over. Rosettes, which are a graphical representation of the leaves of a flower, can be found as far back as ancient Mesopotamia. This motif travelled and was adopted in Renaissance Italy, where it featured as a decorative architectural element. The Milanese jeweller Buccellati, which has an abiding love for Renaissance-era craftsmanship and an ornate, old-world look, uses these in many of its designs. In these Tulle watches, the rosette compositions on the dial, as well as the articulated bracelets, are filled with coloured enamel for a stained-glass effect.
Summer Splendour
The auspicious, blooming colours and motifs of flora and fauna on this circa 1920s beaded tablecloth are thought to be part of the ‘spring table’ of a Peranakan wedding chamber. Crafted so that it can be appreciated from all sides, the designs draw inspiration and influence from the colours and compositions of Chinese embroidery as well as bird and flower elements from Europe. It is crafted with over a million glass beads, some of them faceted, and said to be one of the largest and most important pieces of Peranakan beadwork in existence.
Cartier’s Anansi necklace is named after a trickster deity from African folklore who is often portrayed as a spider. This creation comes from the Parisian jeweller’s [Sur]naturel high jewellery collection, which is themed around creative abstractions of nature. It is set with a rare sequence of eight hexagonal peridots, composed with fine diamond and platinum lines and faceted peridot beads to resemble light glistening off a spider’s web—perhaps after a summer rain.
Treasures of the old world
One of the more remarkable qualities of jewellery, viewed historically, is that it lasts. Metal and stones are hardy materials, and surviving jewels can tell us a lot about the tastes and styles of a different time. That much is obvious in this magnificent 1900s jewelled peacock belt, one of the Peranakan Museum’s prized artefacts. It is made of 18 linked panels of gold, set with a central diamond weighing over five carats. Each of these panels features peacock designs, decorated with white, yellow, brown and orange-pink diamonds.
Tiffany & Co. is relishing the legacy of Jean Schlumberger, the talented midcentury designer whose works for the New York jeweller helped advance and define a modern look of jewellery. With time, Schlumberger’s design codes have acquired the lustrous patina of an older, rarer and more refined world. Glamour, after all, is often more tantalising when it’s just out of reach. The Fringe necklace, based on a celebrated 1956 design, references Schlumberger’s origins in a family of Alsatian textile merchants. Each ‘fringe’ of hand-twisted gold rope is articulated, and dotted with diamonds set on platinum so it looks as though they are floating. The paillonné enamel Croisillon bracelet, first introduced in 1962, is meanwhile one of the jewellery world’s icons of design history. The ancient technique of enamelling is enhanced with sheets of gold foil, laid in layers, to create colours that are deep, vibrant and luminous.
Photography Ching Lee
Styling Lance Aeron
Vogue Singapore’s July/August ‘Home’ issue is available on newsstands and online.
