The oldest tailor still at work in Singapore is Edward Kwan of Wai Cheong Tailors, who recently turned 92. An active and articulate conversationalist, with a vivid memory of his halcyon days as a cutter, Kwan is probably the richest existing source of information on Singapore’s tailoring scene in the latter half of the 20th century.
The roots of Singapore’s sartorial culture stretch back a little further than that, however, to the period around the Opium Wars. In the early‑ to mid‑1800s, as British and American merchants made fortunes trading in goods from the East, shipped from China and India via Hong Kong and Singapore, tailors from the UK set sail to take advantage of this newly affluent client base.
British tailors set up shop in Asia’s port cities, producing European‑style garments for expatriate entrepreneurs, military officers and colonial administrators. To keep up with demand, these tailors trained local assistants, many of whom eventually split off to establish their own businesses, training mentees of their own. Tailoring skills were typically passed from master to apprentice, or father to son.
Sadly, Kwan did not have the opportunity to benefit from a generational transfer of wisdom. His father opened Wai Cheong Tailors on Cross Street in 1933, a few years after
