This is an example of a bridal ceremonial 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 red silk, which is an auspicious colour usually associated with weddings for the Chinese, and richly embroidered with auspicious symbols in silk and gold thread couchings. At the centre of the piece is a bright pink lotus flower. The lotus symbolises elegance, beauty, perfection, purity and grace, virtues considered as ideal female attributes. Other motifs on the piece include peony flowers, phoenix, butterflies and birds. Peonies symbolise spring, love, beauty and good fortune while the phoenix can represent beauty, grace, high virtue, the Empress and the bride. In the same vein, butterflies are symbols of joy, beauty, romance and thus associated with weddings. This garment is designed in the style of the Ming dynasty. 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.
