Whereas Malaysian trend designers can (at occasions) be missed by the nation’s regional neighbours, the latest showcase at Kuala Lumpur Trend Week highlighted simply how a lot the potential there’s inside the trend native trend trade. From seasoned stalwarts with decades-long legacies to a youthful technology experimenting with type, id and sustainability, Malaysia’s inventive scene is bold and more and more influential. Right here, LUXUO spotlights eight noteworthy designers — divided between the Outdated Guards and the New Technology — whose work continues to form the nation’s trend narrative.
The Outdated Guards:
These designers and types have established Malaysia’s trend id internationally and proceed to evolve the notion of what it means to be a Malaysian luxurious label. Designers like Dato Sri Bernard Chandran, Rizman Ruzaini, motoguo and FIZIWOO exemplify this enduring affect — every combining technical mastery with a definite inventive voice and demonstrating how considerate design can resonate throughout generations.
Dato Sri Bernard Chandran
Sometimes called Malaysia’s King of Trend, Dato Sri Bernard Chandran has been shaping Malaysia’s trade for greater than three many years. Born in Kuala Lumpur to Indian and Chinese language dad and mom, he initially skilled in accounting earlier than pursuing design at Kuala Lumpur’s Worldwide Trend Coaching Faculty in 1988. His expertise rapidly gained worldwide recognition, turning into the primary non-European to win each the Silk Lower Younger Designers Award and the Open European Contest for Look of the 12 months in Paris in 1991.
Returning residence within the early ’90s, Chandran established his namesake label, reinterpreting conventional Malay costume with daring gildings and unconventional materials. Chandran’s affect has prolonged effectively past Malaysia. He debuted at London Trend Week in 2000, opened flagship shops in Kuala Lumpur and Paris and was commissioned to design the official apparel for Malaysian athletes on the 2012 London Olympics. His work has dressed Malaysian excessive society in addition to world icons resembling Dato’ Michelle Yeoh and Woman Gaga. Honours resembling his “Dato” title in 2006 and the Malaysia Trend Awards’ Designer of the 12 months in 2017 recognise his contributions to each tradition and trade. Right this moment, Chandran continues to champion variety and construct on his legacy by means of exhibitions and digital platforms, solidifying his function as one in all Malaysia’s most important trend figures.
His BC Seashore Tradition assortment reaffirms Bernard Chandran’s long-standing legacy as Malaysia’s “King of Trend”. By transforming kaftans, Cuban shirts and beachwear staples with lace, crystals and couture-level ending, BC Seashore Tradition extends his long-standing narrative of reworking on a regular basis clothes into objects of luxurious. By remodeling remnant materials into resort-ready luxurious, Chandran not solely continues his ethos of sustainability but in addition reinforces his popularity for pushing boundaries whereas holding heritage on the coronary heart of his design language.
Go to Dato Sri Bernard Chandran’s official web site right here.
Rizman Ruzaini
Rizman Nordin and Ruzaini Jamil first crossed paths as trend college students greater than 20 years in the past, rapidly recognising in one another a shared ambition and eye for glamour. By 2005, the duo had launched their namesake label, which might develop into one in all Malaysia’s most recognisable trend homes. Identified for his or her sharp silhouettes, intricate detailing and couture-level end, Rizman Ruzaini grew to become synonymous with red-carpet dressing and has designed for a lot of of Malaysia’s most outstanding public figures.
Through the years, the model has balanced status with accessibility. Whereas its couture creations stay the benchmark, the launch of RR by Rizman Ruzaini in the course of the pandemic launched a ready-to-wear line that introduced their aesthetic to a wider viewers. Right this moment, the label operates at each ends of the luxurious spectrum: creating bespoke, hand-finished robes whereas additionally providing extra attainable items that retain the model’s signature sophistication.
Marking their twentieth anniversary in 2025, Rizman Ruzaini unveiled a particular Raya Capsule RTW Assortment, revisiting a few of their most celebrated silhouettes. Right this moment, with couture and ready-to-wear coexisting underneath their umbrella, Rizman Ruzaini continues to steadiness aspirational artistry with enterprise savvy — reinforcing their function as pillars of Malaysian trend.
Go to Rizman Ruzaini’s official web site right here.
motoguo
Based in 2015 by Moto Guo, Kinder Eng and Jay Perry Ang, motoguo has grow to be one in all Malaysia’s most distinctive trend exports. Initially launched as a menswear label, the model rapidly advanced right into a genderless platform, identified for pushing sartorial boundaries and standard notions of id and presentation. motoguo collections are recognisable for his or her offbeat storytelling, mixing the romanticism of childhood nostalgia with satire to ship daring, typically unconventional design decisions. Playfulness and cynicism sit facet by facet of their work, difficult typical concepts of magnificence and style whereas cultivating a cult-like following throughout Asia and past.
Each inventive administrators convey complementary views: Moto Guo’s penchant for darkish humor and precision element is balanced by Kinder Eng’s softer, extra romantic sensibilities. Collectively, they’ve crafted a model language that’s unmistakably their very own. Right this moment, motoguo is stocked internationally and has proven at world trend weeks, positioning the label as a part of a brand new technology of Southeast Asian designers making an impression on the worldwide stage.
Go to motoguo‘s official web site right here.
FIZIWOO
Based in 2009 by Hafizi Radzi Woo — with Izree Kai Haffiz becoming a member of in 2011 — FIZIWOO has grow to be one in all Malaysia’s most outstanding trend labels. Hafizi’s early publicity in his mom’s tailor store laid the groundwork for his precision — which mixed with Kai’s architectural sensibility — formed the model’s sturdy emphasis on proportion and construction. FIZIWOO’s design signature — dramatic peplums, sculpted quantity and meticulous development — displays a seamless fusion of engineering and romance. Their items usually are not solely visually distinctive however technically bold.
Annually, their Raya collections underscore the model’s creative spirit. The “Riviera Raya” line, as an example, drew on Mediterranean motifs with gentle pastels, guipure lace and jacquard textures — marking their tenth anniversary in festive trend. The 2025 “Journey” assortment took that additional: impressed by Arabic souks and non secular renewal, it revisited iconic silhouettes from the model’s previous decade and launched its first Raya RTW Baju Melayu, merging fashionable tailoring with conventional Malay heritage. FIZIWOO’s potential to mix craftsmanship with cultural nuance — notably in festive dressing — continues to form Malaysia’s trend panorama.
Go to Fiziwoo‘s official web site right here.
The New Gen:
Rising expertise in Malaysia is pushing boundaries in sustainability, gender fluidity and experiential trend. Designers like Equipment Woo, Hatta Dolmat, HUNTILANAK and ShazNash are exploring new narratives, from conceptual tailoring and eco-conscious manufacturing to sculptural wearable artwork and daring runway statements. Their work is outlined by an consciousness of tradition and group signalling a assured, forward-looking chapter for Malaysian trend.
Equipment Woo
Since launching his eponymous label in 2016, Equipment Woo has established himself as one in all Malaysia’s most cerebral designers — famend for deconstruction, sharp tailoring and a gender-fluid strategy that pushes the boundaries of type and performance. Skilled at Raffles Faculty of Larger Training in Kuala Lumpur and later in New York, Woo honed a design vocabulary rooted in technical experimentation and an nearly architectural interrogation of clothes.
Every assortment serves as each analysis and provocation. Woo typically treats tailoring as a medium of inquiry, dismantling and reassembling acquainted clothes to query silhouette, proportion and notion. His work has been described as “trend as critique” — intellectually pushed but grounded in impeccable development.
For his Prepared-to-Put on 2025–26 assortment — “The Earth is Flat” — Woo sharpened this imaginative and prescient additional. The 23-look lineup explored the stress between flatness and quantity, intentionally presenting clothes that appeared two-dimensional from the entrance however revealed sculptural depth in profile. Key particulars included a hunchback drape that distorted blazer traces, a boomerang panel development throughout trousers and skirts that created looping silhouettes and a re-engineered “bar jacket” — subverted right into a masculine “armour” by means of set-in panels and bonded materials.
Regardless of his popularity for monochrome severity, Woo launched teal and khaki this season, increasing his palette whereas sustaining the stark, architectural really feel of his work. Outsized slant shirts and streamlined skirts supplied extra accessible entry factors into the gathering, although all the time inside the uncompromising framework of his design language. Positioned inside Malaysia’s trend scene, Equipment Woo stays distinct: much less involved with mainstream commerciality than with cultivating an avant-garde perspective.
Go to Equipment Woo’s official web site right here.
Hatta Dolmat
Hatta Dolmat has emerged as a number one voice in Malaysia’s sustainable trend motion. Recognised because the nation’s first totally sustainable dressmaker, he made historical past with a group formally documented by the Malaysia Ebook of Information, setting a benchmark for environmentally aware clothes manufacturing. On the latest Kuala Lumpur Trend Week 2025, Hatta introduced his newest assortment — “Perahu Kertas” — marking a decade-long journey with the platform. Drawing inspiration from the fragile, weightless type of a paper boat, the gathering displays resilience and the non-public evolution of the designer. Breathable materials resembling cotton, linen and denim anchor the items in practicality, whereas origami-inspired silhouettes and refined particulars infuse the gathering with a way of reminiscence and craftsmanship.
Past clothes, “Perahu Kertas” additionally featured a collaboration with Opai to launch the perfume “HOPE”, merging scent and design into an intimate, multisensory runway expertise. By way of this challenge, Hatta underscores his dedication to sustainability, considerate storytelling and cross-disciplinary creativity, positioning himself as a standout determine in Malaysia’s subsequent technology of trend innovators.
Go to Hatta Dolmat‘s official social media right here.
HUNTILANAK
Based by Kuala Lumpur-born designer Ryan, HUNTILANAK is a Malaysian label that transforms conventional motifs and private experimentation into wearable artwork. The model is greatest identified for its “Monster Jackets,” denim items that includes 3-D recreations of Asian masks, full with protruding horns, jagged tooth and expressive eyes. Every garment merges craft and idea, typically hand-sewn and incorporating unconventional textures impressed by Southeast Asian tradition and Ryan’s private archive of summary materials explorations.
Ryan’s design strategy is intentionally sculptural and performative. Performance takes a backseat to creative expression, with clothes conceived as statements fairly than utilitarian clothes. The inventive course of typically includes repurposing previous experiments — from fossilised supplies to childhood discoveries — translating them into three-dimensional, tactile types that convey the label’s imaginative universe to life.
HUNTILANAK has gained recognition throughout world trend platforms, together with Highsnobiety, The Vanilla Problem and huge social media protection from main trend weeks — marking Ryan as one in all Malaysia’s most compelling up-and-coming voices in modern trend. The model continues to evolve as Ryan works towards increasing his Monster-inspired assortment, positioning HUNTILANAK as a bridge between native cultural heritage and conceptual trend experimentation.
Go to HUNTILANAK’s social media right here.
ShazNash
ShazNash made a placing debut at Kuala Lumpur Trend Week (KLFW) 2025, showcasing a group that captivated audiences with its intricate detailing and daring design decisions. The model’s presentation featured a mix of textures and gildings, together with feathers, stripes and teardrop jewels — creating a visible feast that illuminated the runway. Within the realm of menswear, ShazNash launched energy fits crafted from creamy velvet, adorned with corsetry parts and outsized brooches. These designs not solely highlighted the model’s dedication to craftsmanship but in addition underscored its potential to merge conventional tailoring with modern aptitude.
The debut at KLFW 2025 marked a major milestone for ShazNash, positioning the model as a promising new voice in Malaysia’s trend panorama. With a eager eye for element and a daring strategy to design, ShazNash is poised to make a long-lasting impression within the trade.
Go to Shaznash‘s official social media right here.
For extra on the newest in luxurious trend and elegance reads, click on right here.
