Our February 2021 cover story puts the spotlight on Melinda Looi who reached a 20-year milestone in her career last year. One of the people who inspired and motivated her as a fashion designer is mother Keng Foong, a self-taught tailor who built a successful pleating business with her husband. This is a story of passion, craft-making and legacy. Below is an excerpt from our interview with mother and daughter.
Melinda Looi comes fluttering in with her two girls in tow, arms laden with cloth bags filled with outfits for the photo shoot. She immediately set about arranging the clothes on the rack while the girls, Maya and Myla, greet their grandmother, Keng Foong, who’s getting her hair and make-up done. The pleating factory where the shoot is taking place is the brainchild of Keng Foong and her husband, Looi Peng Kong, which they set up over 40 years ago—they were the pioneers and now it stands as the only remaining pleating factory in the country. Local designers get their pleats done here, which is now being run by Melinda’s brother, Louie.
See also: Tatler's Community Award 2020: Celebrating MODA's Covid Relief Efforts
“I was a factory girl, you know,” Melinda announces. Growing up, she and her siblings used to come right after school to help out at the factory. “We couldn’t afford workers so we did it ourselves. I was sewing buttons, cutting thread, learning how to pull fabrics, how to place patterns, cut and so on, and learned all the machineries. We’d work from 3pm till 11 at night.”
She adds, “Last time there were no button sewing machines, so we had to do it by hand. I still remember I did about a few hundred to a thousand buttons, sewing by hand. That’s why when my staff first joins, I will teach them the basics first—how to sew a button that will never fall off. Unfortunately, machine-sewn buttons, they don’t last and as you know, they come off easily.” Clearly, Melinda’s attention to detail, determination and hardworking nature was honed during her formative years.
See also: Malaysian Fashion Designers Are Sewing Hospital Gowns For Medical Frontliners
They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Somehow, Melinda and her sister Beatrice ended up following in their mother’s footsteps, becoming successful designers in their own right. Keng Foong was a self-taught tailor who made a living making clothes for expat women. Fifty years ago, hers was the first tailor shop that opened in Kenanga and over time she became popular, drawing in customers even from Penang, Sabah and Singapore.
“I never went to school. I only knew to work hard," says Keng Foong. "After my children have gone to school, I’d start to cut, working until midnight. I only slept for two or three hours and all I did was work. I needed to make money as I had six children to take care of. My husband was helping his brother but the salary was not much. It was difficult making ends meet. Thankfully my mother helped me with the children, looking after three of them while I had the other three with me.”
I still remember I did about a few hundred to a thousand buttons, sewing by hand. That’s why when my staff first joins, I will teach them the basics first.