This is an example of a bridal costume worn during the traditional 12 day Peranakan Chinese wedding. It is a T-shaped garment with broad, straight sleeves that are broad, heavy and long. It is possibly made of silk, and richly embroidered with auspicious symbols in silk and gold thread couching. At the centre of the costume is a panel featuring the phoenix and lotus flowers. The phoenix can represent beauty, grace, high virtue, the Empress and the bride while the lotus symbolises elegance, beauty, perfection, purity and grace, virtues considered as ideal female attributes. Other motif on this piece includes the goldfish which symbolises abundant wealth. The bride was expected to strike a formal pose which required her to fold her hands in front of her and adjust the ends of the two sleeves in such a way that one slips into the other.
