Iskandar x Nadia Tjoa, Miss Face of Humanity 2022 — Pearls of Purpose
Fashion Art Toronto 2022

Collaboration with Nadia Tjoa

The collection’s runway was given a human anchor through a special collaboration with Nadia Tjoa, crowned Miss Face of Humanity 2022. The pageant—an international platform for female change‑makers who believe in the power of humanity to change the world—finds a natural echo in Iskandar’s work. Nadia’s presence on stage did more than model a look; it amplified the collection’s intent. Movement became advocacy, posture became narrative, and a single walk read as a statement about cultural pride, compassion and visible stewardship.

Values, craft and meaning

Wayang’s grammar—flattened planes, ritualised gestures, layered storytelling—shapes the collection’s structure rather than its surface alone. The tapis is woven into method as much as motif, so that woven logic informs cut and silhouette. The palette balances vibrant reds, deep blacks and purples with soft pastels, and textures suggest handwork: beading, layered panels and drape that catch light like wet shells. Pearls operate as the organising metaphor: small, formed slowly, luminous from within. Presenting each garment as a “pearl of cultural memory” keeps the work humble; it asks viewers to value accumulation, care and continuity over spectacle.

From visibility to responsibility

This partnership reframes runway attention as responsibility. The collection’s commitments—to ethical materials, upcycling and mindful staging—align with the pageant’s humanitarian emphasis, turning visibility into a platform for advocacy. Collaborating with a titleholder of Indonesian heritage positions the work as cultural ambassadorship rather than appropriation: motifs are translated with respect, and the runway becomes a place where craft, story and social purpose meet.

Seen together, Pearls from Southeast Asia and the collaboration with Nadia Tjoa make a simple claim: fashion can hold story and stewardship at once. The clothes ask the wearer to carry memory with dignity, and ask the viewer to look longer, listen closer, and recognise that beauty can be an act of care.