Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2021 i Tatler Singapore

TATLER HONG KONG On the cover of this month’s issue is Wesley Ng, the CEO and co-founder of Casetify, one of the world’s leading tech accessories companies. Ng discusses his plans to open Casetify stores and offices around the world and introduces his new venture capital fund, IFY. TATLER INDONESIA Indonesian golfer Danny Masrin, a rising star of the sport, discusses how golf is changing and developing in the country, despite challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. TATLER MALAYSIA In this year’s style-themed issue, three local brands—fashion label Syomirizwa Gupta, halal beauty brand Orkid Cosmetics and jeweller MYJN—weigh in on how the pandemic has affected their businesses in particular and what it means for the industry at large. TATLER PHILIPPINES One of the 15 people featured on Tatler Philippines’ Asia’s…

Physical restrictions and self-isolation imposed by the pandemic have forcibly reshaped the ways we perceive movement and touch—both of which are key components of dance. In an effort to explore new ways to dance, the 16th edition of the Esplanade’s annual da:ns festival brings over 35 new works by leading Singaporean and Asian dancemakers, 80 diverse in-venue and digital dance programmes, and four festival commissions this year. Festival goers can also participate in over ten popular dance genres and join social media challenges with the hashtag #dans2themax to have virtual dance-offs with friends. Here are some highlights of the festival: GO LOCAL Celebrate the diversity of Singapore’s vibrant dance scene with over 10 new works and 280 performers. 8 IN GOOD COMPANY Five leading contemporary dance companies create new works…

It’s hard to pigeonhole what Dean Chew does. The avid creative is a veteran in the local music and design circles, with an indefatigable spirit for artistic creation and collaboration. When asked if he’s a multi-hyphenate, he replies, “I never made a conscious decision to pursue that. To be honest, I think it’s my curiosity to learn about everything that has defined and shaped who I am at this juncture.” Today, the architect by training is the founder of Drawn, a spatial design consultancy born during the pandemic. Previously, he spent a decade as director and partner of Fuur Associates, where he worked with brands such as Jigger & Pony, and the Les Amis Group. Now, over a year into Drawn’s operations, Chew has overseen a line-up of notable projects,…

How will future generations cope with the threat of rising sea levels, droughts and other climate disasters? Will geographical borders still exist? How has the pandemic re-defined our future? Celebrated author and international relations specialist Parag Khanna explores these questions and more in his latest book, Move, where he posits that the next generation is going to be a nomadic one for several reasons, one of them being the threat of climate change. The book, says Khanna, is a continuation from his 2016 bestseller, Connectography. He says, “It’s just one stream of consciousness that an editor has cut off and said, you’ve written 750 pages, please stop. So this is a sequel to Connectography, which was about global connectivity, infrastructure, supply chain and to some degree mobility. But it’s also…

Achieving success as an entrepreneur in Singapore is no easy feat. Although the country has pushed for entrepreneurship in recent years, reports have shown that the people starting their own businesses here are mostly men. With that said, female entrepreneurs in Singapore have a lot to be proud of. Just ask Vicky Hwang. As the chief executive officer of Chyau Fwu Development, she spearheaded the multimillion-dollar transformation of Parkview Square in Bugis. This includes completely revamping the former Divine wine bar into Atlas, the award-winning bar that helped put Singapore on the cocktail map. As a business leader and busy mother of three young children, Hwang works on managing her time as effectively as possible. But, if there is one thing that she dedicates some time for each day, it…

MADE IN JAPAN Mikimoto’s newest high jewellery line, The Japanese Sense of Beauty, pays homage to the jeweller’s native Japan. Typically voluptuous in form and unapologetic in its liberal use of mouthwatering pearls, this collection is Mikimoto at its very best. These jewels are designed to stop you in your tracks, and thanks to the line’s standout centre stones and diamond-dusted structures, they do exactly that.…

The rules when it comes to men’s jewellery largely depend on the man who’s wearing it. A friend of mine sports an antique, baroque-styled brooch wherever he goes, and he looks absolutely terrific. Another friend is obsessed with stacking diamond-decked pieces. He’ll unapologetically spark up an unbuttoned shirt with blinged-out pendants so gloriously decadent they would have turned heads in the court of Louis XIV. Not long ago, the jewellery worn by these two men might have been considered feminine. Emasculating, even—which couldn’t be further from the truth. Thankfully in recent years, as the definitions of men’s and women’s fashion become increasingly blurred, we’ve seen men’s buying habits move beyond the traditional confines of watches, wedding bands and cufflinks—and here at Tatler, we say it’s about time. Men have, of…

1 Omega Seamaster Diver 300M It’s been more than 50 years since the release of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and, to celebrate the anniversary, Omega unveiled a very special 42mm Seamaster Diver 300M in stainless steel, limited to 7,007 pieces. A ceramic dial depicts the view down the barrel, which famously opens the credit sequence of James Bond movies. 2 Rolex Submariner In 2018, the Rolex Submariner from A Licence to Kill was offered at auction for an estimated US$80,000 to US$120,000. The 1989 picture, which starred Timothy Dalton in his final appearance as Bond, was also the last film in the series where the secret agent wore a Rolex. 3 Breitling Top Time In Thunderball, Sean Connery switches his Rolex Submariner to a Breitling Top Time after Q,…

The spirit of travel has been integral to Louis Vuitton’s identity since its founding in 1854. The brand’s original raison d’être, after all, was the production of high-quality trunks for travellers. This spirit continues to inform every aspect of Louis Vuitton’s activities, and while it has since grown in both breadth and depth, the ideas of exploration and discovery remain important sources of inspiration for the maison. Nowhere is this more clearly seen than in the brand’s latest headliner: the Tambour Curve GMT Flying Tourbillon. The timepiece doesn’t just allude to the spirit of travel with its second time zone complication, but also showcases Louis Vuitton’s ability to push the limits of contemporary watch design with its inimitable aesthetic. TRAVEL AND BEYOND Conceived, developed and produced at Louis Vuitton’s La…

In June 2015, Shiva Shabani and Calvin Yu received an unusual email. A stylist had chanced upon their children’s eyewear brand, Sons + Daughters, and found the perfect pair of sunglasses for her client’s niece, Majesty, to wear at her elaborate Flintstone-themed first birthday party in Los Angeles. The client was Rihanna. “We sent the package, but it got stuck in customs,” says Shabani, who at the time was based in Vancouver. “When we explained what happened, her stylist said there was nothing else Rihanna liked for Majesty, and asked if there was any way we could get them to Los Angeles in time.” That’s when Shabani turned to one of her staff and asked what she was doing that night. Within hours, Shabani had her on a flight to…

Different dialect groups have their own variations of slurp-worthy noodles, whether it’s the ubiquitous Hokkien noodles, robust Heng Hwa noodles (lor mee) or Teochew bak chor mee laced with punchy black vinegar. Hakka noodles are lesser known. This savoury dish is simple, and usually topped with minced pork and a scattering of diced lard. You may be able to order a bowl at some authentic Hakka yong tau foo food stalls, but it’s a rare find. Hakka fare in general is considered more uncommon than its counterparts. “The preparation takes a lot of effort,” says chef Pang Kok Keong, who owns Pang’s Hakka Noodles, at Sprouthub and ARC380. Although he has years of experience in the intricate world of French pastry, Pang recently returned to his roots and rolled out…

When Staphnie Tang discovered a painful lump in her breast in April last year, she did not hesitate to see her doctor, even though it was at the height of Singapore’s Circuit Breaker period to stem Covid-19. A mammogram and scan were immediately ordered for her the next morning. It wasn’t the first time that she had gone through such scans, but the wait was agonising nonetheless. Cancer had struck close to home for Tang before; her father passed away from the disease, and so did his two brothers. “I memorised the last months, days and hours of my late father’s [life] and know life’s brevity,” she shared with friends in a Facebook post three days after her cancer scare. Tang was thankfully given the all-clear, but the episode reminded…

Dogs “see” the world through their noses. The olfactory centre of the canine brain is said to be more sensitive than that of humans. Whenever Dawn-Joy Leong takes her dog Lucy Like-a-Charm for a walk, “she’ll be sniffing every little thing and, being the paranoid ‘mum’ that I am about her picking up dirty things, I’m always looking at what she’s looking at”. But unlike other dog owners, the artist-researcher is a little bit more interested in the details because, you see, she is autistic—she didn’t realise this until she was in her early 40s—and “the autistic brain looks at the details and takes in all the patterns before looking from the bird’s-eye view, whereas the neurotypical brain looks at the bird’s-eye view first and, if the person is interested,…

When did you first realise you wanted to work in fashion? It all began with my passion for film. I grew up in a family that worked in the film industry and my work is heavily influenced by my own self-directed films. Even as a boy, I was fascinated by the artistry I saw on film sets and I still use my own moving images to inspire some of my artisanal textiles for fashion. What was the first roadblock you had to overcome? I had to convince my parents that I could pursue fashion as a career. My father wanted me to be a film director like him, and my mother wanted me to study business. Where do you look for inspiration? I love to observe the people around me…

The term “vegan skincare” tends to raise a few eyebrows; after all, we’re aware when we put animal products or animal-derived ingredients in our food, but it isn’t as obvious when we’re applying them to our skin. But it turns out that the appearance of the leaping bunny logo on skincare and make-up packaging doesn’t necessarily mean animals weren’t impacted in the making of the product. While beauty brands have been moving away from animal testing for years, many still make and sell products that contain animal-derived ingredients. Some companies are making moves to change that. “In 2017, we re-examined what it meant to be truly cruelty-free,” says Carisa Janes, founder of make-up brand Hourglass Cosmetics. “If we were really committed to this mission, we shouldn’t have any animal-derived ingredients…

There is something oddly familiar about the pieces in Cartier’s latest high jewellery collection: a certain je ne sais quoi that attracts the eye and gives all who know the maison’s work a sense of comfort and understanding. That’s remarkable, considering that every masterpiece in the collection is new, and certainly not a careless repetition of past designs. The answer lies in the name of the collection: Sixième Sens par Cartier (Sixth Sense by Cartier). Pierre Rainero, Cartier’s director of image, style and heritage, explains, “Among all the different artistic expressions, jewellery is the only one that is connected to the body. This creates an intimate relationship between the wearer and the creation, not only physically, but also on a symbolic level. The jewellery becomes you, and you become the…

BENEATH THE NIGHT Known in horological circles for its breathtaking Les Cabinotiers timepieces, which are crafted by guilloché experts, enamellers, engravers and jewellery setters, Vacheron Constantin has long combined its mechanical movements with extraordinary dials. This single-piece edition boasts a delicate guilloché dial and a diamond-set bezel. Powered by the self-winding Calibre 2460 RQP, this piece is unusual because of its regulator-type display, identifiable by its unique layout: one large hand indicates the minutes, while the hours and seconds are measured on smaller sub-dials of their own. SIXTIES STYLE Piaget made its first foray into jewellery watches in the 1960s, a fabulous era for the maison, which saw its pieces worn by countless style icons, including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Andy Warhol and Salvador Dalí. Crafted from…

You’re celebrating the Historiques American 1921 with a new trio of precious-metal models. Tell us about this collection. We can trace the reintroduction of the Historiques American 1921 back to 2008. This was the year Vacheron Constantin decided to debut the Historiques American 1921 as a tribute to the original driving watches. Why has the Historiques American 1921 become so popular among collectors? As we added to this collection throughout the years, it became an icon because these models were produced in very limited quantities. The first one we released in 2008 was astonishing. It was a perpetual calendar and only a few were ever created. Tell us about the movement in these watches. When we reintroduced this collection back in 2008, we introduced the now-famous hand-wound Calibre 4400 AS,…

BACHDIM Set up by Bali United footballer Irfan Bachdim and his wife Jennifer, Bachdim was founded on the couple’s love of coordinating outfits with their two children, Kiyomi and Kenji. Jennifer says, “We always wanted to be in sync with one another but found it very difficult to find matching casual but smart streetwear for the whole family, so based on that, we knew that one day we would like to start our own family label.” The collections are often a mix of athleisure and cool, comfy staples in neutral and pastel hues. All of the pieces are made in Bali and use packaging made from recycled materials. LITTLE ISLANDERS This charming brand introduces a touch of heritage to stylish tots. Working with artisan weavers in the Philippines and expert…

“My God, I think it might actually be The Chairman,” whispered my neighbour as the numbers slowly counted down on the screen. It was March 25, and a contingent of journalists and food influencers were gathered at Hong Kong restaurant VEA to watch the virtual announcement of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants, an hour-long live feed of floating graphics and cobbled-together footage that took place in lieu of a physical awards ceremony. The names kept coming in: Gaggan and Le Du in Bangkok, taking fifth and fourth respectively, followed by Den in Tokyo at number three. Everyone knew that the conclusion would come in the moment that number two was announced—and The Chairman, which did not even rank within the top ten in the previous edition, had been conspicuously absent from…

DARREN GABRIEL LEOW A fashion and commercial photographer based in Singapore, Darren Gabriel Leow frequently contributes to Tatler Singapore and other lifestyle publications, as well as shoots campaigns for various local and international brands. This month, he turns his lens on the Asia’s Most Stylish honourees (p.154). HO YUN KUAN Having been an editor, copywriter and content strategist for the past decade, Ho Yun Kuan has covered everything from pedagogy to business, but her favourite topics are horology and very expensive, very shiny jewellery. She loves her job but would not work so hard if not for A5 Wagyu beef and her pet parrot. This month, she indulges in her love for baubles by dissecting the latest high jewellery creations by Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels (p.122 and 126).…

“We want to touch lives—mentally, emotionally and empathetically” SIXTH SENSE JASON LEE, FOUNDER OF SCENT BY SIX The power of smell is often overlooked, when in fact scents can trigger memories and emotions. Jason Lee, the founder of fragrance brand Scent by Six, has seen this first-hand at one of the community scent workshops he conducted during the brand’s early days. “We wanted to create a unique scent for this elderly lady with severe dementia, based on her life experiences. Her family said she used to go to the temple with her late husband to offer incense. She also loved making pandan cakes, and her favourite drink was kopi o kosong (black coffee without sugar). I put all those smells together very carefully, and let her take a whiff,” he…

Can fashion be sustainable? Kuo ShihYun thinks so—and she’s driving the revolution with her platform Lablaco. With her co-founder Lorenzo Albrighi, the Taiwanese native is using blockchain technology to help the industry digitise and address its wasteful production cycles. Lablaco takes a three-pronged approach. Firstly, through its Circular Fashion Summit, it has, for the past two years, brought together industry stakeholders to discuss, learn about and connect around the topic of transitioning to a circular fashion economy. With its B2B platform LPlus, Lablaco enables brands and retailers to “tokenise products and trace data on them throughout their entire life cycle, as well as connect them to circular business models such as sale, resale, rental or swap”, explains Kuo, who worked with luxury brands such as Etro and Giorgio Armani in…

The air in the dark, smoke-filled room was thick with anticipation. On a stuffy July afternoon during Couture Fashion Week, the first to feature physical showcases in more than a year, international buyers and editors—those who could travel, anyway—piled into the hallowed halls of Le Palais Gaultier in Paris. Designed in 1912 by Bernard-Gabriel Belesta and originally an assembly hall for the Proletariat Society, the concrete-vaulted space has since been a tape factory, a boxing hall, a nightclub and even the headquarters of the Socialist Party before a designer named Jean Paul Gaultier made it his atelier in 1991. Thirty years later, the building was about to witness the turn of another era. Gaultier—the original enfant terrible of the fashion world, a designer revered for his daring, eccentric designs—announced his…

Basketball superstar Jimmy Butler is Tag Heuer’s latest brand ambassador. A five-time NBA All-Star, the 31-year-old is one of the top players in the league, and earned nearly US$30 million after signing a four-year deal with the Miami Heat in 2019. A gold medal winner for the US Olympic Men’s Basketball team, Butler said of the partnership: “I strongly believe in the brand’s values of high performance, precision and passion for action, and I’m committed to these standards throughout each game and in my everyday life. Above all, everyone knows how much I love watches, and I’m thrilled to be part of a brand with deep history and a trailblazing spirit.” MIND THE GAP When H Moser & Cie introduced the Streamliner Flyback Chronograph Automatic a couple of years ago,…

SAVINA CHOW Influencer and Founder, Beaubit “I really miss dressing up with make-up and beautiful shoes! Running a start-up in reality means dressing comfortably, as we spend long hours in the office and warehouse,” says beauty entrepreneur Savina Chow about what she misses most about dressing during the pandemic. While she admits that her personal style has “simplified” over the years, she still has a soft spot for a good dramatic look. “Once in a while, I see myself gravitating back towards things I used to love, like embellishments and bold colours.” Louis Vuitton gabardine jacket, silk and lace skirt, B Blossom fine jewellery rings, bracelet, stylist’s own silk gloves BILL CAIN Founder, Hat of Cain Bill Cain is undoubtedly one of the nattiest men in Singapore, thanks to his…

Walking through the corridor of Mickalene Thomas’ studio in Brooklyn is like being transported to a mini version of the sort of collection of African American art you expect to see at a big gallery. At least, that’s how it feels as Thomas’ business manager, Susan Grogan, takes me on a tour of the space during a video call in late August. But far from being the servants and erotic figures so often seen at such exhibitions, the Black women in Thomas’ paintings are strong, elegant figures covered in vibrant colours and glittering rhinestones. Draped in fashionable fabrics and at times topless, these models, with their steady gaze and self-assertive poses, exude a confidence which both causes viewers to become transfixed and compels them to shy away. Since her 2006…

A rare positive outcome of the pandemic—and one that seems likely to last—is our prioritisation of comfort. Comfortable clothes, shoes, hairstyles, homes and above all comfort food have helped make these difficult times a little more bearable. One concept I have not really heard spoken of, though, is “comfort wines”, perhaps because of some (warranted) anxiety around recommending an alcoholic beverage as a means of solace. However, the comfort I know wine to be capable of delivering derives from more than its alcohol content. There are a few things that “comfort wine”, at least as I conceive it, is not. Although their definitions probably overlap, comfort wine is not a “guilty pleasure”. It is also not quite the same as “everyday wine”. If you’re trying to figure out what your…