We sit down with Malaysian designer Dickson Lim to talk about tailoring, personal style, breaking traditional rules, and building an independent fashion brand. From growing up in a family of tailors to redefining what modern tailoring can be, Dickson shares his creative journey, his thoughts on AI and fashion, and why staying true to your own point of view matters.
Brownfashiongal: Let’s start with the first question, Dickson. I would love to understand more about your background and where you’re from. As far as I understand, you don’t come from a very traditional or conventional fashion background, right? So we’d love to know how you got started in your fashion journey. Did you always know that you wanted to do fashion, or is it something you discovered later in life? Just tell us a little bit more about how you started.
Dickson Lim: Fashion actually wasn’t my first choice. My first choice was to be a movie director. If you guys know James Wan, he’s a filmmaker and he’s born in Kuching as well. I’m from Kuching, and when I saw him make it to Hollywood, it really inspired me. I thought, “Wow, if James Wan, someone from Kuching, can actually make it big in Hollywood, maybe I can be a movie director too and make it in Hollywood.”
But I’m not born into a family in the movie business. I’m born into a family of tailors. I was actually quite delusional about it until college. I thought, “You know what? I’m going to be a movie director.” But as I grew older, I thought maybe it wasn’t very realistic.
So I thought, since I’m born in a family of tailors and my family always wanted me to pursue tailoring, maybe being a tailor is my life. Initially, I hated tailoring. I was like, “Nah, I’m not going to do this for the rest of my life. It’s so boring.” But this is what my family always wanted me to do.
In the end, I thought, “You know what? I can’t be a movie director. Maybe being a tailor is my life.” So what I did was learn tailoring. After I learned the basics, I thought, “Why not make it fun? Why not make it exciting for me and make it something that I want to do every single day?”
So yeah, that’s how I started, basically. I learned the basics, and I wanted to make tailoring fun. That’s how I started.
Brownfashiongal: So you mentioned you were eager to pursue a career in movies. Do you think that interest in movies and being a film director somehow translated into being a fashion designer? Do you think there’s any connection between the two in terms of your creative vision or skill set?
Dickson Lim: I feel like movies and fashion are definitely in the same creative field. But as I mentioned earlier, my biggest inspiration is James Wan. Seeing someone born in Kuching make it big in Hollywood inspired me. I thought, “Okay, I’m coming from Kuching, but maybe I can be a movie director, maybe I can be a fashion designer.”
I would say the biggest inspiration is someone I look up to who really inspired me that it’s not where I’m born that dictates my future. It’s what I do with my life.
Brownfashiongal: You mentioned you come from a family of tailors. When we think of tailoring, it’s generally very gatekept, especially in the West. It’s always seen as an exclusive, elite thing. Your approach to it seems much more desirable and current for the current generation. So when you’re working with a foundation that is traditionally so conservative, how do you manage to make it seem cool?
Dickson Lim: At first, when I started, I wouldn’t say I planned to be a fashion designer. I just wanted to make clothes fun. Initially, when I first started, I was basically just recreating designers’ pieces because I didn’t go to fashion school.
I really liked these designs from Louis Vuitton or Prada. I really liked these pants, I really liked this jacket, so I thought, “You know what? Let me recreate it.”
If I were to buy them, they might cost $10,000 or $15,000, and I couldn’t afford that. If I learned how to make them, I could develop new skills and learn the construction of the design as well.
I still remember when I first recreated a design from Louis Vuitton, designed by Virgil Abloh in his second show. It was a really cool blazer. I made it, and I remember wearing it to a tailoring conference. Everyone was judging me. They were like, “Why are you making these kinds of things? Why is your sleeve so long?”
Even my family, I would say, sort of made fun of me. They were like, “Why are you making these kinds of things? Nobody would want it.”
At first, people were like, “What are you doing?” But after I started posting my work online and gaining attention from the founder of Fashion Week in Kuala Lumpur, they slowly started to change their perception of tailoring.
Tailoring is very gatekept. Everyone feels like, “A suit should be like this. You cannot do it like that.” Especially in the tailoring world, everything has to follow a certain set of rules.
So when I break them, at first they’ll be like, “What are you doing?” But when people start appreciating what I do, I mean, it’s different, yes, but different doesn’t mean bad. Slowly, they started accepting what I do.
And for those who made fun of me before, now they’re like, “Wow, this kid really has something.” So you really just have to prove them wrong in a way.
Brownfashiongal: Talking more about the clothes, I’ve noticed that your tailoring itself is very masculine and structured. Tailoring is a lot about structure. But you take those foundations and make them more fluid, almost very sensual, with a slightly feminine touch. I would love to understand how you balance that restraint with the cool sexiness in terms of garment construction.
Dickson Lim: So I would say my upbringing definitely shaped the way I see clothes. I learned from both my dad and my mom, and it definitely made me think, “Why can’t I just merge it while still maintaining a strong identity?”
It’s not like this is a men’s suit inspired by women’s details. It just feels very fluid. Clothes don’t have any gender. You can just wear whatever you want.
A lot of people say that with tailoring you have to follow a certain set of rules. But I feel like we’re in 2026 now, and when people wear something, they should wear what makes them happy. The only style that actually matters is your personal style. I feel like that’s very important.
For me as a designer, I want to create something that excites me, that makes me feel excited. I’m really excited to bring a design to life. That’s how I operate: making designs that are fun and exciting to create for me.
Brownfashiongal: So you mentioned personal style. How closely do you think the brand’s aesthetic and design direction reflects your personal style? Do you think that has a role to play?
Dickson Lim: Definitely. The designs I do are definitely a bit more extreme because, for me, this is what I wear mostly. I wear my own T-shirts, mostly designer wear. But I don’t just wear a blank black T-shirt and sweatpants or something. I like to keep it classy a little bit, wear a little bit of a suit.
Of course, when I show up at events, I have a full range of designs to pick from. I can usually wear whatever I want.
Anyway, what was the question again? I think I’m a bit off track. What was the question again?
Brownfashiongal: About the correlation between your brand aesthetic and your personal style. I wanted to know if that’s something you derive from. Generally, designers tend to derive their design aesthetic from what they would like to wear, especially people who have started their own brand. It comes from within.
I’ve seen your Instagram and your photos, and I do see that you represent the brand pretty well, which I think is very important for a young designer.
Dickson Lim: Thank you, thank you.
Brownfashiongal: You mentioned that your mother does women’s wear tailoring. I would love to know if you ever have plans of getting into women’s wear, or do you just want to focus on menswear?
Dickson Lim: No, actually. In my previous collection, Spring/Summer 2026, which was a show I did last year, I actually introduced womenswear. There were women’s blazers, women’s trousers, women’s looks.
Every collection I create every year, I always try to introduce new elements to keep the brand exciting and really show progress. Every collection, there’s something new.
But what I noticed is that, because my brand specializes in menswear tailoring, ever since I started creating womenswear designs, it just seemed like my brand was a bit out of focus. I don’t know. In a way, that’s how I feel.
With the new collection, what I’m trying to do differently is, instead of making a womenswear cut with an hourglass shape and things like that, I would just use a woman’s model and put the men’s clothing on a woman. It shows that all the designs are genderless instead of making things specifically for men and women.
Brownfashiongal: When we talk about menswear, from the point of view of a general person who’s not into fashion, menswear is often looked at as a limiting design domain. People think of shirts, blazers, maybe a basic sweatshirt or hoodie. How important is it for you to change that perception? Does that mentality play any role in your design language or direction?
Dickson Lim: I wouldn’t say menswear is very limited. I feel like compared to womenswear designers, there are so many more womenswear designers compared to menswear.
But I feel like designers like John Galliano and what he did with Maison Margiela—when you look at the clothes, it’s just like, “Wow.” I don’t feel like there’s any restraint on menswear design language.
I think it’s mostly based on what men are willing to wear. Men will always go for something simpler compared to women. I think it comes down to personal taste.
Most menswear designers design for men, so they want to create something that they want to wear in a way. But I feel like there’s definitely no restraint on designing menswear. I think it’s mostly based on us as designers designing something for what a man would want to wear.
Brownfashiongal: When we think about emerging designers, most of the designers we see unfortunately come from certain countries, mostly from the West. There has been a big push for more emerging designers from different regions of the world. As you grow and become a more prominent figure in the industry, how would you want to navigate your cultural identity? How big of a role do you think being a Malaysian designer or your cultural identity will play in your future?
Dickson Lim: Where I’m from is Sarawak, but I would say most of my designs are not really deeply rooted in the culture. For me, I just want to make something. I don’t really look at the culture here for inspiration. I always look outwards, at the designers who inspire me.
But what I plan to do in the future is, because I’ve been looking at my surroundings here, the culture and Sarawak specialties, like the weaving motifs, I feel like in the future I definitely want to incorporate that into my design.
I feel like it’s such a unique point of view for me to utilize because, the way I’m designing now, when people see it, I feel like there’s no cultural significance.
But if I can infuse the weaving motifs into my design, I feel like it would definitely give my design a fresh take, and it’s something Western audiences don’t really see. I feel like it’s a cool concept to explore in the future, and that’s my plan.
Brownfashiongal: You’ve been running your brand for almost five or six years now, and you’ve also been running a store alongside that. You also have such a strong digital and social media presence. What does your day-to-day look like? For a fashion student who thinks, “I want to be a fashion designer,” what does being a fashion designer actually entail, especially when you’re juggling so many things?
Dickson Lim: That’s a really good question because I feel like every designer operates differently. For someone like me, who didn’t have a proper fashion education, everything I do is based on what works for me.
Here’s how my day-to-day life is. I wake up in the morning, come to work, and the moment I arrive at work, I start working. I create patterns, and if there’s a customer order I have to ship, I’ll ship it. I’ll make more patterns, make more designs, and attend to clients.
Actually, what I do day-to-day is based on the year. You can divide it into four quarters.
One quarter, I mainly focus on designing and brainstorming. Every day, I get on my iPad and just draw, draw, draw—design every single day.
When it’s closer to Fashion Week, I start making more designs, doing patterns, cutting, picking the fabrics, selecting the fabrics, and buying fabrics online. It’s a lot of trial and error because I’m from Kuching, Sarawak, and the materials are very limited. I have to buy everything online.
Sometimes, when things arrive, they don’t look or feel the way you imagined them to be.
Then there’s the production stage, where I’m cutting, designing, and working closely with my artisan, telling him, “Okay, this is a new design, and this is how you sew it. These are the details. Don’t get it wrong.”
Sometimes they do get it wrong, especially with complicated designs and first samples. They will definitely get it wrong, and the workmanship wouldn’t be as nice because there’s a lot of trial and error. They have to remove it and stitch it back again.
Then there’s the second quarter, and the third quarter is where I do the fashion show. After the show, I take photos, call in the models, do a lot of photoshoots, and plan content. How do I tell the world I’m releasing a new collection?
The next quarter would mostly be a mix of everything. Sometimes we design, sometimes I do the patterns. But what’s constant between all four quarters is content creation. It’s every day.
That’s something I’ve been putting away this year because it’s really tiring. When you have to design, do the patterns, tell the artisans what to do, keep up with social media trends, and think about content—”Is this content valuable? Will people watch it? Will this go viral?”—there are a lot of things to juggle.
Sometimes you really do get burnt out, and that’s why I haven’t been creating many videos recently. I’m just so tired. When I think, “I have to do a video,” I’m like, “I don’t want to do it.”
I’d rather spend my time cutting patterns, designing, and making new pieces behind the scenes. People don’t see that, but when I work on that, I’m still making progress. I’m just working more behind the scenes.
During these periods, of course, there are ups and downs. Sometimes you feel really inspired to do something, and sometimes you feel like, “I’m so lazy. I really don’t feel like showing up.”
But you really just have to force yourself to do it. That’s how being a designer is for me.
Brownfashiongal: Do you think it’s an unfair expectation for designers to manage and create so much content? If you’re a fashion designer, you have to give as much time to content creation as you spend designing. Do you think that pressure to create content and be cool and viral on social media is compromising or affecting your fashion design creativity? Or do you enjoy doing it? Do you think it’s a good balance?
Dickson Lim: I wouldn’t say it’s an unfair expectation because that’s expected of every field now. For example, a café that goes viral—the founder would make videos: “Today this is what we’re doing,” or “This is how we built the café.” It’s not just in fashion design; it’s in every field.
You really have to create content, keep people engaged, connect with your audience, and build a relationship with them so they’ll keep tuning in and seeing, “What is this guy doing now?”
But, like you mentioned, I try to balance both. I focus on the design part, and I also focus on content creation. I think the solution is that you have to find an efficient way to do both.
My way is that I don’t just design one collection at once. I’ll design two or three collections ahead so that I feel safe. I don’t want to finish one collection and think, “My God, what am I going to do next? What if I get burnt out? I have no ideas?”
So I design a few collections ahead. I get it done, and I feel like I have more time to think about content creation.
Content creation is more in the now. I think of an idea and I’ll shoot it. Whereas with design, you can design something that you’re really proud of, but you can always release it later.
I feel like finding a balance between both is important, and I don’t think it’s unfair. I feel like good pressure also pushes you to go further. If you don’t get any pressure at all, you’d be too comfortable.
And when you’re too comfortable, it’s actually quite dangerous. That’s when you feel like, “It’s chill, it’s chill.” But when there’s good pressure, it keeps you moving forward, which is good, in my opinion.
Brownfashiongal: When we talk about fashion and social media, there are two extremes. People are either following micro-trends, or they’re experimenting more than ever with personal style. How do you navigate that shift as a designer? There are so many trends happening that you might feel pressure to create something around them, but by the time you create it, the trend is over. Should a young designer follow trends while they’re still figuring out their identity?
Dickson Lim: I feel like this is a really good question because what makes a designer special is their unique point of view, their taste. It’s not about following trends or saying, “This is what’s trending now,” and then mass-producing it at a cheaper price. That’s not how I think a designer should operate.
A designer should operate by saying, “Okay, this is my unique point of view. This is my design. Let’s see if my design language speaks to you or not.”
It’s not about following trends. It’s about staying true to yourself, staying true to your own unique tastes, what you like and what you don’t like.
Especially if you actually build a brand with your unique point of view, it’s a signal that your taste is worth noticing. So I feel like you shouldn’t accommodate to what people want because everyone wants different things.
I read somewhere something along the lines of, “When you try to accommodate to everyone, you accommodate to no one.”
The best way is to just be true to yourself and be authentic with your design language.
Create designs that inspire you. Create designs that make you feel excited to create. I feel like, trends aside, people can really see the passion behind a creation. When you do something with passion and love, people can actually feel it. That’s what makes design special, in my opinion.
Brownfashiongal: Uniqueness in design is even more valuable now with artificial intelligence everywhere. How do you think a young designer should navigate AI and the pressure that anyone can now be a fashion designer, artist, graphic designer or writer?
Dickson Lim: I feel like AI—we can’t run away from it. It’s the reality we’re facing now.
As designers, we need to learn how to utilize every tool we have and keep up with technology. I wouldn’t say keep up with the trends, but keep up with the technology, especially in today’s world where everything is so fast-paced.
The changes within the last five years have been crazy, so I feel like in the future the changes are definitely going to get faster and faster. As designers, we need to adopt and utilize these tools because if not, we’ll get left behind.
But in my opinion, when I design, I don’t use AI to generate something for me. For me, I already know what I want. The human touch in design is very important.
When I design, I always have an idea, and I keep refining, refining, refining the design until it’s good. Until it’s like, “Wow, okay, I’m happy with this.”
If you just generate something with AI, I feel like it loses the soul of the design—the idea behind the design. It’s just an empty can.
For me, the way I design is that I always start with an idea, and I keep refining it until I find the design is good enough. It’s all based on my own personal taste.
I feel like the process of how the design came to be is what gives a design a soul and a life. That’s not something that can be generated with AI.
As a designer, I also feel it’s very important to talk about your design—how the design came to be and what inspired the piece. That connection, when you talk about a design and talk about the idea, is something where the human side can’t be replaced by AI. I feel like that’s what gives a design a soul.
But of course, we have to utilize AI to refine our words and how we talk about something, especially with content creation.
When you have an idea but it’s all over the place, you can use AI to clean up your idea, structure it nicely, and remove repetition.
For example, if I want to make a video, I’ll note down my ideas. I don’t even type anymore; I just use voice.
I’ll say, “Okay, this is my idea. This is what I want to make today. The video’s title is this, and the core idea is…” Then I’ll ask ChatGPT to help me clean up my ideas, structure them nicely, and see if it’s within a one-minute or 90-second timeframe.
Use AI to refine your work, but never use it to replace you.
Brownfashiongal: Yeah, never use it to create, but always to add on and amplify it.
Dickson Lim: Yeah. To refine your ideas, but never let it replace your voice.
Brownfashiongal: A lot of fashion students and emerging designers are being platformed today. You’re one of the rare people who haven’t gone to fashion school but have built such a successful brand. What are your thoughts on that? If someone asks you, “Should I go to fashion school?” what would your answer be?
Dickson Lim: It depends. I feel like this really depends.
When you choose a career, for example, I’m born in a family of tailors. If I wanted to get into the construction business or oil and gas, it’s fairly impossible because I don’t have the connections. I have nothing.
But I’m born in a family of tailors. Every time I followed my parents to work, I was exposed to sewing machines, cutting fabrics, everything tailoring, everything sewing.
So for me, not going to fashion school doesn’t mean I wasn’t learning. I still get to learn from my surroundings. Every day I learn something new. I get to watch the artisan work. I get to watch my mom work.
But if someone isn’t connected to the fashion or tailoring scene, it’s definitely harder. If they’re born into a family where, for example, their parents are chefs and they want to be a fashion designer, it’s quite difficult for them to get into the fashion industry without proper fashion education.
They also have to be prepared to work ten times harder and work really, really hard. Every time they want to get a fashion sample, they might have to buy a sewing machine, buy this, buy that. When they want to produce a sample, everything is going to cost more if they have to outsource it.
Everything becomes more expensive. They have to work ten times harder. They have to sew all day, all night. They just have to be prepared to work.
Ten times harder, in my opinion, if they’re not connected—if their family or connections aren’t rooted in the fashion scene.
For me, my advantage is that I’m born into a family of tailors and I picked this career. It’s the cards I’m dealt with, and I’m making the most out of the cards I’m dealt with.
It’s easier for me, but I wouldn’t say I don’t work hard. I still work really, really hard to get to where I am.
When I first learned tailoring, I created patterns from day to night, every single day. I would apprentice at a different tailor shop in a different city just so I could learn tailoring.
You know how people always tell stories about the older generation saying, “I had to walk to school to learn”? That’s literally what I did.
I didn’t want to waste my parents’ money. I didn’t want to ask too much from my parents. When I apprenticed with a master tailor in a different city, I got a really cheap hostel, and every morning I would shower and walk to the tailor factory.
The moment I arrived there, I would be drenched in sweat. It was so hot. I would work there from day to night, every single day, creating patterns.
I work hard, but I feel like if you’re not connected to the fashion scene, you can be prepared to work ten times or even a hundred times harder.
But there’s also another way. If you’re famous, you’re a content creator with a huge following, you don’t necessarily have to go to fashion school. You can hire someone to do it and create great PR around your image—that you’re a designer—and if you’re connected to celebrities, you can send your designs to them.
So there are actually different ways. For me, you’re either connected already, like I’m born into a family of tailors; you go to fashion school, but you have to work really hard; or you’re a content creator with a big following, and you can do whatever you want at that point.
And I also want to add that if your family is really wealthy, you can also get into the fashion scene.
There are many ways to get into fashion. There’s not just one way.
Brownfashiongal: People often romanticize the fashion industry. Fashion designers, Paris Fashion Week, London Fashion Week—it’s all seen as glamorous. But people miss out on the day-to-day reality. Do you think you’ve had moments where you’ve realized that the fashion industry is intense or ruthless?
Dickson Lim: Hmm. Pretty brutal. Hmm. Wait, sorry, would you mind repeating it again?
Brownfashiongal: Yeah, sure. What I’m trying to ask is that fashion is generally very glamorized and fantasized about. People have this dreamy idea of what working in fashion is—not just as a designer, but in any other field.
Do you feel that it’s true? Do you think you’ve had any moment where you’ve realized that this is a very intense, almost ruthless industry? Or do you think it’s easy for you to navigate?
Dickson Lim: I wouldn’t say the fashion industry is brutal because, at the end of the day, fashion is clothes. It’s not something like food, something that you need.
For me as a fashion designer, it’s definitely a bit hard to convince people to buy your designs. You get what I mean?
I see clothes as something that’s not a need. It’s more of a want.
The problem I’m facing now is how to do fashion without a big budget. Independent designers don’t have a big budget to hire top models or top celebrities to wear your clothes and get maximum exposure.
You’re not necessarily connected or friends with someone like Justin Bieber or Kylie Jenner, where if they wear something, it will get sold out instantly.
So as an independent designer, it’s definitely harder because you have to find other ways to advertise your designs.
Brownfashiongal: When you look at how social media has changed the fashion industry, what do you think has been the biggest challenge?
Dickson Lim: It’s not as exclusive as it was before, when the barrier to entry was very high. Now everyone who can sew, create and post their work is like—everyone’s a designer.
It also means consumers see new designs every day. And you know what it did? It shortened the shelf life of your creations.
When you create a design, the next day people see something new, and your design is kind of expired already.
People get bored of things a lot faster now. I feel like that’s kind of brutal. You spend months creating something, and people might look at it on social media for just a few seconds.
It makes people appreciate design less, especially with people’s attention spans today. People want fast content. Everything has to be fast. They want their dopamine to be spiked constantly.
You don’t really get that just by looking at design. Of course, people who really appreciate design do, but for the general audience, they would rather spend their time doomscrolling, watching funny videos and memes.
Those are the things that get promoted by social media platforms. For someone like me who does fashion design, you don’t get thousands or 10,000 or 20,000 shares compared to funny videos.
So the challenge is definitely: how do you stand out despite all the noise?
That’s definitely quite challenging.
What I’m doing is really trying to build a connection with my audience and provide value through fashion. I actually shot and recorded some videos because I stopped making videos for a while. When I started making videos again, it gave me a fresh perspective.
I’m really trying to provide value for people. Although maybe it’s not the funny content that gets thousands of reposts, hopefully I can still provide value and insights into what it takes to actually be a fashion designer.
Brownfashiongal: Right.
Dickson Lim: Just educating people on how things actually work.
Brownfashiongal: Right. I think that’s very important because funny content doesn’t really add any value to your life.
Dickson Lim: But that’s what the algorithm pushes. That’s the game, and we just have to play by their rules. We can’t do anything about it.
Brownfashiongal: I was looking through Instagram, and there’s one piece that really stood out to me. I would love to know if you have a favorite piece from your own work that really resonates with you—maybe something you’re emotionally connected to or that you think really stands out.
Dickson Lim: I do have a lot of standout pieces. I have a lot of favorites. Every collection I create has one black look that’s more of a statement piece.
I do have a lot of statement pieces.
Brownfashiongal: You can just tell us about it, and we can add a photo later if you want.
Dickson Lim: Sure. One of my all-time favorite designs that I’ve ever created is called the Sword Blazer.
For me, that design is very special because I wanted to reintroduce what a suit can be.
For example, a jacket usually has the lapel here and the buttons on the waist. But with that design, I basically broke all those rules and did it my way.
I added the closure on the chest, and the lapel is not on the collar; it’s actually on the bottom. So it goes from the bottom up. The buttons are here, and it’s actually a two-piece.
It’s a two-piece that you can detach at the bottom, and it can be just a cropped chest jacket. But when the bottom piece is attached, it becomes a full blazer.
When the closure overlaps between one another, it creates this really interesting shape that looks like a sword.
For me, it’s not just about the design. The construction isn’t just about putting holes in something. I try to create interesting shapes through intersections and things like that. That really gives the whole design depth and structure.
For me, what makes a good design is also that I want it to be challenging to create. I want the design to deserve a “wow” when people look at it. I want them to take a second look, which is very important.
And the third one, I would say—maybe it’s subjective—is timelessness.
I designed that piece in 2022, and looking at it now, it still feels very fresh and timeless.
I feel like that’s part of my design language: I want to create designs that are challenging, that deserve a second look, but timelessness is very important as well.
How I know a design is timeless is, like I mentioned earlier, I design a few collections ahead. The next year, when I look at the design, if it still feels like, “Wow, it still feels fresh,” then I feel like that’s what makes it a good design.
And that’s not something that can be done by AI, I feel.
So the Sword Blazer is definitely one of my all-time favorite designs. It really represents what my brand, Dickson Lim, represents: classic tailoring reimagined with an unexpected twist.
I like to sum it up in one sentence: classic tailoring, reimagined with an unexpected twist.
