“I prefer describing my collections as chapters; a compromise between industry speak and staying true to our ideology and core designs,” says Azura. It is perhaps a decision motivated by her experience within the “fashion machine”, as a graduate of Central Saint Martins and a former design intern at Balenciaga and the now-defunct Peter Pilotto. She reveals that she struggled with the commercial elements of starting her own label: “It was a long, slow start. I designed my first collection in 2017 as an extension of my graduate show. But I didn’t release it until the next year because I was still figuring things out.”

She adds: “Everyone is sold a dream, but it’s not easy. You’re not guaranteed press, buyers or backers.”

Azura found focus instead in engaging with her Malaysian heritage and the country’s folklore, mythology, history and postcolonial reality. “My desire to reconnect with my mother’s birth country on a deeper level came later in life because she left Johor Bahru at 18. We also spent most of our time in other places,” she says.

As she finds more success with her designs and jewellery in the Western world, a question is cautiously raised to Azura. Does her exploration of Malaysia’s relationship with superstitions and shamanism perpetuate a harmful narrative of exoticism that justified colonialism? She says: "I am glad for this difficult question because it feeds back into the conversation.”

It is not the first time she has confronted this dichotomy. When Azura became interested in these topics, her mother was hesitant to discuss her experiences. “My mother actually has a tiny shard of crystal inserted under her skin in her jaw as a talisman, which she didn’t want me to talk to me about,” she admits. 

“In fact, this very tension has been a focus in my research—the polarisation of modern and rational versus traditional and irrational—since I was a student. So many cultures feel they must abandon the elements of their heritage that are representative of the old ways and beliefs, in order to push forward towards a more ‘modern’ self-image.”

“I find the tendency towards cultural self-erasure quite tragic. I understand why it happens, but inevitably it echoes patterns of cultural suppression inherited from colonialism, in that it diminishes the value of anything outside of the rational, scientific, Western perspective. Of course, I am coming from a perspective as an outsider but what I hope to communicate through my work is that this heritage, however controversial, should not be overlooked. 

Azura concludes: “Malaysia’s history of folk magic practices has value and depth, and links realities with the spiritual and supernatural qualities that give our culture colour and meaning. I don’t think that history deserves to be overlooked and it is nothing to be embarrassed about.”

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