Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but wedding gowns are a matter of the heart. Cheena Ng Lio, Owner and Fashion Designer Executive of Amour Couture, knows this well. Cheena describes wedding gowns as made from the bride's very stories of hope, faith, and love.
Cheena pursued her passion for design at the School of Fashion and Arts before fully pursuing a career in fashion. As she started to create pieces for herself, Amour Couture eventually grew into a made-to-order brand. A versatile mix of fantasy, edge, and reality, Amour Couture's pieces ensure that the femininity and class of the pieces are always maintained despite the clients' different preferences. "I aim to please them," Cheena says. "[But] I still make sure that they don't get it just because they want it. It needs to suit them, their personalities, and their body type," she adds.
Truly, Cheena prioritizes not only the desires of its clients but the overall aesthetic quality and compatibility. Communicating with her clients is her forte, making sure that they become her partners in creating the masterpiece they will be wearing on the big day. "Using my clients and their stories as inspirations really helps a lot in creating a gown that would seem to have my clients' personalities instilled within them," Cheena explains. Devoting her creative energy to her clients, Cheena recommends a minimum of two months notice for her bridal gowns.
"Some have found a way to just create gowns, but they don't represent anything," muses Cheena. "I want to be able to touch more people's lives with the things I create, [to] be part of their stories." At the end of the day, what truly makes any gown special are the stories and inspirations behind every piece of work, highlighting the importance of a sartorial connoisseur--and Amour Couture truly values that.
