As doyenne of the Malaysian fashion industry, Gillian Hung has nurtured the creativity of many young local talents, setting them up for success on the volatile fashion landscape.
The alumnus of Fashion Institute of Technology, New York and winner of the Young ASEAN Designers Contest in 1989 is best known for her prominent role as the longest-serving president of the Malaysian Official Designer Association (MODA) for 13 years.
Fashionable in her own way, Hung is not afraid to speak out for what she believes in: “Today, fashion has become saturated and stagnant, everybody copies everybody.”
Hung was based in China as a corporate consultant for the past 10 years and came back to Malaysia due to the pandemic.
theSun caught up with her to get to know more about her recent endeavours.
Working in China
“As a specialist in merchandising and brand developments, (I found) China provided a huge opportunity and platform for me to drive my career further. As much as I want to work in Malaysia, not many brands here could afford to hire me.
“But at the end of the day, it’s about the satisfaction that comes with the job, not the money. For now, I’ll be staying in Malaysia until the foreseeable future because of the pandemic and for personal reasons.”
Thoughts on social media
“I absolutely love learning about everything and anything.
“Social media to me is very bold and in-your-face. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a bold, fierce, direct and aggressive person, I know what I want, I’m a go-getter and I live life to the fullest ... but I don’t sit well with social media.
“But of course, there is the entertainment side of social media - TikTok for example is quite fun to do for yourself. I like the fact that it can momentarily distract us from what has been going on in the world. Guilty as charged, I enjoy using TikTok.”
Her entrepreneurial journey
“I established my e-commerce platform Hung.click early this year, with the intention to apply my expertise in the fashion industry locally and internationally over the years to build new insights that will help the fashion industry.
“Looking at so many talented and extraordinary Asian designer brands, I believe it is important to leverage this platform for an extensive reach by seamlessly integrating digital realms.
“It houses over 600 brands, and includes Malaysian designer brands such as Celeste Thoi, Keith Kee, Syomirizwa Gupta and Justin Yap.”
The highs of collaborations
“The recent ‘KitaRayaKita’ event was organised by myself, Sutra Foundation by Datuk Ramli Ibrahim, fashion brand Kimkara and home decor brand 3Rituals. It was my second collaboration with Ramli and our mission is to merge art, music, dance and fashion to educate the newer generation about our forgotten past.
“Creativity comes from within you first and then you feed off the knowledge of art history, performing arts or whatever form of arts.”
