A model parades down the catwalk in a contemporary Pua Kumbu design.
MIRI: Fashion designers, especially in the field of ethnic fashion, are needed to further promote Sarawak.
Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin said the industry still lacks professionals to design fashion lines, especially using contemporary Pua Kumbu and Ngepan Iban.
“The fashion industry, especially ours in Sarawak, is still very less exposed though we have a very unique culture.
“If we have more professionals doing these works here, I believe we can go further,” he said when opening the Ngepan Iban Fashion Show here yesterday.
Lee pointed out that with the Internet and e-commerce, promoting fashion today is much easier. Thus, he called on the younger generation to help develop the industry.
“Be more creative, our culture can be promoted in various means. One of it is through fashion,” he said.
Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting said such events should be held more often not just to promote Sarawak’s culture, but also to tap new talent in both fashion designing and modelling.
“It is vital that we continue to organise something like this to further showcase our unique culture through fashion,” he said.
The fashion show was jointly organised by Lentera Astana and Raban Ngepan Iban.