27 September 2026
Fashion Runway by
AMANDA BROWN ABDUL
Sutra House
Tradition in Vogue was unmistakably Amanda Brown Abdul — bold, irreverent, experimental and unapologetically individual.
Presented at Sutra House, the exposition brought together a selection of Amanda’s signature couture pieces, reaffirming a distinctive ABA aesthetic that has evolved over more than two decades. These were not cash-and-carry fashion pieces designed for the mass market. They belonged firmly to the world of couture — statement creations conceived with the theatricality, construction and individuality associated with international fashion houses.
Amanda draws from indigenous Malaysian materials and traditions — batik, pelikat, songket and even denim — but does not treat heritage as something to be preserved behind glass. She deconstructs it, transforms it and gives it a contemporary vocabulary.
This is where Amanda’s fashion becomes particularly interesting.
Her muted, organic palette — at times derived from natural dyes such as daun ketapang and sayur manis — reflects her continuing engagement with sustainability and organic processes. Fabrics are cut apart, reconstructed and layered with other textiles, emerging as collaged corsets, sculptural costume appendages or striking accessories over otherwise simple pants and skirts.
And then there are the surprises.
One particularly arresting creation transformed finely strung electrical wires into a tightly constructed corset — an unexpected collision of industry, technology and couture. It was quintessential Amanda: unconventional, provocative and unwilling to remain within the expected boundaries of fashion.
Amanda Brown is not a conventional fashion designer. Nor does she aspire to be one.
Her clothes occupy that intriguing territory where fashion becomes performance, costume becomes sculpture and clothing becomes Art.
There is also a certain audacity in Amanda’s journey.
For more than two decades, she has carved out her own space within Malaysia’s relatively small and competitive fashion landscape, establishing herself as one of the few Malaysian Indian women designers to pursue couture on her own terms.
Sutra’s relationship with Amanda goes back more than 15 years. Her earlier presentation for the Malaysia-India Business Council, Stranded Souls in Black Coffin, was a gothic extravaganza featuring the debut of supermodel Vanizha Vasanthanathan and Iranian dancer Abtin Javid in extraordinary costumes that took hours to assemble and wear. It was theatrical, unconventional and unmistakably Amanda.
Tradition in Vogue shows that the spirit behind that work has not diminished.
If anything, Amanda Brown has become more assured in her willingness to experiment — to challenge conventional notions of beauty, utility and wearability, and to ask where fashion ends and art begins.
Bold. Sassy. Experimental. Uncompromising.
Like Amanda herself, her fashion does not ask for attention.
It commands it.
Sutra