You probably haven’t heard of Shertienne Lee. Not yet, anyway. But this young Malaysian designer is doing something the fashion world should pay attention to. She’s not just creating beautiful clothes. She’s creating worlds. And her latest one? A fantasy you can swim in, with roots so deep they start pulling on your heart before you even realize what’s happening.
This is Clouded Allure, a final-year fashion collection that does what most collections try (and fail) to do. It surprises you. Not with loud gimmicks or impossible silhouettes, but with meaning. With a story. With memory, myth, and movement. And yes, with mermaids.
So what does a moon kite have to do with a mermaid tail?
Everything. Shertienne Lee, who studied Fashion Contour at the London College of Fashion, took inspiration from the Wau Bulan, a traditional Malaysian kite shaped like a crescent moon. These kites are handmade, delicately painted, and deeply tied to local heritage. They’re gorgeous, and they’re also quietly fading away. Fewer people make them. Fewer people fly them. And like so many cultural crafts, they’re slipping through the cracks of modern life.
But what if a disappearing tradition could swim again?
That’s what Shertienne asked herself. And instead of writing an essay about it, she made a collection, one that turns a kite into a mermaid tail. No, really. The curved shapes of the kite show up in the silhouettes. The floral motifs inspired the look of fish-like scales. She even designed the garments for actual movement in water, which makes sense since this isn’t just fantasy; it’s built for mermaiding, a real underwater sport with a fast-growing global community.
Smart, right? But here’s where it gets even more interesting: it’s not just about beauty. It’s about how beauty is made.
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Material meets movement, but also meaning
Unlike commercial mermaid tails that are made entirely of silicone (thick, heavy, and expensive), Shertienne’s designs use fabric as the base. She chooses lightweight silk organza and douppion, both sourced from a UK heritage textile supplier. Then she strategically adds silicone embellishments, flexible enough to move, strong enough to survive water, and beautiful enough to turn heads in or out of the pool.
There’s also power mesh, a man-made fabric with a stretch that allows for structure and swimming. But it’s not just functional. It changes the whole aesthetic. It gives the tail a new kind of texture, one that stands out from the overly shiny, hyper-feminine mermaid look we’re all used to. And that’s the point. This isn’t a costume. It’s a design with depth. It’s fashion that can breathe — literally, underwater — and culturally, across generations.
“ The final project is an incredible entrepreneurial concept. What an amazingly original and experimental collection. It conveys knowledge of contour and a passion for pushing the boundaries.”
Angela Kinnings & Carlotta Ghigi, tutors of Fashion Contour
She’s not new to storytelling, either
If this sounds too polished to be student work, that’s because Shertienne’s already playing in big creative arenas. Back in 2022, she won the Link Award at the MareDiModa fair for a design inspired by Guan Yin, the goddess of compassion. She’s also dressed Malaysian actor Aaron Teoh (of Wicked) and his wife in a custom Batik ensemble for a London red carpet event. That one moment turned Batik into a red carpet statement, and suddenly, Malaysian heritage was trending in couture conversation.
With Clouded Allure, she’s going even deeper. This isn’t just about bringing culture into the spotlight. It’s about reworking heritage through a commercial, contemporary lens. She’s not preserving the past in a museum. She’s rebuilding it into a product, one that performs, tells a story, and could actually sell. That’s the kind of thinking fashion investors should be paying attention to.
But why should we care?
Because this is where the future of fashion lives. Not in fast cycles. Not in copy-paste aesthetics. But in new minds, new markets, and ideas that can travel between cultures and between water and air, quite literally.
Shertienne Lee isn’t just another design graduate with a moodboard and a dream. She’s applying craft like a business. She’s leveraging heritage like an asset. And she’s creating an immersive niche in a lifestyle category that’s still wide open for innovation. Imagine the possibilities. Swimwear brands. Wellness resorts. Cultural tourism. Even film and fantasy collaborations. She’s not just designing; she’s positioning. And more importantly, she’s asking better questions.
What if a mermaid could carry your grandmother’s story? What if your cultural identity was your most marketable idea? These are the kinds of creative provocations that make Clouded Allure more than a pretty collection. It’s an invitation. To rethink what fashion can do. To remember what beauty can be. To make space for the cultures that shaped us, even underwater.
Shertienne’s visual storytelling was made possible by a deeply talented team:
- Creative Direction & Photography: Karolina Kai
- Set Design: Grace Ng
- Jewellery: Bertha Ko
- Bags: Effie Wong
- Hair & Makeup Artists: Stefanie (E S M É), Rosie Hazel
- Models: Stella, Nessa, and Cecilie
