Obituary | Singapore’s most famous cheongsam maker died last night

Goh Lai Chan (middle, in a hat) with models at the inaugural Fashion for All show at Design Orchard in June last year. File photo: Ivy Kay for SOTD

Renowned qipao designer Goh Lai Chan (吴来灿) passed away last night after a long period of illness, according to friends who knew him. Mr Goh is said to have been battling cancer for the last eight years. He was in hospice care for the past weeks, after surgery that left him partially paralysed. A former stylist who knew him well said that although he was seriously ill in recent days, his parting is still a shock to many, especially among the “dignitaries, socialites, and celebrities”, he was known to dress and have befriend. Mr Goh was 62.

A designer since he was 18, when he was a finalist of the seminal Her World Young Designers’ Contest in 1981, Mr Goh was known to have only one path to pursue: fashion design. The Ngee Ann Polytechnic graduate of building and real estate management did not let the consolation prize that he received deter him. Nor did it prod him to pursue formal education in design. A year later after the contest, he opened The Dress Shop with his sister Sue Ann Goh at the now-defunct Liang Court Shopping Centre in River Valley. The Dress Shop stood out in a mall with a high concentration of Japanese brands and stores, including Daimaru.

The Goh Lai Chan boutique at Mandarin Gallery, fronted by a row of ready-to-wear cheongsams. File photo: Chin Boh Kay for SOTD

Mr Goh did not initially specialise in cheongsams. The Dress Shop offered what working girls with active social lives at the time loved to wear. He toiled on discreetly until his sister decided to pull out of the partnership in 1993. The Dress Shop quietly closed. But two years earlier, Mr Goh had started his eponymous line at Raffles Hotel Arcade. In place of his sister, his brother Eddie joined him to co-manage the business (he does the lacework and embroidery as well). By then, the brand was known to have a strong Japanese clientele that would request for the qipao. Mr Goh, who reportedly made his first cheongsam when he was 14, found a gap in the market to plug.

After 25 years at the Raffles Hotel, he moved his boutique in 2016 to the Paragon, where he was known for his ready-to-wear cheongsams with 18 side buttons and the paozi (袍子, men’s robes) that he called the “man-pao”. Last year, he relocated to the Mandarin Gallery. A former journalist told SOTD that he saw Mr Goh at the lift lobby of the centre at the end of last year. “He looked well. I knew he was sick, but he did not allow his poor health to show. We spoke for a while and he suggested we catch up over tea. And then he left.” Despite his illness, Mr Goh did not turn down opportunities to showcase his work. His last fashion presentation here was the Fashion for All show in July 2024. Although he did not take the customary bow at the show’s end, he was seen by many at what was to be his last appearance in a public event.