Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Esquire Singapore

So, X’Ho died. When his death was announced, there was the usual outpouring of tributes, remembrances and regrets over the music veteran. My social media was inundated with them. Everybody who crossed paths with him, who broke bread with him, they all have a story about him. Me included. I first saw X’Ho on the MRT train. He was instantly recognisable—tattooed, dressed in ripped military wear, that black-framed spectacles—and he was seated next to an elderly woman, frail and meek. At first, it looked as if they were strangers who, in the universe random drawings, happened to be placed together in a picture of opposites. Then, they started conversing with each other and you realised they knew each other, that the familiarity is familial. It’ll be years later that I’ll…

Saint Laurent’s association with music has strengthened over the decades. More musicians are being added to its roster of influential faces, and the house’s cultural arm Saint Laurent Rive Droite has done plenty of collaborations in the music space. And of course, a Saint Laurent runway show isn’t complete without a stirring soundtrack to set the mood. The house takes us back to the ’80s with its autumn/winter 2021 menswear collection. Specifically, when France experienced a fresh new sound: electro new wave. The emergence of the movement was influenced by the English punk subculture (already a well-established scene in the late ’70s). French musicians then added their own inflections to the mix, combining that irreverent punk energy with electronic elements through synthesisers and a rhythm machine. Creative director Anthony Vaccarello…

ESQUIRE: Take us through the Penguin on Design series. Why kick off the series by republishing seminal titles like Bruno Munari’s Design as Art, Marshall McLuhan’s The Medium is the Massage, Susan Sontag’s On Photography and John Berger’s Ways of Seeing? SAM VOULTERS: Part of our mission is to find new audiences for books we already publish in Penguin Classics by refreshing their design and presenting them in new ways. These titles were already published in Penguin Modern Classics when our art director Jim Stoddart approached Yes Studio to work on unifying them into a new series called Penguin on Design. ESQ: What is the process like when curating the titles since the collection consists of a combination of classics and recent writings? VOULTERS: Our editorial process always begins with…

I hugged my father goodbye for the last time in a hospital room in March 2014. He was a seven-year survivor of pancreatic cancer. No one thought he’d make it much longer. He was labouring to breathe, and I was due on book tour. It was, he said to me, now or never, kid. Pride insisted he climb from the bed on his own. He had to negotiate around half a dozen tubes. But then he opened his arms to me and I fell into them as I had been doing for 40 years. He whispered that he loved me and we wept and shook in each other’s embrace, the profoundest love and the profoundest loss expressed in one gesture. Over our grief, neither of us could hear the cosmic…

Everybody is a story. If you want to quickly get a sense of someone, quiz them on their film diet. And so, when it comes to Joy Song, who looked like she hailed from the Goth/ art clique in secondary school, the last film that the filmmaker watched was The Wailing, a Korean horror movie that follows a detective investigating a spate of random killings. Aside from the VFX and the acting, Song zeroes in on the story structure, marvelling at how Korean films don’t ‘follow the three-act structure’ that she was taught. “There are several storylines that go all over and yet, somehow,” she continues, “it’s streamlined that it still makes sense.” This upending of conventions is what appeals to her. This also informs us what sort of filmmaker…

“The Cotton Tote Crisis” reads the headline of an article published by The New York Times in August of this year, which has since gone viral. Accompanying it is a header image of a clothesline full of cotton tote bags belonging to a single person. I don’t know about you, but that could very well be a representation of how many cotton tote bags I’ve accumulated over the past decade. Most times, they’re thrust upon me—either because they come free with any purchase in the vein of APC’s minimalist branded totes, or they’re simply part of the packaging neatly covering an online purchase. Then there are the occasional tote bags I get from museums (who goes to The Met without getting one?) or brands the likes of Holiday Boileau and…

There’s no question that Toiletpaper is bold. Yes, there’s that name in uppercase styling. And of course, the loud visuals the magazine is famous for. You may be familiar with its cover of a man painting over the continents of a desk globe, or more notably the multiple ad campaigns with Kenzo spanning seasons ’13 to ’15. Though we may not know what the intended message for each depiction truly is, we can’t help but attempt to interpret it. A little bit like a Banksy, we’d like to think; where you can’t simply glance over the humour and juxtaposition of elements. The cult-status editorial project has since added further layers to the surreal imagery—by bringing it to the physical plane. Toiletpaper’s first creation with Italian design brand Seletti began as…

Here’s another microbrewery for your list: Jing-A (京A, pronounced ‘Jing-Eh’). Operating out of a taproom in Sanlitun, Beijing, Jing-A uses Chinese ingredients like ginger, red rice and even Sichuan peppercorn for the brewing process. The result is an untamed wilderness that you’ll machete your way into, set up camp and call it home because, let’s face it, the expansion of what beer can taste like… not everyone’s palate can cotton to it. So once you’re in it, it better be for the long haul. For its foray into Singapore, Jing-A introduces two signature core brews from its extensive line-up. Consider it a preview of things to come. MANDARIN WHEAT This German-style beer emits a lively mandarin orange and coriander aroma. A sip from a glass of that golden ray of…

You’ve heard the advice from other parents: “Savour this time. Soon your adorable children will ask for a TikTok account and stop returning your texts.” You heed the advice. At first. Then, around the time school starts, you pine for your pre-kid existence. The slow burn into midlife has begun. If you’re like many men, you will direct these feelings to your next car purchase. Not a sports car but a vehicle that gives you a hit of youth and seats a family comfortably. The auto industry knows this. That’s why it invented the crossover, a not-too-big vehicle that moves the family but also looks like an SUV. There’s a reason they’re the fastest-selling cars in America. The Rav4 is a Potemkin village. Instead, lean into the car tailor- made…

A GREAT DINNER PARTY doesn’t have anything to do with well-appointed linens or shiny silver platters. It starts with a good guest list. You want people who have some touchstone in common but don’t necessarily know each other, people who will enjoy meeting each other. I LIKE TO LEAVE things to the last minute. I cook most of the meal, go have a shower, have one glass of wine before anybody gets there. And then when people start arriving, have them help make a salad together-just to break the ice. THERE WERE MANY aspects of quarantine I didn’t mind. Stillness was one of them. But the problem with that stillness is that it was accompanied by such anxiety. I DIDN’T MISS going out. I didn’t miss a lot of the…

What’s been apparent and constant in fashion is the need for things to actually function rather than just merely for the aesthetics. Sure, as much as flexing outfits and coveted pieces on social media has become the norm—and in some cases, expected—it’s the real-life applications that matter most. Can you actually move in those statement high-cut boots without getting your Achilles tendon chewed up? That tiny bag that could only fit an AirPod, was it worth it? Hermès, it seems, is steering the narrative towards stylish forms that work. It’s in the maison’s DNA, after all. This is the same luxury maison that started out by outfitting horses with saddles and bridles as well as gear for their riders. Trust that function often takes precedence at Hermès before executing it…

An expletive uttered by a passenger captured the tenor of the moment: A Singapore Airlines flight was descending into Zurich one morning this past January when a mysterious white object, it’s alleged, zipped across the aircraft’s flight path. Other passengers are said to have panicked, and were calmed by the pilot, who steered the airliner to landing without hitch. Footage was subsequently shared on social media, too grainy to be conclusive. Predictably Singapore Airlines, approached for comment, remains silent on the issue. [As of publication, the footage titled, ‘Singapore airlines collision with ufo’ uploaded by Mystery Nights channel on YouTube can still be seen; although the provenance of it has yet to be determined.] That’s almost standard procedure. Back in 2017 an anonymous Singaporean fighter pilot claimed that he flew…

Living by textbook rules ensures a well-prepared life but satisfaction isn’t guaranteed; only by keeping an open mind to atypical experiential encounters can lure us to an adventurous route. Pursuing pleasure also results in the production of serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphins—happy hormones which can be attained through engaging activities that activate these respective chemicals in our body. Dopamine, especially, is the main reason we seek out pleasure; providing ‘feel-good’ motivational molecules to relieve stress and give satisfaction, it can be boosted knowingly and unknowingly. This particular hormone and neurotransmitter stimulates the brain’s pleasure and rewards the system that drives motivation, desire and cravings when working towards an incentivised goal; it’s what keeps you going when the going gets tough. Remember stuffing that comforting tub of ice cream after a…

For the greater part of its 90-year history, Jaeger-LeCoultre’s Reverso remained a simple, time-only watch. Countless iterations have been made—indeed, Reversos in a plethora of colours, sizes and dial materials that dominated the watch scene in the 1960s and ’70s—but none proffered more than the hours, minutes and seconds; because the Reverso was not intended to house much more than two hands and a sub-dial. Its strength and raison d’être was its case. To protect its dial and crystal, its reversible Art Decoinspired case was created in the 1930s at the request of British officials stationed on the Indian subcontinent, who were also polo enthusiasts hoping to finish a game without losing their watches to an errant mallet—or hoof. But as the Reverso cruised into the late 1980s, the resurgence…

I’m not going to pretend to understand art. As far as I’m concerned, the value of your Monets and Pollocks went out the window when ‘Comedian’ sold for USD120,000 two years ago. Yes, the banana duct-taped to the wall. Which the owner is to replace every time the fruit ripens as per the artist’s instruction. It’s not to say I don’t love it (art, not the taped banana—well… the ingenuity of both, sure). It’s the very subjectivity of art that curators and general plebian appreciators like me enjoy. The very purpose in creation is to evoke an emotion, or at the very least a reaction. Where there are no wrong answers, much like head bartender Andrew Loudon’s approach to his drinks. “We wanted a menu that’s relatable, but also a…

1 KIA CARNIVAL It’s the minivan in disguise—until you get inside. The top-trim model’s reclining captain’s chairs have footrests like a La-Z-Boy, and the interior appointments are Range Rover-like. 2 CHRYSLER PACIFICA Designed under the guidance of Ralph Gilles, the man behind the Dodge Charger, this is the sexy minivan. Plus, the plug-in hybrid version has the best fuel efficiency in the category. 3 TOYOTA SIENNA Opt for the Woodland edition and the Sienna becomes the outdoorsman’s minivan, with all-wheel drive, a roof rack and an extra 0.6 inches of clearance. 4 HONDA ODYSSEY It is the smoothest of the minivans and feels like the roomiest. That may sound boring now, but talk to me when you’re just over halfway into an 1,300km road trip to grandma’s.…

The collaboration between Tod’s Factory and Japanese brand Hender Scheme wasn’t borne out of the blue, but rather, according to Hender Scheme’s founder Ryo Kashiwazaki, it was a natural progression in the relationship between the two brands since they first connected several years ago. “We started more concrete conversations around the autumn of 2019,” Kashiwazaki elaborates. “We met Mr Della Valle [Tod’s chief executive] when he came to Japan, and we were invited to the Tod’s factory in the region of Le Marche, Italy and the head office in Milan.” It was then that Kashiwazaki had the opportunity to interact with the craftsmen behind the Italian brand and its creative director Walter Chiapponi. The result of that meeting was Hender Scheme x Tod’s, and what Kashiwazaki refers to as TOD’S…

Lee Pace and I have formed a sci-fi book club. His idea. Without anyone intending it, dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn has turned into our club’s unofficial first meeting. There’s The Lord of the Rings and Dune, of course, which the actor has read more times than he remembers. He also sings the praises of his favourite writer, Ursula K Le Guin, and the universe-rattling Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. He pulls out his Kindle to show me the Bobiverse series, which he’s currently reading, and to download a couple of books I suggest (Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice and Arkady Martine’s A Memory Called Empire). I have no doubt he’ll read them immediately. “We have to get back together and discuss,” he says. Pace strikes me as not…