This is the bottom half of the ceremonial wedding garment worn by the page girl. It is a skirt made into two pieces, a frontal panel and a back panel joined together at the waist by strings. The design is modelled after the designs of Ming Period costumes. This garment features auspicious Chinese motifs such as the phoenix, peony, birds and butterflies. The phoenix symbolises high virtue while peonies are symbols of spring, which is considered a good time to get married. Butterflies are symbols of romance and love. Wedding couples in Singapore and Malacca were usually flanked by a page boy and page girl while a wedding couple from Penang would usually have a pair of page boys and page girls. Most of these garments were manufactured in China by skilled, professional embroiderers before being shipped to their Straits Chinese customers.
