LSA100: Kel Wen believes that BEHATI has grown into something far bigger than himself

100 Malaysians, 100 Milestones – Our LSA100 Creative Icon of the Year is Kel Wen, the innovative mind behind the fashion brand, BEHATI. After a bustling year of back-to-back fashion shows, seasonal collections and creative collaborations, Kel Wen is finally ready to start anew and express himself — beyond the brand.

Few things can get Kel Wen to speak at length without stopping, and among them is his craft. The Melaka-born fashion designer is a creative through and through — passionate, driven, very dedicated to his work, and it shows so plainly on his face the moment I bring up his brand.

BEHATI had begun as a happy accident for Kel Wen. He has told this story many times before, but it’s always such a pleasure to listen as he recounts it to me: “I was looking for a baju Melayu to wear for my Raya gatherings and I couldn’t find any. I was going to the stores and when I saw the baju Melayu, I didn’t feel it was really ‘me’. So, I made it bigger, you know, something I could wear with jeans. And I made it oversized, and I started selling them. Then it went viral and I just… had to stick with it already after that.”

Kel Wen might not have known it then, but this would eventually become BEHATI’s whole identity: big and bold, but more importantly, blending local culture with modern fabric and design. And after eight years, BEHATI is now synonymous with “challenging tradition”. Think Baju Melayu with songket and layered with leather, cheongsams reimagined with a cropped torso and elongated sleeves. You get the picture. And this year alone, Kel Wen has taken BEHATI to new heights, taking the brand to the international stage at Harbin Fashion Week, one of China’s most prestigious fashion shows; and later in the year also took on the challenge of styling the stage performers at the 47th ASEAN Summit.

For our LSA100 cover shoot, Kel Wen sports a BEHATI coat that trails gracefully behind him. He’s built petite — sharp features, elfin face and a beauty mark underneath his eye — but still the oversized coat frames him just right. That’s the thing about BEHATI. As eccentric or outrageous the outfit may seem, it never wears you; you wear it.

“I want BEHATI to be for everyone, really,” Kel Wen tells me, “even though some people might think that BEHATI is just for very ‘loud’ personalities. People have certain mindsets about what BEHATI is, just because that’s the viral news you see on the Internet. We cater to a lot of body types. That’s why our brand is all about diversity, you know?”

These days however, Kel Wen’s focus is shifting. BEHATI has clearly grown into something much bigger than himself, taking on its own DNA within the community. And now at 30, Kel Wen believes that it’s finally time for him to channel himself into his work — and it is as much a journey of self-discovery as it is starting a brand-new designer label. “It’s actually to separate myself from BEHATI,” he adds. “Because I don’t feel BEHATI is entirely me. You know, I created BEHATI for Malaysians. But I don’t want people to get confused with Kel Wen’s aesthetic and BEHATI’s aesthetic. That’s why I feel it’s necessary for me as a designer to create that for me. So, this new brand, I’m doing it for myself.”

So, you’ve been quite busy this year… and you have achieved quite a lot! How would you describe this past year for you?

Ya actually, since last year, I was telling myself lah, you know, this year I want to take a break. I told myself that I wanted to do less because it’s not just me, but my entire team is tired. With all this brand building, it’s a lot of effort. But you know what? Rezeki keeps coming, and I never say no to any opportunity that comes my way. It’s always been my dream to go out of this country to showcase my work. And I’ve said before, I want to bring the culture out, so it’s impossible for me to say no to these chances. So, this year was mainly really about putting the culture out there. Other than the International Fashion Weeks that I’ve been to, from Harbin to Ho Chi Minh, I also recently just came back from Hanoi.

And each time I went out, it’s a new collection. I think that’s the biggest challenge also, because I don’t try to repeat my collections. So, each showcase, I take it as a new opportunity. I want the cameras to be capturing something new every time instead of just repeating the collection. With this goal, it was definitely testing my limits a lot. It has been very challenging. But I always believe in just kind of living in the moment and doing whatever that comes to my mind. So, whatever that I feel or think of at that moment, I would try to just translate it down to the seams and the fabrics.

You also dressed the stage performers at the 47th ASEAN Summit, and I read that you called it your ‘most challenging project to date’. Why is that? What was the experience like actually?

I always try look out for and to learn more about new cultures. I think after the ASEAN project, I definitely learned more about cultures overseas, like, around ASEAN. I had to study more for that project specifically, so I enjoyed that very much. Other than designing, it’s really about learning the knowledge. I think the research takes more time than the design, because it’s really years of accumulation. So, for this reason, the Hanoi trip also is a collection between Vietnam and Malaysia. It’s definitely something new for me, because other than just finding out what the Malaysian identity is, I now have a new perspective towards ASEAN cultures in general, discovering our similarities. Because I’ve always wondered, ‘Where does this come from? Where does our culture come from?’ And it’s all connected to each other. So I find that very, very interesting, learning more about Vietnamese culture. Actually, some of the details are similar to ours.

I feel like we are all uniting at the moment, more than before. We are very supportive of each other. When I went to Singapore, or I met designers from Indonesia, that was the exposure that I really got to experience. I feel like it’s very inspiring to be able to live in this united ASEAN culture. And they also share with me, like recently, a Philippines [designer] was telling me that they also have similar fabrics from their country, like our songket. And I think I kind of understand Malaysian culture much better. I wouldn’t say entirely, but the traditional ways that we use in our clothes, I feel like I’ve studied that. And I feel like I always want to try to expand my own technique, so I feel like looking out [of Malaysia], with ASEAN, is really a huge learning experience. To be able to share culture with each other, I think that’s beautiful. And when they can also understand what we’re doing, like the Indonesians were seeing how I did it with the kebaya, they understand. It’s different than if I were to show this to a Western designer, for example. They probably think it’s just a top, but for us there’s more sentimental value and heritage.

Your designs have quite a ‘narrative’, telling a unique story and constantly challenging the idea of local tradition — and not to mention also eccentric in design. As a designer, what is your creative process like?

BEHATI already has its own DNA already, you know, even without me I feel. Of course it started with my idea, but you know, I’ve designed for so many iconic people in Malaysia. I think that is what BEHATI always stands for with people like Dato’ Seri Vida, Mimi Fly… these are very strong characters, and I design according to them. So, it’s their style. BEHATI is, like, for the people of Malaysia. That’s how I always see it, because when I design for BEHATI, I always have people who I love in mind. For example, during Raya or Chinese New Year, what would my family and friends would wear, you know? I feel like it’s part of the job as a designer, to tell their story and really enhance their personality. I feel that is the strength that BEHATI has.

I see BEHATI as a huge community, and I am responsible for dressing them. The thing I like about designing for BEHATI is that it always attracts very ‘good energy’ people, you know. The ones who come into my showroom are always people with very good vibes, very positive, very confident. It’s like they come and look for me. You really get someone who’s unsure of themselves coming into Behati saying, “Oh, I don’t know what I want.” Abd when they come, they realise they already know who they are. That’s why I feel so inspired when I’m designing for BEHATI, because of these ‘characters’. I feel BEHATI is very multifaceted. That’s what I want it to be also, because it’s for the rakyat at the end of the day. My end goal is for the people, for Malaysians.

Who are some of your favourite muses? I know you’ve also worked closely with Mimi Fly this year, with her song for the film Mencari Ramlee.

I’m glad I found Mimi, who speaks the same language as the brand. She’s all about culture and tradition, and also breaking it at the same time. And finding her own sound in music. I find that she’s the perfect muse for BEHATI right now. So now, everything I design, I think of her. Even the new collection, it’s all for her. And with her comeback this year, it’s her moment. I’m just so grateful that it’s this time that our paths cross, because I didn’t get a chance to really dress her before. Designing for her has been basically like staying true to myself. I feel like it’s the best collaboration when we can stay true to ourselves, not just me designing for her, you know? I’m being me and then she’s being her, and she can pull off everything that I design. Even for men and women both. We are both very adventurous creatives. We are comfortable and we know ourselves, but then we also want to challenge ourselves at the same time.

Let’s talk about your new brand. Is that something new for you to really work on something that is just for yourself? What’s that process been like for you? Especially because you’ve been spending so long designing for other people.

Yeah, before this, it was always more about designing for celebrities, chasing that branding. And after that, I realise that people may misunderstand my style a lot through BEHATI. They think that’s me. But that’s not actually what I want, for you to think that way. So, sometimes they get the wrong image of me as a person. They put, like, Dato’ Seri Vida’s image on me for example, you know? I just want to correct that. And at the same time, it’s also part of a self-discovery journey. And I did mention music earlier just now, right? So, it’s also moving with my music together. It’s all a new journey for me. I just turned 30 this year, so it’s the next decade for me and and it’s something I want to focus on. But because BEHATI has been so busy also, that’s why it’s been taking a long time.

When are we expected to see the new brand launch?

I hope by next year. Because I’ve been paying rent for the past year, you know? I was supposed to open it already, but I’ve just been too busy with BEHATI, so many collections churned out, so my hope is for next year. I’ve been doing more than I should with the fashion weeks, so maybe next year maybe I might be more selective for BEHATI. It’s going to be called Wen, my new designer label. There are a lot of factors why I started this. It’s not just for me, but for the business as well, because the fashion industry is really not easy to sustain. It’s a very costly industry. And one business is not enough to really be steady in the long run. Each year, the costs just get higher and the productions just get bigger. That’s why I wanted to start this new brand now and really take my time with it. BEHATI also took, like, eight or nine years to build. And for this new brand, it’s going to be something that’s very different from BEHATI. I want to also kind of target what BEHATI cannot. I’m still discovering at the moment.

Finally, since Chinese New Year and Hari Raya are coming up (and close together), can you give us a sneak peek into the next BEHATI collection?

Yeah! My Hanoi trip was actually the first start of the new collection. It’s called Cham Raya, so it’s a Lunar-Raya collection. It’s our first collection that combines the cultures, which I feel is really what BEHATI is about. I feel like the mixture is something that is just experimental, you know? What I want to achieve is basically something new. And to achieve new things, we have to combine. We have to mix. This mix is cham. My new purpose for BEHATI is just to mix up everything and be our own in a way, by just experimenting. So, it’s really just experimenting with different styles. This new chapter, Cham Raya, is also something very fresh for us because you’re going to think… is it Hari Raya? Is it Chinese New Year? It’s just festive clothes, and you can wear it anywhere because it’s stylish enough. That’s what I want to achieve. The mix is what makes it very Malaysian. And I use cham because it’s very Malaysian, an iconic Malaysian drink, you know.

So, this new era is all about just creating something that’s very Malaysian. I feel like you cannot be Malaysian if you cannot mix, right? There is also Peranakan culture. Plus, we also just celebrated Baba Nyonya as an official race in a way, right? I feel like that is the start of something, and I need to put it in the collection. So in this latest collection, I also ended with a Peranakan bride look. That’s what I’m trying to stretch at this moment.

editor-in-chief MARTIN TEO | creative direction MARO COLLECTIVE (MODULA LOKO STUDIO) | interview PUTERI YASMIN SURAYA | editorial team RONN TAN & MALLIE MARAN | photography MICHELE YONG | set design BRENDAN TEE | videography POR JIA JUN & STANLEY LOH | hair & makeup BERRY LOW & CHEE ING | styled by JONATHAN LIANG | wardrobe BEHATI, KHOON HOOI, KIT WOO, ONITSUKA TIGER | inspired by THE AESOP ABODE

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