Exploring Peranakan lifestyle & fashion at Peranakan Museum: an ideal place for a Saturday morning

Located in Armenia Street- a quiet street corners in contrast with the surrounded area- Bras Basah and Orchard, Peranakan Museum is a worth-visiting place for you to spend your Saturday morning, especially if you are a history and fashion lover.

Since the time I came to Singapore two years ago, Peranakan culture has been something interesting and even a mystery for me to explore, especially when I have the chance to contemplate the colourful shophouses in Joo Chiat/Katong road- where Peranakan identity is expressed most clearly. The luck has come to me when I passed by Peranakan Museum, totally by chance, when I was doing a night walk with my friend in the area.

Watching from the distance, the museum is quite easy to find with the specific trait of Peranakan architecture, and with the white-blue paint that makes it has a unique characteristics in comparison to the modern houses nearby. When you go straight from the front door, you will encounter an information desk. This is where you should stop to buy the ticket, which is quite cheap, with $12 per adults if you are foreign visitors, and $8 for students. When paying a visit to the museum, I would recommend you to visit the room named "Origins" in the first floor, left-hand side from the information desk, as it will give you basic information about the origins of the Peranakan, where they are from, where they live now, why they are called "Peranakan" and famous Peranakan people in the history. This will make you understand more when you visit the display on the second and third floor, where many objects relating to their lifestyle are on display, such as altars, chairs, tables, and especially, the most interesting thing for me is ceramic. I was impressed by the techniques that the Peranakan made ceramics themselves, totally by hand, but they can make such gorgeous and colourful tools with sophisticated patterns on the ceramics. I used to try making ceramics in Bat Trang- a famous ceramic village in Vietnam, but by no ways can I make a complete bowl by myself, including the shaping and colouring processes. Because of that, I know how hard a ceramic is made, and therefore, I really admire the skill of the Peranakan workers, as each of them can be considered an artist. I was also surprised that even though the Peranakan are mixed, as the word "Peranakan" means "mixed people" in Malay, and they have remained most of the culture and characteristics from their Chinese fathers, like praising ancestors and living in a solid family, they also inherited some cultural traits from their Malay mothers. That creates a specific and unique culture that I desire to know.

The third floor is my favourite part of the museum, where fashion come into display. The dark space in the room with only a few light is suitable for displaying golden jewelry, where hundreds of necklaces, belts and earrings are lighting the room with their vivid light, which makes me impressed by the complexity of those little things. The next dark space is for displaying Peranakan fashion, including shoes, traditional dresses and bags. All of them are made from Baltik, a traditional fabric of the Peranakan.

Exploring Peranakan Museum is an exciting experience. Believe me, you will never regret once you go there.