Keeping Warm By Will Power

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30137, 22 May 1963, Page 2

Keeping Warm By Will Power

“Miss Singapore” (Miss Nancy Liew) has her own way of keeping the wintry weather of Christchurch at nay, without resorting to woollen underwear for protection against low temperatures.

“I just say to myself ‘it is not cold’ and I feel quite warm,” she said yesterday after giving a display of national dress seen in Singapore.

But a 15.8 degree frost on Sunday sorely tested her strong-minded attitude. “Yes, it was cold on Sunday morning,” she agreed. “But it did not take me very long to warm up.” Before the Mayoress of Christchurch (Mrs G. Manning) and nearly 30 other women guests at the Qantas Empire Airways office, Miss Liew paraded the national dress of Chinese, Indian and Malayan women in Singapore. National Dress First she appeared in an Indian sari to rich silks handwoven with gold thread. The short tomato red and gold blouse, with bare midriff, topped a six-yard sari skirt in turquoise blue edged with a wide band of gold weave. Miss Liew showed how the skirt was attached at the waistline and how it was draped over the shoulder. This sari would sell for nearly £3O to Singapore, she said. Next she wore a traditional Malay sarong-kebaya with its straight side-split skirt in sapphire blue and gold silk. This

she wore with a fitting powder blue and gold lace overblduse.

A fourth generation Chinese Malayan herself, Miss Liew wore the Chinese cheongsam with special pride. In emerald and jade green Thai silk, her cheongsam was horizontally striped in gold thread; the skirt was split to the thighs. Miss Liew has also brought to Christchurch, for the “Asia Week” festival, the smart new yellow and black uniform she wears as a hostess for Malayan Airways.