Sarawak-born fashion designer Datuk Raymond Jolly, renowned for his fashion brand Von Jolly Couture, recently presented a stunning dose of extravaganza fashion at the Couture Fashion Week Malaysia 2023 that was organized by Media Path International (Malaysia World News) in partnership with Couture Fashion Week New York under the name `New York Couture Fashion Week Grand Gala Malaysia.
The event was held at the Parkroyal Collection Kuala Lumpur on February 25, 2023, and it was supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and graced by many VIPs and dignitaries, including the USA Ambassador to Malaysia, H.E. Brian D. Mc Feeters, Y.M. Tengku. Dato’ Dr. Hishammuddin Zaizi Bin Y.A.M. Tengku Bendahara Azman Shah Al-Haj, Director General of the Tourism Malaysia (the then Senior Director of Tourism Malaysia’s International Promotion Division (Americas, Europe and Oceania) Datuk Dr. Ammar Abd. Ghapar, besides many celebrities, models, and luxury fashion fans.
Besides representing the Centre for Technology Excellence Sarawak (Centexs), which showcased a “Culture Unity” design at the same show, Raymond and his nephew Aaron Von Jolly, a well-known figure locally and internationally in the fashion industry, have revealed a luxurious, glamorous palette called “Marie Antoinette”, Spring/Summer 2023, featuring several top models from Malaysia.
According to Aaron, “Marie Antoinette depicts contrast, movement, exuberance, and surprise to achieve a sense of awe. The classical use of European brocade creates a repertoire of crowded, dense, and overlapping cultures that provoke shock effects and cartouches. A mirror of the time in which we live, a translation of the future, a flourishing non- statics, and a mayhem of cultures for Spring/Summer 2023.”
Dato’ Raymond Jolly, born a Sarawakian, is a business administration graduate, an entrepreneur, and a creative fashion designer. He spent the early years of his life attached to Sarawak Shell Miri and was later transferred to Shell Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. He permanently moved to Kuala Lumpur in the 1990s and was with Shell Malaysia from 1991 to 1997. Af- ter taking an early retirement, he was immediately hired by a multi-national forwarding company in 1997–2004.
From 2005 to 2013, Raymond was one of the personal secretaries to the minister in the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The years at MITI gave him more exposure to trade and industry relationships.
Raymond is also a consultant for CENTEXS Sarawak. According to him, anyone can be a designer at any time, provided one has the passion and commitment to do it. “The degree does not matter much; what matters is enthusiasm.”
While in Kuala Lumpur in early 2005, Raymond collaborated with his nephew, Aaron Von Jolly, and spearheaded the international fashion label Von Jolly Couture. In 2005, Von Jolly Couture was named the winner of the prestigious Pia- la Seri Endon Batik Competition. A newly blooming brand radiates like the fragrance of a flower and draws all good things towards it.
Von Jolly Couture started seeing itself as almost a household fashion brand with the collaborations of international brands, which have brought them to places including New Delhi, Milan, New York, Istanbul, and Paris. In 2006, Von Jolly once again captured the fashion world when they won the first prize with their creativity using batik as a corporate dress for the Malaysian brass band in Gulianova, Italy. – Malaysia World News/NOW Magazine
