Ong Shunmugam

During an ACMtalks series around designing Singapore's contemporary fashion identity, Priscilla Shunmugam said Chinese women have progressed significantly ...

While the other persons involved in the talk may have fallen short in calling out an industry peer, Guan said it is understandable that someone might not immediately know how to react when confronted with an uncomfortable situation. During COVID-19, ACM's lectures had to be pivoted to virtual platforms and this edition of ACMtalks is the museum's first on contemporary Singapore fashion — a new curatorial area that ACM has recently embarked on. Guan added that although ACM and Shunmugam have come under fire online for the statements made, it is crucial to first understand the situation in its original context. One thing for certain is that dress is never a simple matter - how we as Asians and Singaporeans choose to dress and present ourselves is a complex and evolving subject worthy of attention," the museum added. "If in doing so, found that her research was not factually accurate, then perhaps go back to her and challenge her view about minority races not being as progressive. However, prior to archiving it on social media, ACM could have fact checked her comments and ensure that it is historically accurate. ACM respects the views of individuals but if views are controversial or sensitive remarks were made, our moderator should have done better in getting our guest speaker to clarify them," he said. However, he said that over the past couple of days, the museum has learnt a very important lesson in how we can improve the management of our talks. The subject of curating fashion from an Asian perspective, in general, is a new one for museums," ACM explained. The webinars take place on the third Thursday of every month and are also available for viewing on Facebook Live. ACMtalks is supported by Kris Foundation, a non-profit initiative set up in 2009 by Singaporean philanthropist Kris Tan. Currently, Ong Shungmugam’s Instagram page has 51.6K followers. In the two-minute snippet, Shunmugam said Chinese women have progressed significantly faster and further as compared to their Malay and Indian counterparts. However, it came to life when netizens began commenting and sharing their outrage on the snippet shared by the Kebaya.Societe where the founder and designer of the brand, Priscilla Shunmugam, shared why she chose to feature more Chinese ethnic wear.