Haute Karma: MYTH Creation and the Rise of Spiritual Luxury

The morning light spills across downtown Kuala Lumpur like liquid gold, filtering through the tall windows of Dato’ Sri Bernard Chandran’s studio.

Bolts of silk and sculptural silhouettes stand in quiet formation. A half-finished piece rests on a mannequin — dramatic, precise, unapologetically alive.

From this room, his creations have travelled the world. Lady Gaga. Estelle. Malaysia’s crème de la crème. International fashion weeks. Global press. Champagne toasts beneath chandeliers that glitter like constellations.

For over three decades, Chandran has shaped identity through cloth — telling stories of heritage, power and belonging with every seam.

And yet, even legends feel the pull of silence.

At the height of acclaim, Chandran stepped away.

Not to another runway. Not to another fitting. But to stillness.

In the final days of 2024, he found himself in India, immersed in ten days of Vipassana meditation — no speech, no distraction, no spectacle. The catalyst had arrived months earlier in the form of a life-sized charcoal drawing of an Indian Sadhu by Malaysian artist Ahmad Zaki. Stark. Spiritual. Unsettling. It stirred something ancient within him, calling him beyond fashion’s velocity into introspection.

What emerged from that retreat is MYTH Creation — an exhibition that is less a presentation and more a spiritual renaissance.

Following his celebrated MYTH Evolution, which honoured his Chinese heritage through the symbolism of the Dragon, Chandran began meditating on change itself. “From 龙 (lóng), the Dragon, I meditated on 变 (biàn), meaning Change,” he reflects. “But it wasn’t until I discovered Vipassana meditation that I understood where change leads: 蛇 (shé) — the Snake.”

The Year of the Wood Snake — a celestial cycle that appears only once every sixty years — became his cosmic mirror. The snake does not rush. It sheds. It renews. It waits.

“Like the snake, I symbolically shed my old skin,” Chandran shares. “This retreat reminded me to embrace ‘this too shall pass’ — returning to slow, deliberate thought and self-reflection, free from ego.”

Thus begins MYTHS of Aura, the inaugural chapter of MYTH Creation: four commanding works representing Renewal, Spirituality, Enlightenment and Passion. These are not garments in the traditional sense, nor are they static art objects. They exist in the tension between both worlds — sculptural forms infused with patience, kindness and introspection, echoing the virtues of the Wood Snake itself.

For art connoisseurs, MYTH Creation is a study in transformation — a dialogue between cultural symbolism and contemporary form. For fashion devotees, it is Chandran untethered from trend and time, returning to the essence of storytelling that first made him a visionary. Here, fabric becomes meditation. Structure becomes philosophy. Silence becomes the loudest statement of all.

Christie’s London has already recognised the collection’s significance, presenting selected works alongside pieces from MYTH Evolution in a prestigious showcase last year — affirming that this is not merely fashion crossing into art, but art asserting itself through fashion.

Now exhibited at Chandran’s own studio in Kuala Lumpur, just before the Year of the Snake closes ahead of Lunar New Year 2026, MYTH Creation marks what he calls “the symbolic tail of the snake” — the completion of a full cycle.

In an industry driven by speed and spectacle, Bernard Chandran has chosen patience over performance. Reflection over noise. Spirit over commerce.

MYTH Creation is not simply an exhibition. It is a shedding. A reckoning. A rebirth.

And for those who understand that true luxury is evolution — it is unmissable.

*Photos courtesy of Bernard Chandran.