How Nelissa Hilman and ManekNya created Nadine Jasmine’s dream Peranakan-inspired wedding shoes

“I immediately thought of ManekNya,” says Nelissa. “I’ve visited their exhibition before and always wanted to explore beaded shoes for Nelissa Hilman.”

Enter Swee Lin, co-founder of ManekNya. The ManekNya brand is all about reviving the traditional art of Peranakan beading. It’s most commonly seen on fully-beaded traditional Nyonya shoes, but through ManekNya’s efforts the beading art is gaining new contemporary ground. “Nelissa approached me and shared with me this idea of curating Peranakan-inspired wedding shoes, and I just said yes!” says Swee Lin. 

The dream team was in place—now to manifest the wedding shoes. The process became an ongoing balance between crafting the shoe itself, and designing the beading that would adorn it. 

“There were lots of discussions that took place to curate this pair of shoes,” Swee Lin says. “The inspiration for the design came from Nelissa's desire to incorporate flowers into the shoes, which was the starting point. This concept was further expanded when Nadine was introduced to the vibrant colours of our finished art piece, the Peranakan bowl. The colours and the hues of the kamcheng sparked an idea, and we decided to infuse those same colours into the beads, creating a harmonious colour blend of tradition and personal touch.”

“We had a pointy heel which we were sampling at the time, and Nadine was looking for a slingback, so we thought—okay, nice timing,” Nelissa says. “Nadine’s full name is Nadine Jasmine, so we wanted her name and flower to be centred in the design and researched about jasmine flowers and patterns for the shoes.”

“While it may seem easy, it's a long process of deciding the colours, placement of the flowers and creating the patterns,” Swee Lin says. “After deciding on all of the above, the beads were then sewn one by one into intricate floral patterns, making this the most time-consuming part of the process. Our Master Artisan meticulously hand-stitched the beads onto the face of the shoes, carefully creating the desired patterns and ensuring each bead was placed perfectly.”

Meanwhile Nadine watched and waited as her dream shoes came to life. “It was a meticulous process that took several months,” she says. “From conceptualisation to crafting the intricate beadwork, every step required a high level of patience and precision. The floral beading of my shoe symbolises the flower Jasmine of my name which made it even more meaningful—knowing that every bead was placed with intention made the wait entirely worth it.”

Behind the scenes, the work was challenging. “The process of creating this Peranakan shoe was different from our usual approach,” Swee Lin explains. “Traditionally, we bead the shoe upper first and then construct the shoe. However for this project, Nelissa designed the shoe first, and we beaded on top of her existing shoe design. The upper cloth material was quite different from what we typically use for traditional beading, plus the upper pieces of the shoes were already pre-cut into patterns, and the lining had already been glued in place. We beaded directly onto the leather, which left no room for error. Any mistake could leave a visible needle mark, which was an absolute no-no.

“To give you some context, our Master Artisan, Swee May, broke at least six needles in the process. Usually, one needle can last quite a long time, and to break a needle is considered a taboo for a Nyonya lady.”

Broken needles and all, it was worth it. The delicately beaded flowers added light and shimmer to the classic Nelissa Hilman slingbacks, and worked just as well with Nadine’s sweetly simple akad nikah look as with her Pink Saloma reception look. 

“Creating modern Peranakan-inspired shoes using traditional techniques was definitely one of my favourite parts,” says Swee Lin, “and seeing it come to life during Nadine's wedding.”

“It was such a fulfilling collaboration,” Nadine tells us. “Nelissa and her team truly understood my vision and brought it to life so beautifully, while ManekNya’s expertise in traditional beading added an irreplaceable touch of heritage. Holding them in my hands, knowing the story behind every stitch and bead, made me emotional. But beyond that, my favourite part was the journey itself—working with such talented artisans, learning about the craft, and ultimately wearing something that carried so much meaning on one of the most important days of my life.” 

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