"The day we set the date for the opening of our flagship store, SARS broke out and made headlines," said Philippe Fortunato, managing director, Christian Dior Far East Ltd, after the last of 12 models had sashayed away. "We kept the faith and believed everything would be okay by this date - and here we are, at long last," he said referring to the Asian-inspired autumn/winter 2003 collection show, held at the penthouse of 1 Peking Road, to which we had just been treated.
It might not have been a very auspicious beginning but the culmination of all the effort - the grand opening of Dior's largest flagship store in Asia was, quite literally, a traffic-stopping affair. Dressed in black, red and sparkling diamonds, Hong Kong's A-list came out in their Limos and Rollers: Charles Yeung Chun-kam, Glorious Sun Holding's chairman; Frederic Dufour, Riche Monde HK director; Tina Liu Tin-lan, vice-president of Project Blossom; socialites Nina Lam, Harriet Tung, Wendy Wan and Jaqueline Leung.
Always gorgeous wedding planner Michelle Li defied the dress code ("But it is still Dior darlin'!"). Marketeer Mara Ho-Tung, boutique owner Mira Yeh, and James Louey, of the Kowloon Motor Bus family, and his wife, Jane, were lost in the blinding daze of camera flashes.
Outside, the crowd screamed and strained to see Canto-pop diva Anita Mui Yim-fong, escorted by a casually dressed Nicholas Tse Ting-fung. Film-maker Tsui Hark, Dr Eden Woon yi-teng, Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce chief executive, and singer william So Wing-hong followed on the red carpet.
After a tour of the 4,500-sq-ft boutique, guests were invited to the rooftop and soon after the first few rounds of champagne, a charity auction was held to raise money for Project Blossom, an organisation that benefits children of SARS victims.
A Hardcore Dior handbag was snapped up by new-in-town socialite Cecilia Ying for an easy $15,000 while Pansy Ho Chiu-king laid down $45,000 for limited-edition Dom Perignon champagne. Before the auction of the "Gwendolyn" ring (a white coral, diamond and pink sapphire-studded little number set in yellow gold), emcee for the night, Dior's PR king Peter Cheung, coaxed an almost-reluctant Mui on stage.
Notoriously shy off stage, she came alive under the spotlight, her coquettish poses with the ring catcalled and applauded. The ring finally raised HK$235,000 at the silent auction.
William So Wing-hong pitched in later with two songs for the 100 exclusive guests. "Canto-pop stars usually lip-sync their way on stage but this guy can sing," said a very surprised Lumen Man Leung-yan, who was dripping in diamonds and mingling with girlfriends while her husband was away.
Lesser mortals would have been happy with one event but the following night saw "Hardcore Dior," a hot and sweaty affair held at the same venue, at which the music was louder than the guests - all clearly in the mood to "part-ay"!
Korean actress Kim Hyun-ju, Malaysian R&B queen Ning Bazuira and Shanghai model Lu Yan added international flavour. Hari Harilela's granddaughter Nisha Parmanand arrived with model Anna Schoenberg while singer Miriam yeung Chin-wah, clothes-horse Kam Kwok-leung and actress Cecilia Yip Tung walked straight into the VIP area.
But not everyone was so lucky and some didn't make it past the bouncers. the dramatics that ensued were hysterical as some of the barred guests made a scene unworthy of more coverage.
Return to Vintage Form Of all the events held recently, nothing was quite as scrumptious as Veuve Clicquot's launch of vintages, an evening celebrating the release of three new 1996 vintage reserves. Nine of Hong Kong's most adventurous celebrity chefs were invited to create meals to complement the drinks.
We saw Gary Cheuk of Solstice, Rajiv Singh Gulshan of Veda, Duyen Hackett of Song, Kinsen Kim of Yung kee, Eddy Leung of Poison Ivy, Tony leung Shu-wah of The China Club, Li Shu Tim of One Harbour Road, Paolo Monti of Gaia and Miyasako Yukihiro of san san Trois go wild with their woks... so to speak.
Seven of them held a live demonstration, preparing a dish for the 70-odd guests at the Hong Kong Hospitality Industry Training and Development Centre. Harry Hiranand was there with out his gorgeous wife, Shirley, who was out of town, and we saw Riche Monde's Frederic Dufour in conversation with Cindy Won of Yung Kee. Peter Wong from City magazine and Darren Chen from Tiffany & Co mulled around the Solstice table while Tiana Harilela and Bruno Yvon from Riche Monde were seen munching around Song.
South China Morning Post on Friday, June 13, 2003
