COVER STORY | ISSUE 038 | FEB '25
They say that passion fuels progress, which is certainly the case with Kittie Yiyi. Having recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of her debut fashion collection, the internet personality-turned-entrepreneur looks into the rearview mirror, examining her journey through the lens of personal growth. Maturing is realising that a business is not a fairytale, for to build an empire on clouds is to have lousy foundations for when the storm hits.
Jacket: Kittie Yiyi Collection. Shirt: Behati. Earrings: Swarovski.
Kittie Yiyi is not one to paint by numbers. Her blatant disregard for convention has been conspicuous from the moment she catapulted herself to the fashion frontline with all guns blazing a decade ago at Kuala Lumpur Fashion Week. A mob of mischief-makers did her bidding, sent down the runway in a riot of unapologetic hues, staking her claim as the next voice of a generation. That refreshing devil-may-care attitude, bolstered by her vibrant fury and untamed energy, brought a jolt of excitement to a mushrooming yet homogenous industry.

Her provocateur status has only solidified with the passing of time. With every endeavour she asserts her design direction, shutting down hometown sceptics screaming ‘shock value’ along the way. A creative of cheap thrills she is not. Her latest undertaking—a high-octane happening to mark the 10th anniversary of her eponymous label—nailed the naysayers in their place. Turning a 28,000-square-foot piazza into a playground of flash and flair, the effervescent polymath reminded the world of her irreverence with a curated medley of her greatest hits.
Living life in the fast lane, by all accounts, is a double-edged sword. The sensation of success is intoxicating, but rarely does one get the luxury of stopping and savouring the moment. Kittie, whose gaze is always drawn to the horizon and not the footprints she leaves behind, certainly felt it in the days leading up to the showcase. “I didn't realise that I have accomplished so much,” she says in disbelief. “It only dawned on me when I started skimming through my past collections for pieces to be featured in the show. It was overwhelming,” she recounts the rush before the curtain-up.

What transpired was a flurry of colour and craftsmanship. Familiar faces illuminated the stage, while in the audience, amid the cacophony of screaming fans, an unlikely pair of spectators sat, locked in attention and silently taking it all in. Kittie’s parents were in attendance. “The only time they saw my work was at my school’s graduation show,” she says, searching for a justification in the looking glass before her. “I don’t know. I feel like I haven’t accomplished something that I can really be proud of. That is why I hesitate to have them at any of my shows,” she adds.
MAKING IT BIG
Dress: Kittie Yiyi Collection. Shoes: Talent's own. Earrings, necklace and bracelets: Gung Jewellery.
The unforgiving nature of time, however, has Kittie reassessing her stance. She feels a nagging urgency to whisper to her parents the sweet echoes of her victories, big or small, before the world quiets around them. The 10th-anniversary celebration was the turning point. “They didn't say anything,” she replies, when asked about their reactions to the show, her voice tinged with a sense of vindication, having stuck to her guns despite their best effort to have her change career paths. “They’re just typical Asian parents who are not expressively affectionate,” she supposes.

Family, in truth, is integral in shaping her character arc. Kittie picked up the art of drawing from her aunt, who taught her to bring her favourite anime characters to life with a pencil and paper. “I remember drawing outfits for Usagi Tsukino from Sailor Moon,” she reminisces. Her interest in dressmaking can be traced back to the rhythmic hum of her grandmother’s sewing machine. “I used to cut the curtain in my room to make dresses for my Barbie doll,” she shares. And his disapproval notwithstanding, her father borrowed money from her aunt to fund her studies.
Sweater: Kate Spade. Earrings: Gung Jewellery.
Kittie’s insistence that she hasn’t done enough feels like a riddle without an answer, especially with the many highs she has reached thus far. From building her fashion brand—whose pieces can be found in the farthest reaches of China—from scratch to establishing her own beauty brand Kittie Yiyi Beauty, her rental service Rent With Kittie, and venturing into the world of F&B with Clean U, the Puchong-born designer, on paper, has nothing to prove and everything to show for herself. So what would it take to make her feel like she has truly arrived?

“I used to think that success means having money. It is very shallow,” she prefaces her answer, carefully selecting her words. Her perspective is not just logical—it’s a survival mechanism forged in the fires of past experience that is her upbringing. She saw what money, or the lack thereof, could do to people who constantly seek it. Witnessing her parents in screaming matches over it was scarring. “One of the reasons I left the house was because they kept fighting. So I told myself that I was going to make a lot of money to shut them up,” she recalls.
CHASING SUNSET
Kittie then admits that the notion is rather nonsensical given the reality of fashion life in Malaysia. “I don’t make a lot—being in fashion doesn't really earn you big income—but I have enough,” she adds. Kittie grapples with the flimflam of finance for a while, having been hounded by her elders to have savings for rainy days, which is not entirely bad advice. But she couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out why she would ever go for a paycheck instead of passion. That was until she reached a level of maturity that allowed her to see reason—but not in the way her parents had hoped.

“I need to make money now so that I can slow down later to create things that I like without worrying whether they sell or not,” she strategises, exposing the inner workings of her mind in real-time. The definition of success, in her book, hinges neither on the compliments she receives nor the censure she endures. It is manifested in the shape of time; the luxury to strut to the beat of her own drum. “I feel like I’m always pressed for time. That is why I keep telling myself that I would have enough time to focus on my fashion work if I become successful enough,” she adds.
WATCH: KITTIE YIYI SHOWS US
A FEW OF HER FAVOURITE THINGS
Those who have been keeping tabs on Kittie’s style saga—her 122,000 Instagram followers, for starters—would know that she has not had a new collection out in about four years. This is largely due to the fact that the designer has pivoted her business model with Rent With Kittie. It was a necessary shift that was prompted by the realisation that her creations, albeit original, do not appeal to the palate of the mass market. The wait, however, is almost over. Kittie has teased a comeback with a new collection set to launch this September.

“Making clothes that are really loud may have set me apart, but that space is growing, so there’s a disconnect between what I do and what the consumers want,” she admits. Kittie’s next move will focus on commercial value to ensure the sustainability of her brand. Her next epoch will emphasise wearability without completely abandoning the core values of the Kittie Yiyi Collection. “I feel like the pieces I've created so far belong on a stage, not the street. I mean, I’m comfortable wearing them in everyday settings, but I recognise they may not be for everyone,” she adds.
GRITTY KITTIE
Dress: Wei Hao Yong. Shoes: Behati. Earrings and bracelet: Gung Jewellery.
Offering a hint at what awaits, Kittie implies that the collection will be a discreet departure from her signature style. Some of the buzzwords thrown around include ‘accessible’, ‘functional’, and ‘grounded'. "I have become more toned down these past few years,” she strings the words into something that resembles an explanation. “Something flipped inside me when the world went into lockdown a few years ago. I couldn’t find the happiness I once had, and suddenly, all these strange emotions started flooding in. I felt like I had lost my magic,” she thinks back.

The pandemic, needless to say, took a toll on all of humanity. Kittie was no exception. Her blossoming business came to a screeching halt and her affairs in China drifted to a standstill. Unpaid bills, furloughed staff, and dwindling morale left her scrambling for solutions, scraping the bottom of the barrel just to keep the lights on. Sheltering with her boyfriend at home, she faced a different set of obstacles. Constant proximity blurred the lines between work, personal, and relationship. What was once a safe haven gradually turned into a savage battlefield.
But Kittie came out the other side, while not necessarily stronger, with a clarity that only comes from embracing the chaos. In due course, she learned to harness the breadth of her emotional spectrum. “I did not manage to find that magic again, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” she says, taking her rose-tinted glasses off. “It made me realise that being human is so interesting,” she adds. Her last collection briefly reflected this profound philosophy. Caught in the swirl of rainbow-coloured clothes, shades of beguiling black crept up, a manifestation of her depression.

“This is the direction that I think I'll be going into after this. I wouldn’t say it’s a complete 180 from what I have been doing; it’s not going to be that ‘dark’ but it should be more relatable, instead of just an unfettered cascade of colour,” she eases the concerns of her loyal fans. Kittie promises that her next collection will be more emotionally charged.
She is a ray of sunshine that lights up any room she enters, that much is true. But the burden of expectation placed on her padded shoulders to always be the life of the party is a disservice to her humanity. Kittie Yiyi is a person, not a performance. Like all of us, she is a beautiful paradox, equal parts light and shadow. She may have been born with a built-in positivity—she often finds joy in the simple streaming sunlight—but she still has her own storms to weather. In a rare moment of vulnerability, she gets candid about the turbulence she has to tame.

“I have always struggled with low self-esteem,” she lets slip. “Back when I was in high school, people were always making fun of me because of my skin tone—I was darker compared to most of my Chinese peers,” she replays the repressed memory. Kittie shares that she was often called ‘black chicken’ or ‘charcoal’ and these words chipped away at her confidence without her realising. The friends that she did have did little more than skim the surface of her doubts. One of them was even responsible for her first—and worst—heartbreak.
FEELING BLUE
Dress: Kittie Yiyi Collection. Earrings: Kate Spade. Ear cuff, rings and bangle: Barely Regal.
“It felt like everything was falling apart around me,” she says. The echoes of that trauma, unfortunately, still reverberate through time. She recently caught herself crying in her car, out of fear that everybody was leaving her, when a friend pulled out of their planned venture. The experience has also cast a shadow over her current relationship—the only way she can receive affection is through words of affirmation. “I no longer feel the same sense of trust in my friendships, but I try to not take things too seriously,” she nods in resignation.

This might come as a surprise to her fans, who have long seen her close-knit female friendships showcased across her social media. “I have always felt that where there are girls, there’s drama, so I never expected my community to be made up of so many women. But I’m really grateful for everyone around me,” she shares. Reflecting on her journey, Kittie acknowledges that healing is still a work in progress. “It’s just that now, I don’t rely on anyone. I only try to be kind to everyone—that’s all,” she wraps up the conversation, leaving the makeup chair for the set.
Dress: Kittie Yiyi Collection. Shoes: H&M Studio.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / JASON LIM
CREATIVE DIRECTION, STYLING & LAYOUT DESIGN / SARAH TAI
INTERVIEW & TEXT / NIKITA NAWAWI
STYLING ASSISTED BY / BENEDICT UNANG
ART DIRECTION ASSISTED BY / EVE LYN LAU
PHOTOGRAPHY / LOBACH
PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTED BY / CARL LIM & CHENYEE
VIDEOGRAPHY / DENNIS KHO
MAKEUP / JENN TEH
HAIR / JUNO KO
CREDITS
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