From kampung to Golden Globes: How Malaysian label Khoon Hooi became a global occasion wear brand

When CNA Lifestyle called Lee Khoon Hooi, he had just wrapped up a round of client appointments at his flagship boutique in Kuala Lumpur. There was no assistant screening the call, no hovering publicist. 

The 54-year-old founder and designer of occasion wear label Khoon Hooi answered the call himself – warm, unhurried, fresh from the shop floor. Some of the women he had just seen, he later shared, had been dressing with him for more than two decades.

Nearly 30 years after founding his eponymous label, Lee remains resolutely hands-on. He still meets clients face-to-face. He still sketches. And he still thinks in five-year plans – a discipline that traces back to a small village in Perak, where a boy who loved to draw first began imagining a life in fashion.

A CHILDHOOD FRAMED BY PADDY FIELDS

Lee grew up in a kampung in Perak, with paddy fields stretching beyond his family home. Fashion, at first glance, felt distant from such pastoral rhythms.

But proximity to Penang meant Peranakan culture ran deep in the region – in the food, the rituals and in the way the women dressed. Though his family was not Peranakan, Lee remembered his paternal grandmother in her kebayas, carefully selecting fabrics and overseeing each piece’s making.

“That sparked my curiosity about beautiful things,” he recalled.

As a child, he drew constantly – people, landscapes, whatever caught his attention. Later came the fashion magazines his older cousins brought home. With them arrived a sense of direction. He enrolled at the Malaysian Institute of Art to study fashion, already intent on launching his own label.

“I’m a goal-oriented person,” he said with a soft laugh. “I’ve always had a five-year plan.”

FROM ISETAN LOT 10 TO PARIS

After graduating in 1993, Lee worked as an assistant designer at a manufacturing company. In the evenings and on weekends, he quietly built his brand. A small retail corner at Isetan The Japan Store in Lot 10 became his first foothold.

In 1999, he left his full-time job and officially launched Khoon Hooi – what he describes as a “one-man show” in its earliest years. The growth was measured but intentional. By 2008, buoyed by a loyal clientele, he began presenting in the United States. Two years later, he entered Paris, where he has shown during the trade circuit every fashion week since.

Today, Khoon Hooi spans bespoke pieces, ready-to-wear collections and lifestyle extensions, with stockists across Asia and the Middle East. The label has expanded without outside investors, without aggressive scaling, and without straying from its core language of occasionwear.

“Steady and organic,” Lee said simply.

NOT YOUR ORDINARY EVENING WEAR

From the outset, Lee was clear about what he did not want to create.

“I didn’t want the usual figure-hugging, sexy, sequinned evening dresses,” he said. “I wanted something that felt different.”

Khoon Hooi has since become synonymous with sculptural silhouettes, saturated colour and expressive prints. His women are not chasing trend-driven notions of glamour; they are dressing for individuality.

Construction is central. His gowns are engineered to hold their shape, to move with intention, to command attention in photographs. But the emotional architecture matters just as much.

“I don’t just want a woman to look beautiful,” Lee said. “I want her to feel powerful – in her own way.”

REIMAGINING THE QIPAO

As one of the few Southeast Asian designers specialising in occasion wear on the international circuit, Lee sees himself as a quiet custodian of tradition.

Each year around Chinese New Year, Khoon Hooi releases a new series of qipaos. They are subtly modernised – softer in construction, recalibrated in proportion, sometimes rendered in unexpected fabrics – designed to entice a younger generation.

“Some feel the qipao is something only their mum or grandma would wear,” he acknowledged.

With its high collar and precise lines, the traditional qipao can feel formal, even intimidating. Yet Lee considers it “the most beautiful version” of the dress. Rather than dismantle the silhouette, he refines it – preserving its essence while easing it into contemporary wardrobes.

Some of his earliest clients once resisted the qipao in their twenties. Today, many return for his updated interpretations.

“That makes me very happy,” he said. “It means they’ve grown into it.”

A NATURAL FIT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Khoon Hooi’s expansion into the Middle East was not initially strategic. When Lee began showing overseas, buyers from the region gravitated toward his collections.

“Our aesthetic and fabrics probably appealed to them more than what some Western designers were offering,” he reflected.

The alignment makes sense. In a region where weddings unfold over several days and festive gatherings are marked by ceremonial dressing, occasion wear is not niche – it is essential.

Designing for this clientele has subtly shaped his approach. “We balance coverage with drama,” Lee explained. Longer sleeves, higher necklines, floor-sweeping hems – always with impact. Fabrics must retain structure yet remain comfortable through long evenings of celebration.

Over time, the Middle East has become one of the brand’s strongest markets, with Khoon Hooi stocked at luxury retailers such as 51 East in Doha and Avanti in Riyadh.

A GOLDEN GLOBES SURPRISE

Red carpet moments, too, have followed.

Lee’s most defining celebrity placement came in 2020, when Karen Pittman of And Just Like That… wore one of his gowns to the Golden Globes. He had no idea it was happening.

“We didn’t even know she had chosen it,” he said. Samples are often dispatched to stylists; final decisions are made quietly. Lee was asleep when the red carpet images began circulating.

When he saw the photographs the next morning, he felt a surge of pride. “As a small Malaysian label, nobody knew who we were,” he said. “To see one of our designs on that stage – it meant something.”

The gown, he added with a smile, was one of his personal favourites.

Since then, Taiwanese singer Rainie Yang, actresses Isla Fisher and Jackie Tohn have worn Khoon Hooi, with placements coordinated through a Los Angeles-based celebrity dressing partner. For Lee, these appearances are affirmations that a Malaysian label can hold its own on fashion’s most scrutinised carpets.

WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU BROCADE

Not all success stories arrive under spotlights.

During the pandemic, when orders for gowns stalled, Lee found himself with surplus fabrics, skilled artisans and idle machinery. The team began experimenting. The result was the Chiasa bag.

Handcrafted from opulent leftover brocades, the Chiasa is a nod to the traditional Japanese bento box bag. Each piece is detailed with a wooden toggle or sculptural fabric knot closure, and finished with either a rounded fabric handle or a bow.

What began as a survival strategy has evolved into a cult favourite. The Chiasa continues to sell strongly, with new iterations in development – each one transforming excess fabric into a covetable accessory.

STILL THINKING IN FIVE-YEAR PLANS

With the brand’s 30th anniversary approaching in three years, Lee is once again thinking ahead. China and deeper expansion across Southeast Asia are on his horizon.

“I’m a bit of a workaholic,” he admitted with a laugh. “I’m always thinking about how to introduce the brand to more people. What’s the next challenge? What’s the next step?”

He thrives on the unpredictability of independence. “Every day there’s something new,” he said. “If there’s no challenge, I get restless.”

So what excites him on an ordinary Tuesday?

“Positive feedback from customers,” he answered without hesitation. “That means a lot to me.” He paused. “And when my team works well together. When everything flows.”

After long days at the boutique and back-to-back meetings, he often retreats home to quiet. Travel remains his creative reset – a new destination each year. Bhutan is next on his list.

Nearly three decades on, Lee is still sketching. Still planning. Still chasing the next five-year horizon – and still intent, in his understated way, on being better than he was before.