De-lighted!

Whee! I got a shout out from Shobhaa De.

The Making Of a Post magazine Fashion Shoot: Lights, Camera, Reaction! Matters of the Art

Throwback to the first shoot for Post magazine's fashion pages. As the widely distributed weekend magazine that accompanies The South China Morning Post, there is no other English publication in Hong Kong to compete with their weekend edition distribution numbers. 

More nervous for Reema than myself, her first day back at work and as a stylist, after years of martial bliss and two kids ended up being painless and really fun - she says so herself!

Weeks of planning, endless emails, delivery fiascos, location snafus (thank God for... oh wait, atheist Kate, thank the cosmos for Kate Bryan at Cat Street Gallery/The Space!) and last minute cancellations, it's never as easy as aim, click, done.

BUT, with an able team, 'twas all good.

It was brilliant to work with the very cool, calm and collected photographer James Gabbard. He did my first ever cover at Sentinel when it was at its earliest stages. He did such an amazing job, his name topped a post-it on 'must work with again' list. But after the initial few months, the budgets at the old office kept shrinking with every issue, until all shoots were done at some undisclosed location with clothes with the brand-names on its sleeve, un-retouched images (and no, not in the cool retro-chic way, more of a 'we have no dollars or sense' sorta way). Ugh.

This is the only shoot I've ever worked on where I was a bit snappy, but we had a tight deadline (there were other events being held at the very busy gallery!) and being an over-caffeinated monkey, there was little time for pleasantries. Delivery guys dropping accessories to the neighbours, a dozen art students landing for a tour of the location of the shoot (pfft children!), model getting stuck in Hong Kong's ever-increasingly heinous traffic and to top it all, Karen Yiu wasn't there! Make-up artist and friend, she was multi-booked and wasn't on location which always makes me nervous. Apart from being one of the best in biz on the planet, she's a zen-like influence as she's done 90 per cent of ALL my shoots and knows the rhythm and flow of a shoot. Bless her socks, she did do hair and makeup at her studio and of course, it was perfection.

On the plus side, shoot ran smooth as butter once it kicked off, we finished earlier than expected, the final shots are phenomenal, the art and the sculptures at The Space (and Cat Street) just enhanced the overall look of the shoot - way beyond the mental brief I had on what this would/should/could look like.

Gabbard's dedication to getting the perfect shot was only met with David's single-minded focus on holding the position until he got the shot. The staff at the gallery are getting buckets of goodwill and positive thoughts ushered to them (if I had the dosh, I'd be sending 'em all flowers and champagne) as they were kind and helpful beyond belief.

Reem and I didn't fight or argue once (yeah we might be growing up at long last!), was far more organised than I am at a shoot, there were notes and images refs and entire looks laid out and looks tried on the night before on a test model and what not. It was also great to see how enthusiastic she was on the shoot 'cause at this stage, I'm sure I'm a little jaded. But I swear I can fake enthusiasm with the best of 'em,

Its about 'post' impressions after all.

Photography James Gabbard
Styling Reema Khanna
Art Direction P.Ramakrishnan
Hair and Make-up Karen Yiu
Model: David O at Models International
Location: The Space, Cat Street Gallery

S.A.R. Column

I did the column back in the day... 3 times? Hats off to those who do it/did it. Esp the rare few who did it well! = )

It's incredibly stressful! Esp during SARS. Got mixed responses on doing the column with the mask on. Some people thought it funny - and relevant with the times. Others thought I was making light of a very difficult time in HK. Hmm...

Behind The Scenes: 38

In2 the Wild




On David O (left), shirt Ermenegildo Zegna. suit Gucci, shoes Prada.
On Alfredo (right), shirt Burberry, suit & shoes by Gucci.







Tank top by Dolce & Gabbana, jacket by Gucci, pants by Burberry and tie by Ermenegildo Zegna.












On David O (left), shirt & belt Dolce & Gabbana, pants by Gucci, trench coat by Burberry. On Alfredo, entire look by Prada, belt from Dolce & Gabbana and shoes from Gucci.








Shirt by Louis Vuitton and pants by Dolce & Gabbana










Shirt Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci, coat by Salvatore Ferragamo and pants by Gucci.










Top by Dolce & Gabbana











Tank top by Dolce & Gabbana, pants by Gucci, jacket by........













Shirt by Ermenegildo Zegna, tie by Prada, shorts & belt by Louis Vuitton








Top by Salvatore Ferragamo, jeans & boots by D&G





















Tank top & jacket by Dolce Gabbana, pants by Burberry.















Behind The Scenes: 38









Above images, ‘making of’ shots by Karen.

Final images coming soon…


Producer: P.Ramakrishnan
Photography by: Jeff Hahn
Stylist: Harry Lam
Hair & Make-up: Karen Yiu
Models: David O & Alfredo from MI

The King of Bling: Roberto Cavalli: An exclusive interview in Hong Kong

The king of excess, success and sex-ess? Indubitably, Roberto Cavalli. The shock-jock of high-end fashion pulls no punches when he speaks about, well, everyone. He doesn’t like Kate Moss on the catwalk, thinks Madonna’s designs look like his, even he’s surprised when Anthony Hopkins says he likes Cavalli clothes – when clearly his men’s line is more for rockers like Lenny Kravitz. In a star-sprinkled conversation with P.Ramakrishnan, Cavalli’s Technicolor life unfurls.

“Yes, I think clothes should be sexy,” he admits without hesitation, his words shooting out at a press conference the day before I met Roberto Cavalli for an exclusive interview. “Because women are sexy. I make clothes for sexy women, so my clothes need to be sexy.”

Well, there isn’t much room for misinterpretation there as the man himself, like his excessively glamourous outfits, is as subtle as a brick. A sparkling, sequined, low-cut brick with animal imprints and crystals. Seated at the lounge of his suite, the king of glam-rock fashion is festooned by two impossibly chic women. Part body-guards, part assistant, part power-suit accessory, its never quiet established who they are and why they respond to certain questions addressed to Cavalli but as the interview progresses, one learns to go with the flow.

Recovering after an award show that clearly went on till the wee-hours of the morning, my Q&A with Cavalli started at the lounge of the Landmark Mandarin, went up to his cavernous suite, and back down again to the O Bar and then mulled around the streets of Central. The interview didn’t begin on time nor did it end as intended but like the force of nature that the subject matter is, I knew to, as mentioned earlier, go with the flow.

It’s hard to remember the exact year when the Florence-born Cavalli, 68, first hit the marquee with a bang. Poison-pens have inked that it took the tragic end of yet another Italian fashion icon, Gianni Versace, to let the spotlight shine brighter on this sartorial savant. Like Versace, Cavalli’s fondness for animal prints, sexually-charged campaigns with sultry models revealing dangerous curves, the razzle-dazzle element of shiny fabrics studded with sparkling stones and his proclivity with celebrities (Victoria Beckham, Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Lenny Kravitz, Michael Jackson) is a formula that’s been resoundingly successful. Fashion is ephemeral and designers are a dime-a-dozen. The real achievement is staying on top of the game and staying relevant; which Cavalli unquestionably is.

Like many a legend one sees filtered by the glossy sheen of fame, meeting the person takes a little away from the persona. Cavalli is much shorter in person, more salt than pepper haired, has a leathery tan that’s not as obvious in the soft-focus portrait shots sent out by his company. The raspy gravel of his voice doesn’t erode his smooth charms – which are copious and threatens to spill at any given moment in his rich Italian inflected English. A life bejeweled with fame, celebrity, world-travel, coated with kisses from supermodels and starlets, his multi-hued boat where he hosts his uber parties, his palazzo that’s host to Oscar and Grammy winners, he has all the accouterments of a global celebrity.

I’ve read so much about Cavalli and seen him in so many television shows, the sudden shock of being introduced to him leaves me speechless. Unsure where to begin, I simply ask;

You’ve been to Hong Kong before?
I was here many, many years ago. Perhaps, over 20 years ago. I love the energy of Hong Kong, it’s a city full of energy. The people are, I believe, a positive people. Everyone’s running, I feel that everyone’s dreaming, dreaming of success. Compared with Italy, sometimes you can see that on the street people are dreaming too. But in Hong Kong, it’s a different way to dream. The people here are dreaming to the future. They are thinking too much of the past in Italy.

What’s brought on this sudden visit to Hong Kong?
I’ve been planning to come for many years and we have finally come out to visit and release a new accessory line in Asia. I’m sure you will see this city is a fantastic market. Asia is the future of the world. China is the future of the world and Hong Kong is the trampoline!

You’ve worked with many Asian stars too – even before it became fashionable to do so in Hollywood, in the West.
For many years I’ve been friends with Michelle [Yeoh]. I think she represents my fashion very well. Because she’s a very good actress, she’s sexy, she’s sexual, she’s fashion, she’s beautiful. Unfortunately, I don’t come to Hong Kong often before but I promise you, now I will come to Hong Kong three or four times a year. When I walk around Central, I get to see and know a little bit of the people. I like the people, I like how they dance, I like how they walk, I like how they dress.

He suddenly turns around and counter questions, “Do you know my restaurant Just Cavalli?”

Um… No.
You know Just Cavalli, it is one of the most fantastic restaurants in the world and I’m not just saying that because its mine! It’s a very unusual, unbelievable restaurant, and it’s a discotheque on Friday and Saturday, the other days, its just a restaurant. And everyone in the world, they want me to open my restaurant in their country. Yesterday, I decided that I want to make a Just Cavalli restaurant in Hong Kong. Really. Here is the only place that I have thought to make it. Hong Kong has the “it” factor.

You sell and make fantasies. The merchant of dreams said a fashion rag of you. Do you agree with that tag attached with your name?
First, my dream is something to do different from all other designers. Since the beginning. I wanted my fashion to be something that in the moment that you see my clothes, you can tell immediately that its a Roberto Cavalli.

Today its more difficult, because everybody’s too much! (He laughs a raspy laugh). Everybody - they know too much of fashion. Too many magazines talk about fashion. I tried to create my brand to be young and sexy. Especially the young they know so much about fashion. They know what they like. It isn’t easy being a dreamer today.

Your early days were filled with hardship, in stark contrast to your life now, you’re life makes for an epic rags-to-riches novel. Did the initial difficulties inspire your career now?
Absolutely. I worked hard. The most important thing is to wish strongly to be better. When I speak to the young, I tell them that. I believe that if somebody believe strongly in anything, he can realise any dream, whatever he want. My grandfather was an artist. I started to paint first to make money and in the beginning people liked my work. The shirt and t-shirts I would paint on and people would ask for one, then two. Then someone wanted a few thousand t-shirts! I’d run out of prints. Slowly I was printing by myself! I was learning. I started to make my first creations then. My first fashions show was in Paris in 1970. I started to work by making thousands of prints. But I was just one man.

And now an empire! There’s never been a pastel shade in your shop. What brought on this romance with colour?
In monochrome, I’ve designed outfits but I tend to be colourful and positive – and I wear positive. Colour is positivism, my clothes, whether they are all black, I want them to be positive.

When the Kate Moss scandal first broke, as brands dropped her left, right and centre, you spoke in her favour and you’ve worked with her in campaigns since.
Yeah. I did. Yes, I was a friend. My friend, in my opinion when the story of Kate Moss came out, it was too much. Too much attention, too many tabloids. In my opinion, too many people spoke against her.

She lost a lot of valuable endorsements.
That was silly. After many options, I choose her because she’s professional. She’s very professional. She’s really one of the best photo models. That is the most important. She’s a photo model. I don’t like her in the runway, on the catwalk, she’s too small, she’s pretty but I choose her for the photo model. In her private life, she can do what she likes, in my pictures, as long as she looks great, I don’t care – and she looks great.

She’s not the most popular celebrity in the world and often ridiculed in the British press but you’ve always stuck by Victoria Beckham. She even models for you. Why her, why not someone classically beautiful or unquestionably popular?
She’s nice. Because I like her obviously I chose her. Sometimes, people are against her, talk badly about her. She looks very simple, but Victoria is not. She’s very strong. I don’t want to tell you that she’s very simple… because she’s not that either, but she’s more simple than what people think about her. Absolutely, its very important that I have to really like her as a person. Tara Reid – people in America don’t love her but I like her. Sweet girl, so I send her Cavalli outfits.

You’ve created outfits for the red carpet – both the Oscars and the Grammy award shows. What’s a bigger challenge?
I prefer the Grammy. Honestly. First the cause - it’s the music world. The singer, they are more interesting, a little bit more personality. Also the Oscar, its not 100 percent as I like, its too much competition between all the designers. Who to dress, how to dress. I know many designers pay the stylists. Its too much business, its not real any more. When one actress or actor wears a Cavalli outfit, she’s really wearing an outfit because he or she likes the outfit – not because of a business deal.

Lenny Kravitz, the Jacksons, rock stars, they all wear Cavalli and there’s that undeniable link to rock glam. And then someone like Academy award winner Sir Anthony Hopkins says he loves your clothes. Isn’t that a surprise? He’s such a serious British thespian...
Anthony Hopkins? (Laughs that raspy laugh again). How you know about him? Anthony Hopkins said he liked my clothes because he’s a very good friend of mine. I met him now so many years ago, 6, 7, 8… in Florence. When he was making Hannibal. When he shot the movie there in Florence, he used to be with me all the time for dinner and parties. Director Ridley Scott and I are great friends and Tony was a good friend of Ridley. Anthony came with him to our house, very early in the morning. In our house, in our gym, he would work out. That’s how close we are. Him or an even an actress like Emma Thompson, or someone like Beyonce, the most different people, wear Roberto Cavalli. Its the woman, the man, the spirit of who wears it that matters.

Why the preference to animal and leopard prints?
Because its natural, because I like nature. With the snake, with a real bird, with a tiger... nature is fantastic. Every woman likes to be a little feline, she likes to be wild and be soft at the same time. They love to be a tiger and cat at the same time. Maybe that is the reason I appreciate women very much. I was in metropolitan museum last year, for a fashion exhibition and I saw this dress with a leopard print made from 300 years ago! I knew I got it right eh?

What’s going to be the signature look for your coming season?
White colour for summer. A totally different print. The white colour means a lot to the black colour. Because I like the combination white with a little print, with a little black, the main colour scheme for the new year will be white. White with other colours. White with floral print. Leopard or snake, its animalier.

What do you think of Madonna’s attempts at designing?
I don’t see it. All I saw was one of the dresses… it looks like very much like… Cavalli style!

Everyone in the room bursts out laughing with Cavalli.

I don’t know. It’s like one day I start to sing all of a sudden – does that make me a good singer? I don’t think I could be a good singer. I don’t think that Madonna she could be a good designer. Its just my opinion. I believe that everybody should do what they are able to do! I don’t want to sing. I don’t want to do anything else. My work is fashion and Madonna and many other people should do what they are able to do.

Roberto Cavalli outfits are available at The Swank. All images courtesy of the brand. 

From Bags to Riches: Anya Hindmarch

Logo embossed luxury brand bags had monopolised the must-have accessory market for decades. The interlocking alphabets, the embosses emblems... you know the one's I'm talking about but am refraining from listing (they do advertise with us - bless them!). Somehow, out of the blue, Anya Hindmarch’s trademark bags quietly became the mother of all must-have trinkets over the last four years. 

Adding to the sky-high list of collector’s items, now there’s the little amenities kit Hindmarch designed for British Airways. Who would have thought a case holding toothpaste, lip balm and toiletries would be the hottest cake in a designer oven? P Ramakrishnan was in conversation with a designer dream. And yes, its an exclusive chat. 

It's funny that in a row of cookie cutter houses in the heart of London resides one of England’s most celebrated and unique designers who single-handedly created a mini-revolution with her brilliant 'Be a Bag' idea. Customised bags with personal pictures, each exclusive to its owner, was the rage in 2001 – and continues to be that one little idea that could! 

Catapulting her to the fashion world orbit, Hindmarch has morphed from a surname to the most identifiable emblem that dots 30 stores around the planet, Hong Kong included. When British Airways asked her to come up with a design and concept for the amenities kit for their first-class passengers, she didn’t just create one device for all flights, for every flier. With its inimitable style, size and shape, the disparate bags are yet again a must-have item and people are in fact trying to collect every kind, of every design this working mom-of-five has created over the years! 

With some dubious sales on eBay (with figures escalating weekly!), urgent requests and pleas on ground staff at BA, does she know what she’s gone and created? When told, a laughter erupts and says, “It was a crazy but great idea that I’m glad worked.” As we chat in the mezzanine floor of her plush living room, decorated with incredible black and white pictures of her bountiful and beautiful family, 

Hindmarch seems to be juggling home and hearth with ease. In the fastest interview conducted on record for this magazine, the multi-tasker/juggler, with hands in multiple-pies spills her design secrets. Well, some of them... 

“BA approached me as they were looking for someone to come up with an idea for an amenities kit… because... well, because I was British and I do bags!” she reasons, a gush of words that spill our very rapidly on tape. 

She neatly sets aside the fact that she had won, that same year, the Best British Accessories Designer of the Year award by the British Fashion Council. Coincidence? Hardly. “They approached me, they were looking for someone to design something different. Actually, it was a really fun project. Not only was it designing a bag, but also designing the concept of the idea, which is that it changes regularly by design and I knew what I wanted to put in flights, what I didn’t want. I was very clear about it because, when you’re on a plane, you’re out of control, you can’t really have all the things you want so its nice to have really nice things, have the sort of things you would have at home, really good quality items that would enhance the travel experience.” 

As the signature airline and designer accessory is categorically a collector’s item, we wonder if her cupboards house each of her own creations. With a smile, she says, “I do have one of each in cupboards, but its annoying because my children pilfer from them so I don’t have the complete bags with everything in it, but one of each design!” 

Did you have any idea that your bags, the Be a Bag concept in particular, would become such a rage from New York to New Delhi? Visible in Central London, to Central, Hong Kong? 

“It was one of those crazy ideas that worked, and I’m really glad it did because there’s a charitable element with it (Be A Bag has raised money for more than twenty charities around the world). Privatisation is key, I love things that are just mine. If you have something that’s specially made just for you, then it feels like real luxury.” 

“We’re translating that to another concept where you, in a bag, you have inside the bag a message in your own handwriting that’s sewn into the leather, like a secret message inside. We’ve had children write a lot of really fun texts and messages and drawings. And on the box you have your name written on it. I think there’s always something about exclusivity, personalised things that will have a market. No, I didn’t quite predict the extent of it but I knew when I saw them, that this would be something I’d want – so why wouldn’t others?” 

With five kids, a cottage industry that’s now considerably more than a “cottage”, with, in addition to the travel kits, there are shoes, the hand embroidered kaftans, bikinis and baskets for mothers and daughters… How she finds time to eat, sleep and drink seems dubious. Magic potions and sorcery?

“Well, its about great help and great team around you. Lots of people are working around who need me," she says with a smile and a polite nod towards her assistant who seems to stand guard against the media onslaught from Hong Kong as we take up a lot of room in her plush home. "Hopefully, they need me. Nothing like five children at home to make it seem like you're the least important person in the room!” 

She laughs as her assistants [plural!] and kids seem to be bodies in constant rest and motion throughout the multi-floored home. “You’ve got to write lists and be organised and there’s time management and its hard work. And you have to have a little bit of humour about it, because when you have all that much going on, you can’t be a perfectionist about every aspect of every single thing. My work place is just five minutes away so either I’m there or here, and devote myself to those places.” 

When you sit at your drawing board or while making those copious lists and ideas, who are you designing things for? “I design for women who are quite similar to me, they might work, they might have children, they might travel a lot. There are different pressures and pleasures. But I do think, that’s sort of a woman’s life; you handle it.” 

There is a fashion flock mentality in certain circles where when one person gets something, everyone in that circle must get the same. Blindly following trends. That’s completely antithetical to her concept she says, “I think there’s nothing worse than a woman that’s head to toe in a look, and that’s really annoying. When everyone’s the same, has the same things. And it’s a bit less than special. Hong Kong women dress so well and they always look amazing and I think they are smart dressers unlike other countries where they might be a little less sophisticated. Adhering to fickle trends and not creating their own statements.” 

“The fashion market in Hong Kong, well, the way I’ve seen it is that they are generally more slight women so a great big bag perhaps wouldn’t do as well there. There’s that world-traveled elegance to the women in Hong Kong and they’re always immaculately put together. English girls are a bit more flea market and unpolished shoes and that retro look... Hong Kong girls are more polished. If you can say that Hong Kong girls aren’t funky, I suppose one can turn around and say the English girls can be a bit dirty!” 

Though one can recognise an original Hindmarch a mile away, the brand itself is subtle, devoid of “bling” and loud logos and in-your-face marketing. “I don’t think I’d want something that had a massive statement on it. I think branding is important and even I might see the value in something, a particular brand and I might be attracted to it but something that’s too obvious for me would be horrible. We’re not an over advertised brand.” 

Does the nefarious head of the fake industry bother her? “Its frustrating obviously when people copy but I think its inevitable," she says in that ever pragmatic English accent. "But we change our brand and design every six months. More frequently on some items so it doesn’t affect our business as much but its annoying because copying is so much easier than the original work I do. And you get bored of the design if you see it everywhere, if the fakes are floating all around you, instead of the actual bag that you’ve worked on - that is frustrating.” 

As we make our way down a narrow flight of stairs, she tells us about her impending trip to Hong Kong for a shop opening at IFC, not far from Harvey Nichols in Hong Kong. As we stand outside and look up at a clear-blue sky, I ask one final question. Tell us about your favourite things about London. 

“Well, my least favourite would be the rain. I can say that quickly. But we have been enjoying a spell of grand weather," she says, squinting her eye at the sun. "My most favourite thing about London is that its an incredibly cosmopolitan city. You can do anything, eat anything, meet anyone, its multi-racial, huge and diverse and it’s a great city. I just love it, I love the people, you have the green as well as the big city feel." 

"I love New York but I miss the green of London and really, there’s nothing quite like home.”

--

Table of Contents: 

Features Editor P.Ramakrishnan was invited to the private confines of designer Anya Hindmarch's home one sultry afternoon in London. For this special edition of the magazine - Best of British - he chats with the working oh-so-glamorous mum and designer.   

P Ramakrishnan

Me; a journalist in Hong Kong for the past... more years than I care to remember! I worked at South China Morning Post, Blaze Inc (which used to publish Kee, The Peninsula, Signature Life, The High Life magazines), very briefly at Hong Kong Tatler, a tumultuous year at Prive Asia (I think its gone belly up now but I'm not sure...) and finally at PPA Media Group (which also publishes a series of magazines like Sentinel, Influence etc - all based in China).


Rama