Priscilla Tsu-JyenShunmugam (born 17 July 1981) is a womenswear designer. She is the founder and designer of the womenswear label Ong Shunmugam. [1] Her company is named after the surnames of her Chinese mother and Indian father. [2] Her clothes have featured in Paris Fashion Week and stocked in Pixie Market, a New York based company. [3]
Shunmugam was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to a Chinese mother and an Indian father. [4] At age 20 she was accepted to read law at the National University of Singapore. [5] Upon graduation in 2006, [6] Shunmugam worked briefly as a lawyer before leaving the profession. [7] In 2008, she spent a year in England, where she studied dressmaking and pattern cutting. [8]
She returned to Singapore in 2009, and launched the debut Ong Shunmugam collection, Orientalism, in December 2010. Guardianship, a collection of modern cheongsams, followed in September 2011. The name of the company is an amalgamation of the surnames of her Chinese mother and Indian father. [9] Shunmugam has stated that the transition from law to fashion was a "very hard time" as she made a lot less than as a lawyer initially, though she has since broke even and has become more comfortable financially. [10]
In May 2012, Shunmugam was invited by the National Museum of Singapore to present a public lecture as part of its landmark In The Mood For Cheongsam exhibition. " Cheongsam, Dim Sum or Me?" explored the cheongsam's history through several identity changes in the context of Singapore's past, present and future. [11] Shunmugam and the Guardianship cheongsams were also featured in the Museum-produced book of the same name. [12]
In August 2012, Shunmugam was the only woman in fashion to be featured in Style Magazine Singapore's 10th Anniversary's list of The New Guard – a shortlist of “game-changers and taste-makers doing things their way”. [13]
In November 2012, she was voted Singapore Designer of the Year at the 2012 Elle Awards in Singapore. [14] In 2015, she was named as Her World magazine's Young Woman Achiever. [15]
In 2020, she announced the launch of her first overseas boutique but it was shut due to COVID-19 even before it was officially opened to the public. [16]
Ong is said to be a "leading figure in the Asian design community", whose brand is inspired by the "cultural complexities of Malaysia and Singapore." [17] In mid-2024, she collaborated with The Coconut Club, a Food and Beverage establishment, on a fashion collection. [18]
In March 2022, Shunmugam had made racist remarks during an online panel discussion entitled "ACMTalks" organised by the Asian Civilisations Museum during 2021. She has since apologized for these comments, [19] accepting that her comments were "clumsy, hurtful and insensitive". [20]