Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2020 i Tatler Hong Kong

TATLER HONG KONG On the cover of Tatler Hong Kong are property tycoon Cecil Chao and his daughter Gigi. The duo discuss rebuilding their relationship after Cecil sparked a global media storm in 2012 by publicly offering US$65 million to any man who could convince Gigi, once described as the “most famous lesbian in Asia”, to marry him. tatlerhongkong.com TATLER INDONESIA Justin Lim, the director of the multi-pronged, globe-spanning Hemera Group, talks about pivoting his businesses in Southeast Asia in response to the coronavirus pandemic. He is planning to open Covid-19 testing labs in Indonesia and glove and mask factories in Malaysia, among other projects. tatlerindonesia.com TATLER MALAYSIA On the cover of Tatler Malaysia’s September issue is acclaimed rug designer Omar Khan, whose creations can be seen in luxury hotels…

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, when the moon is at its fullest: this year on October 1. Worshipping the moon stems from the Chinese legend of Chang’e, a woman who stole her husband’s immortality elixir. As she became as light as air, she flew to the moon, leaving behind the heartbroken Houyi, who would leave his wife’s favourite snacks and fruits in their garden and look at the moon. The tale spawned a number of festival customs dating back to as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1046 to 256 BC) that are still practised today. WOMAN IN THE MOON The moon is exceptionally round and bright on this day, and some believe Chang’e herself is the reason. The Song…

Hauser & Wirth’s private party on July 3 to celebrate Lorna Simpson’s solo exhibition could not have been better timed: one week later, Hong Kong was back to strict restrictions on gatherings. The event was co-hosted by Fiona Römer, one of Hauser & Wirth’s senior directors, and art collector Vicky Lam. “[Those within] the art community have always gravitated naturally towards each other,” says Lam. “And because of Covid-19, it seems that people have more time to spend exploring their passion and studying art.” Simpson’s show drew a crowd of familiar faces, including Alfredo Tsui, Pauline Lo-Chu, Daisy Leung, Honus Tandijono, Jonathan Cheung, Audry Ai-Morrow and Renee Hung. The large-scale blue paintings, which use images of inhospitable worlds of ice as a metaphor for life in the US today, captured…

As many a bride will concur, Indian weddings are like marathons: four-day affairs with countless outfit changes, extravagant jewellery, multiple dance performances, upwards of 300 guests, mountains of food and copious amounts of alcohol. It takes an army to bring these functions to life and with so many moving parts they can often feel incredibly overwhelming. As the go-to make-up artist for countless brides, Natasha Moor has become a fairy godmother of sorts, lending a sense of calm to otherwise frenetic events. A search on Instagram using the hashtag #MakeupbyNatashaMoor will return more than 1,000 images of women in complete Indian formalwear with radiant complexions credited to Moor. “Brides usually book me eight months to a year in advance. In some cases, they don’t even have a confirmed venue. I’ve…

BEEN CONSUMED by unexplained cravings for cheesecake lately? That’d be down to a little social media subliminal messaging, courtesy of Alan Lo and Yenn Wong, who have been sending 22 Ships’ very in-vogue burnt Basque cheesecake to friends, including Bonnie Chan-Woo and Darrin Woo, Fed Tan and May Chow. Meanwhile, Brandon Chau, Ruth Chao and Honus Tandijono received the same burnished confection from the new bakery La Viña. Like the rest of the world, Hong Kong has gone mad for cake during lockdown. Nailing the trend of ‘cakes that look like other things’, William Zhao celebrated his birthday with a cake deceptively iced to look like a dish of char siu rice. Lastly, Amanda Strang’s Flakes and Layers bakery has debuted the ‘Ooonut’, a cross between a millefeuille and a…

The awards-season gilding of Ang Lee’s sultry Lust, Caution brought Chinese cinema a new level of praise and attention on the world stage when it was released in 2007. However, the erotic spy thriller’s graphic sex scenes between lead actors Tang Wei and Tony Leung drew controversy in China, where critics argued the film sensationalised the 1979 novella by Eileen Chang that inspired Lee’s adaptation, tarnishing one of China’s best-loved authors. Despite a troubled relationship with her home country, Chang remains one of China’s most celebrated literary figures of the 20th century, and this month marks both the 100th anniversary of her birth and 25 years since her death. Her stories of futile romance and family spats in Hong Kong and Shanghai have provided evergreen inspiration for numerous screen adaptations,…

Lawrence Mok Trailrunner Chef-owner, IM Teppanyaki On IM Teppanyaki’s website, the quote “we compare ourselves with our old selves, not with others” is the only sentence displayed for Lawrence Mok’s chef biography, along with a list of past roles at Hotel Nikko Hong Kong and Island Shangri-La, and, somewhat incongruously, his two Oxfam Trailwalker championship wins in 2008 and 2009. It’s a little-known fact that Mok is such an accomplished runner; certainly, it’s a detail that has taken a backseat to his reputation as a Chinese chef running one of the city’s most lauded Michelin-starred teppanyaki restaurants. But fitness and food have been two defining elements of his life—Mok has been cooking for more than 30 years and, while he’d been going to the gym since he was 15, only…

Almost ten million people work in domestic roles in Asia-Pacific, according to the International Labour Organization, yet forced labour and debt bondage run rampant in the domestic worker community. Limited recruitment options abroad mean jobs outside the workers’ home country often come with extortionate recruitment fees. “The recruitment system is broken,” says Scott Stiles, the founder of the Fair Employment Foundation. After realising the problems the industry faces, Stiles decided to take action. He teamed up with Tammy Baltz, a volunteer with the Hong Kong NGO Help for Domestic Workers, to eliminate recruitment fees and transfer the job placement fee from the domestic worker to their employer. Since the foundation began in 2014, it has seen recruitment fees in the city drop from US$2,000 (HK$15,500) to US$700 (HK$5,425) in 2020,…

Since Gary Graham’s eponymous label (now called GaryGraham422) debuted in 1999, he has been known for reimagining vintage textiles into modern outerwear carried by stores like Dover Street Market and the now-shuttered Barneys New York. “I’ve always been very attracted to jacquards and tapestries,” he says. “I started collecting them whenever I would go on antique trips to upstate New York with my partner Sean Scherer. I saw them as textile paintings, in a way. Most of them came from France and Belgium and I’ve been told they were woven for the tourist industry in Europe.” This fall sees the 2010 CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund finalist collaborating with Joyce Hong Kong on a unique capsule collection of cocoon coats and printed slip dresses using surplus and vintage fabrics, where patriarchal…

This season, luxury brands are straying from the somewhat brutalist look of perfectly chiseled brows, angular contouring and slap-matte lips. Instead, they’re opting for a babydoll-inspired face with soft rosy cheeks, candy-stained lips and a bright complexion. With quirky packaging to boot, it’s a welcome reminder that make-up should be—above all else—fun. GUCCI Gucci Beauty’s latest collection keeps to the brand’s vintage-kitsch modus operandi with delicately carved gold-and-turquoise packaging that recalls memories of sneaking into your mum’s vanity case. The Poudre De Beauté Éclat Soleil, a soft and silky bronzing powder, is housed in a deep compact, and the Rouge à Lèvres comes in a nostalgic set of shades inspired by the Golden Age of Hollywood. DOLCE & GABBANA Feel the Sicilian summer sun on your skin with Dolce &…

The biggest rough diamond ever discovered was the Cullinan diamond in Botswana. Found in 1905, it weighed 3,106 carats and was cut into nine separate stones, many of which are set in the British Crown Jewels First discovered by British gemmologist Arthur Charles Davy Pain in 1951, painite is thought to be the rarest gemstone on Earth. Until 2001, only three examples of the deep red jewel were known to exist Known as the “stone of heaven”, jade was more valuable than gold and all other gems in imperial China Scientists believe Neanderthals created and wore the world’s first jewellery using eagle claws 130,000 years ago…

If any type of jewellery could call itself a true work of art it would be the micro-mosaic. Painstakingly constructed with the tiniest pieces of glass or enamel-like material called tesserae, micro-mosaics can be made using gold, copper or black Belgian marble, and are inspired by mosaics, which date back more than 2,000 years. Some of the finest examples of mosaics have been excavated at archaeological sites from Ancient Rome and the Byzantine Empire. But as an art historian, what fascinates me is that micro-mosaics really took off towards the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th century. Founded in Paris in 2012, L’École, School of Jewelry Arts is the first school established for the general public to learn about the history, culture and savoir-faire of the…

When Dilys Young started her bespoke fine jewellery brand Dilys’ in 1991, she didn’t plan on passing it on to her two daughters, preferring instead to let them pick their own career paths. However Young did notice that her youngest daughter, Pearl Li, was naturally curious about her designs from a young age. “I observed the way Pearl handled the jewellery with such care, the way she worked meticulously, her ability to listen and understand others, and her eye for aesthetics,” says Young. “I knew intuitively that she would be able to further our brands, if she wished to, when she grew up.” Young started taking Li to client meetings and private showings to introduce her to the world of fine jewellery. Every piece of jewellery by Dilys’ is made…

Rolex is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Geneva, but the company was actually founded in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London Louis Cartier created the first pilot’s watch in 1904 for his aviator friend Alberto Santos-Dumont, who needed a timepiece that allowed his hands to remain free for controls while flying Made in 1505 by German locksmith Peter Henlein, the Pomander is thought to be the oldest known watch in the world Last year, more than 21 million Swiss watches were exported to collectors worldwide, for a total wholesale value of US$2.4 billion…

Annie Darling Watches & Jewellery Director of Tatler Asia Congratulations to Patek Philippe, which announced the opening of its new ten-storey manufacturing facility this summer. To celebrate, Patek has launched a limited-edition stainless-steel Calatrava, referencing the symbol of the 12th-century Calatrava Knights of Spain and Portugal, which retails for US$28,351. The commemorative 40 mm timepiece is made from stainless steel (not unlike the new manufacture) and comes with a beautiful blue dial that features a carbon-style texture. Only 1,000 pieces will be made, so get yours—quick! Calatrava Ref 6007A-001 by Patek Philippe…

There’s always one watch release each year that gets collectors all hot and bothered, and that release usually comes from Rolex. Not one to disappoint, for 2020 the watchmaker has launched the new generation of its Oyster Perpetual Submariner and Oyster Perpetual Submariner Date, which are two of the coolest divers’ watch collections the world has ever seen (even the King, Elvis Presley, was spotted wearing one). And what’s more, these new Submariners don’t cost a fortune. Rolex has plenty of bank-busting timepieces that sit within the top tier of haute horologerie, but the new no-date Submariner can be yours for CHF 7,700. Launched in 1953, the Submariner was the first divers’ wristwatch that was waterproof to a depth of 100 metres (330 feet). The Submariner Date, which comes with…

Cecil Chao presses a button at the desk where he begins his workday each morning, and his voice echoes around the four-storey modernist-inspired mansion he designed himself some 40 years ago in Pok Fu Lam, before there were even streetlights on the roads. “Bring some ice cream and a spoon,” he commands, and they arrive on a gilded platter seconds later. The 83-year-old property tycoon pushes up the sleeves of his leather jacket—orange, Italian, probably python, by Fabio Caviglia—revealing an all-diamond watch from Piaget on his left wrist, and dips into a pint of vanilla Häagen-Dazs, still in its carton, as he ponders how to answer a question about his legacy. “My life, and I think that of every person living in this world, is for just one purpose”, he…

Liu Xiaodong painted Victoria Tang-Owen with her brother, Edward Tang, at China Tang, the London restaurant founded by their late father, David Tang. Here, Tang-Owen recalls the experience of sitting for Liu “It all started when Flavio Del Monte, director of institutional relations at Massimo De Carlo gallery, contacted my brother, Edward. Flavio said that there were going to be portrait sessions with Liu Xiaodong in London and asked if we wanted to take part. It was a very exciting opportunity. Liu is a great artist; I’ve liked his work for a long time. His brushstrokes are so distinctive, and it’s amazing how he creates a narrative in his pieces. We sat for Liu for one day for six hours straight in July 2019. Being in the room with such…

Seven years ago, Kayla Wong was sitting at the waterfront in Kennedy Town with her then-girlfriend when three or four paparazzi ambushed them with camera flashes and aggressive questions. “I had already come out to my family two or three years before this happened,” Wong says, “but it’s not the way I wanted to come out publicly.” She went on the describe the experience as “surreal”. The first thing she did was call her mother, who told her to stay calm and make her way home. “The paparazzi followed me all the way,” she recalls. Wong was shaken by the experience, but it also stirred up within her a sense of responsibility and purpose. “I was able to bring about a lot of positivity,” says Wong, who has since become…

The giant pause has encouraged us to rethink the way we live, and ideally find ways to push for greater sustainability in every aspect of our lives, travel included. But what if you go beyond doing less damage or reaching net neutral and instead try to be an active part of a solution? That is the premise of regenerative development, described by Bill Reed of Regenesis Group as a way “to transform and develop a collaborative relationship with nature”. In terms of travel, this means picking hotels and experiences that play a vital role in building holistic ecosystems in their communities. “To travel in a regenerative way is more than just offsetting your carbon footprint for flights; it’s about understanding the impact your tourism dollar makes on the destination you…

CAPELLA BANGKOK The highly anticipated Capella Bangkok sits at the centre of the historic Charoenkrung district—a riverside enclave that is currently undergoing a creative rebirth. Once the hotel opens in October, guests can check into villas with expansive views of the river as well as dine at Côte by celebrity chef Mauro Colagreco, whose restaurant Mirazur in France topped The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019. capellahotels. com/bangkok RAKXA BANGKOK Thailand is one of Asia’s best wellness destinations, and you don’t need to leave the city to enjoy a full-fledged retreat. Come December, Rakxa, an integrated wellness and medical retreat, will open its doors in Bangkok. Nestled in the city’s preserved ‘Green Lung’ along the Chao Phraya River, the wellness destination will offer programmes conceived by world-class medical doctors…

As wine grows more popular in Asia, the market has blossomed from highly conservative to increasingly adventurous. Even exotic regions like Georgia and Greece are gaining favour here. Yet some famous wine areas of central Europe still get scant attention. For the sake of simplicity (and eschewing controversy), by central Europe, I mean most of what lies between France and the former USSR—Germany, certainly, as well as Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. That might also include the Balkans and possibly Switzerland. It’s a region with a difficult history: carved up, horse traded, fluid in identity, but rich with the syncretic potential that frequently arises in borderlands. Let’s set Germany aside because it has arguably already wooed Asian markets with its riesling, either semi-sweet and quaffable, or ultra-luxurious…

Legacy is a subject that is at the heart and soul of Tatler Hong Kong, one that drives ambitious upstarts to build empires and families, over generations, to become dynasties. Legacies are great stories, fascinating in their ups and downs, ins and outs, triumphs and setbacks. But for this issue, we look at legacy from a more contemporary lens, taking into account that Hong Kong is a city at a crossroads, where the future may seem very different depending on your age, class and political point of view, and that the entire world is changing as a result of stunning social movements. Some legacies are particularly, or peculiarly, complicated, strikingly so in the case of property tycoon Cecil Chao and his daughter, Gigi, who discuss the rather unconventional dynamics of…

Mooncakes aren’t the only festive food. In certain areas of Guangdong, people also eat taro, a root vegetable, because its Chinese name “yu tou” sounds similar to “hu tou”, a phrase that evokes a Mongolian invasion in 1279 during the Song dynasty. Coincidentally, mid-autumn is when the tubers are harvested, making it a perfectly seasonal food. Then, in the late Yuan dynasty, paper slips with messages of a revolution against the “hu” rulers were hidden inside mooncakes. Now, Fujian locals scoop out the core of mooncakes for older relatives to eat, which symbolises how secrets are not to be leaked out to younger generations.…

A hiker gets lost in the Siberian tundra. Thick snow blankets the ground. Clouds billow threateningly overhead and the temperature plummets to minus 25C. She panics. Two strangers connect over the internet. They discuss books, art and travelling. After months of messaging, the pair meet at a coffee shop in Seoul, where one teaches the other to knit. A woman in Hong Kong is presented with a key. She carries it to the Sicilian city of Palermo, where a hand-drawn map leads her to a lone blue house on a sun-drenched hill. The key fits. These sentences might read like they are ripped from the pages of novels, but they are true stories from the eventful life of the wonderful, wacky Hong Kong artist Movana Chen—and she has plenty more.…

Seven years after opening Mingles in Seoul’s Gangnam district, chef Mingoo Kang can count the number of proper days off he’s had on one hand. When we speak over Zoom in early summer, Kang, who had just arrived in Hong Kong, jokes that he’d finally, though unwittingly, earned himself a two-week holiday of sorts, thanks to the mandatory 14-day quarantine period imposed on inbound travellers. He intended to use the time devouring his collection of prized cookbooks (40 of them made up the bulk of his luggage), drinking his favourite coffee from Seoul coffee roasters Fritz, and bingeing on YouTube videos. Of course, not being able to leave the apartment was not much of an issue, given that the chef had already been communicating with his team on the ground…

FIGHTING SPIRIT Boss debuts an easy-breezy capsule with British heavyweight boxing champion Anthony Joshua for fall-winter 2020, including ten pieces from jersey trousers to logo hoodies that can be worn out and about or while working from home. Every piece features motivational quotes from Joshua like “One more hour, one more day”—wise words for difficult times. IN HIS SHOES A feature-length documentary directed by renowned Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino dedicated to Salvatore Ferragamo’s family history and life’s work has been selected for the 77th Venice International Film Festival and will be released globally this month. Salvatore, Shoemaker of Dreams, which took three years to produce, delves into the fashion brand’s archives with the help of the Ferragamo family and never-before-seen tape recordings. “It is an honour that a director of…

On paper, the bios of Alessandro Sartori and Jerry Lorenzo could not read more differently. Sartori is the 54-year-old artistic director of Ermenegildo Zegna, one of Italy’s largest tailors with more than a century of history. Long before his formal education at the Istituto Marangoni Milan, he created his first suit, a sharp blue number, at the age of 15 in the hopes of impressing his family. “It took six months to make, and it was a complete disaster—I can’t look at it now because it’s full of mistakes, but I thought it was beautiful at the time,” he says, chuckling at the memory. Lorenzo, on the other hand, is the designer behind eight-year-old, Los Angeles-based streetwear label Fear of God, beloved by the likes of Kanye West, who sported…

Tell us about your favourite piece for 2020. Arceau L’heure de la Lune features a complex horological complication with a daring graphic design. The watch now comes with meteorite dials, which offer a unique and creative touch that lets us dream with our feet on the ground and our heads in the sky. Watches like Arceau L’heure de la Lune allow us to stand out from the rest of the industry. Who wears an Hermès watch? We have always been about craftsmanship. It’s part of our DNA. So, wearing an Hermès watch is about appreciating style that is rigorous but free of any formalism. It’s about asserting oneself as a man or woman. He or she is relaxed and occasionally whimsical. Describe Hermès in five words. Elegance, discretion, refinement, quality,…

CASE Made using Rolex’s patented Oystersteel or white gold, the Oyster case ensures waterproofing to a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet). This is thanks to the case’s Triplock winding crown, which was introduced by Rolex in 1970. The crystal is made of virtually scratchproof sapphire and, on the Submariner Date, is fitted with a Cyclops lens at 3 o’clock for easy reading of the date. MOVEMENT Equipped with Calibres 3230 and 3235 respectively, the Submariner and Submariner Date incorporate Rolex’s Chronergy escapement, which improves the watch’s energy efficiency. Made of nickel-phosphorus, the Chronergy is resistant to magnetic fields. The blue Parachrom hairspring, manufactured by Rolex, is up to ten times more precise than a traditional hairspring, which protects the movement against shock. Rolex-designed Paraflex shock absorbers are also fitted…

So here’s the pitch: a woman arrives in Paris from South America. A lawyer and model, she is striking and glamorous. She meets a dashing Morocco-born Frenchman making a name for himself as an art director in fashion and advertising. He is drawn to her taste and elegance; she is impressed by his creativity and, a decidedly un-French trait, his “enthusiasm”. Starting out as friends, they become husband and wife, and eventually launch a publishing company that turns the tables on the world of coffee-table books. The story of Assouline is, if you’ll forgive the pun, one for the books. It could well be a rom-com with a literary theme come to life, where the characters are so suave and attractive and polished, their homes and boutiques so exquisitely designed,…

PJ LAM Originally from Hong Kong, photographer PJ Lam is now based in New York and Paris. Her work has been featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and L’Officiel. In this month’s issue, Lam photographed the fashion shoot in Los Angeles (p.114) MARK WILLIAMS & SARA HIRAKAWA Husband-and-wife team Mark Williams and Sara Hirakawa first met while attending the Rochester Institute of Technology. Their photographs have appeared in Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Rolling Stone. They have shot numerous high-profile actresses and TV stars, including Jennifer Lawrence, Nicole Kidman and Oprah Winfrey. For Tatler, the couple photographed South African model and writer Maye Musk, who is also the mother of tech titan Elon Musk (p.208) WAI WAI Illustrator Wai Wai was born and is based in Hong Kong, where she produces…

Not a Superwoman, an exhibition by Jada Poon that opened on July 10, features a series of portrait photographs that make the show’s title a little hard to believe. Poon, a photographer and Oxford University law graduate, held a cocktail reception to mark the opening of the show at the Landmark’s ultra-luxurious loyalty club, Bespoke Salon, where framed photos of ten influential women were displayed alongside written accounts of a poignant moment in their lives. The women featured in the series include musicians, mothers, athletes and philanthropists, such as CEO and founder of Empact28 Emily Lam-Ho, who shares an anecdote about becoming a mother in her text. Actress Crisel Consunji, who won at last year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, wrote of her struggles in the entertainment industry; pop singer Jill…

Who? Jeff Rotmeyer, founder of Impact HK. What? A charity founded in 2017, whose mission is to provide shelter and care for homeless individuals in Hong Kong. Why? In 2006, the Canadian-born teacher moved to Hong Kong with his wife to teach English at a local primary school, but in 2014, a friend introduced Rotmeyer to the homeless community in Sham Shui Po. A walk through Tung Chau Street Park to feed people in need proved a catalyst for change. Impact HK, born three years later, now has thousands of volunteers, while Rotmeyer has also launched the foundation Love 21, dedicated to enriching the lives of those with Down’s syndrome. His latest project, 1ofaKIND, is a second-hand clothing store in Yau Ma Tei, which employs the homeless…

TAKE THE TIME FRIENDS OF YEARS The third opening from the team behind the original Years café in Sham Shui Po, Friends of Years in Tsuen Wan offers beautiful vegetarian-friendly cakes and savoury snacks in a welcoming atmosphere, thanks to its calming, Muji-esque interiors. yearshk.com FLOWER POWER HAYFEVER After finding success in Prince Edward’s flower market and then Causeway Bay, Hayfever is now on Central’s Wyndham Street serving soothing teas and premium coffee alongside their signature cakes. Get the hojicha roll. hayfever.com.hk COFFEE BREAK FIVE TO ONE A stunningly spacious coffee shop in Ho Man Tin, Five To One boasts high ceilings and sleek concrete and stone details, yet its menu features comforting choices, such as udon in chicken soup, and earl grey panna cotta. instagram.com/fivetoonecafe GO NORTH ARTISTRY BREWING…

Tatler’s man about town checks in on the Hong Kong film industry to hear how some of its most celebrated leaders are keeping busy in the pandemic I don’t know about you, but September always used to feel like a real kickstarter month. Usually, most of us are coming back from summer breaks and being swept up in that feeling of back-to-school novelty. But this year is unlike any other. Time has blurred and so have the seasons to the point that I don’t even know what day of the week it is, or month, or what a season should even feel like. But I don’t want to lose that September buzz so, inspired by Ann Hui’s recent news that she and Tilda Swinton will both receive Golden Lion awards…

THE LEARNING HOUSE People’s Architecture Office Beijing-based People’s Architecture Office has designed sheets of paper illustrated with city streets, which children can colour in and then fold into the shape of a house—an activity that stimulates their creativity and exercises their fine motor skills. ANTIBACTERIAL DOOR HANDLES Michael Young Studio UK-born, Hong Kong-based industrial designer Michael Young fused natural forms and cutting-edge technology to make these fluid-repellent, antibacterial door handles. Young used a laser-cutting process to engrave a pattern in the surface that mimics the qualities of water-repellent lotus leaves. HONG KONG BRICK Studio Florian and Christine Designers Florian Wegenest and Christine Lew scoured shops in Hong Kong that were closing due to the Covid-19 pandemic, collecting cement, glass and stone that they have given new life in the form…

South Korea-born, Denmark-raised designer Christine Nielsen was trained under Alexander McQueen and then worked under Sarah Burton as head of design at Alexander McQueen before becoming directrice de studio at Givenchy and Balenciaga. She launched her eponymous Paris-based label Hyun Mi Nielsen in 2016, specialising in punk, avant-garde pieces. When did you first realise you wanted to work in fashion? Very early on. As a kid it was my favourite thing in the world to play dress up and draw. Who was the first designer you worked for? The most amazing designer I have ever worked for was the legendary Lee McQueen. While I was studying at the Royal College of Art and Design, I did an internship at Alexander McQueen. Many years later I returned to Alexander McQueen working…

Be it Princess Diana’s delicate fascinators or the towering feather crowns seen in Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway shows, many of the most fantastic hats created over the last several decades have one thing in common: they were made by a bald-headed man with a slanted grin, most often seen sporting a curiously askew hat and always with a mischievous twinkle in his eye. This month, British milliner Stephen Jones celebrates the launch of a 240-page book, Dior Hats: From Stephen Jones to Christian Dior, published by Rizzoli, which documents his work for the house of Christian Dior alongside designs by Marc Bohan, Gianfranco Ferré and Christian Dior himself. With photographs by Sølve Sundsbø and text from fashion critics and historians, the book is a testament to Jones’s legacy and his…

Cartier has tapped into its mix of ambassadors for the latest Panthère de Cartier campaign, including Taiwanese actor Chang Chen. The actor has starred in martial arts films including Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Wong Kar-wai’s The Grandmaster (2013) and Hou Hsiao-hsien’s The Assassin (2015), which won the best director award at Cannes. He was also awarded best actor at the Osaka Asian Film Festival in 2008 for his role as a legendary board game player in Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Go Master (2006). Tiny Pretty Things Caught in a variety of dance poses, Van Cleef & Arpels’ breathtaking ballerina clips were first designed in the early 1940s. A 1941 brooch depicts a playful Spanish dancer with a fan, while another made in 1942 was inspired by an 18th-century…

Swiss watch brand Hublot has collaborated with Milan-based car company Garage Italia to create the Big Bang Millennial Pink. This dusty-pink watch comes with a fabric strap that’s been photographed on Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor Kenny Kwan. Proving that pink’s not only for girls, Kwan, who is known for his appearances in A Chinese Tall Story (2005), New Police Story (2004) and Jian Xia Qing Yuan (2011), wears his timepiece with a coral-coloured suit. You go, Kenny. Swiss Made Franck Muller’s latest wristwatch celebrates Switzerland, the watchmaker’s home country. Limited to just 50 pieces, this ticker’s openworked movement comes in bright red and is housed in a hand-polished titanium case complete with white enamel coating. Wear with a white alligator strap. London Calling Backes & Strauss has collaborated with…

What’s special behind this year’s Master Grande Tradition Grande Complication? This piece highlights Jaeger-LeCoultre’s savoir-faire and design creativity, from our watchmakers’ exceptionally complex movements to the refined finishes of the case and dial. It is a blend of many handcrafts that dress and decorate the movement and bring this piece to life. Tell us about the movement. We constantly seek to further develop our calibres with our spirit of innovation. The Calibre 945 is one of our greatest chiming calibres with superior acoustic qualities. The sound of the minute repeater is elevated through the soldering of our patented ‘crystal gongs’ directly onto the sapphire crystal back. And the use of our trebuchet hammers results in a more amplified sound that is harmonious and clear. Tell us about your first watch.…

When I interviewed Patek Philippe’s president Thierry Stern last year, he glanced at the very respectable Swiss timepiece on my wrist and remarked, “Take that for servicing in 30 years’ time, and they’ll tell you, ‘Sorry, buy a new watch.’” However, it will always be possible to service, fix or restore a Patek Philippe, claims Stern. “This is the only brand worldwide still able to repair every watch it has produced since the beginning,” he states, an assertion no competitor has refuted. Four generations of the Stern family have owned and operated Patek since 1932, but the watchmaker’s history goes back much further, to 1839. It is by no means the oldest Swiss watchmaker—Blancpain was established in 1735, Jaquet Droz began work in 1738, and Vacheron Constantin, founded in 1755,…

1922 Rolex launches the Submarine, which marked the first step in Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf’s efforts to create a completely sealed watch case. 1926 The Oyster case is patented. Hans Wilsdorf called the watch “Oyster” because, “like an oyster, it can remain an unlimited time underwater without detriment to its parts”. 1927 Learning that Mercedes Gleitze, a young secretary from Brighton, England, was preparing to swim across the English Channel, Hans Wilsdorf asked her to carry an Oyster watch to demonstrate it was completely waterproof. 1953 The Oyster Perpetual Submariner is born. The first divers’ wristwatch waterproof to a depth of 100 metres (330 feet), it featured a rotatable bezel that allowed divers to monitor their time underwater, helping them manage their oxygen reserves. That same year, French underwater photographer,…