GQ Singapore: The Drinks That Are Defining 2026

So many reasons to celebrate – with these exceptional drops. 

 By P. Ramakrishnan 15 September 2026

Every August brings a fresh wave of “best of summer” press releases, most of which say the same thing in different fonts. But look past the marketing calendar and 2026 has quietly produced one of the more interesting runs of drinks news in years: a whisky maker willing to abandon her house style, a 208 year old Champagne maison finally admitting it had been hoarding a secret recipe, and a handful of grower Champagnes that Singapore’s more serious cellars have started rationing. Here is what belongs on your radar, and on your bar cart, before the year is out.

Read the full feature and list here at GQ Singapore. 

A Mechanical Jewel: Blancpain Ladybird Tribute to Betty Fiechter

Seventy years after Betty Fiechter built the world’s smallest round movement, Blancpain has reworked her Ladybird idea into a spherical mechanical jewel called Blancpain Lady B.

There is a version of watchmaking history that gets told and retold: complications, chronometers, the men who ran the great houses. Betty Fiechter rarely features in it, despite having done more than most to keep one of them afloat. In 1932, Frédéric Émile Blancpain died suddenly, ending two centuries of family leadership at the Villeret manufacture. With no heir willing to take over, Fiechter and commercial director André Léal borrowed heavily to buy the company. Swiss law at the time would not let a firm trade under the Blancpain name without a family member at its head, so the business became Rayville, a phonetic anagram of Villeret. Léal died just before the Second World War, leaving Fiechter alone at the helm of more than 200 employees, at a time when Swiss women could not yet vote.

Read the full feature here at PrestigeOnline.

A Racing Frame, Reimagined on the Wrist

Richard Mille and Colnago unite Swiss horological precision with Italian cycling craftsmanship in a 50-piece tourbillon that turns the architecture of a racing bicycle into wearable engineering.

Richard Mille has long treated the watch case as an engineering problem rather than an ornament, and its latest collaboration with Colnago proves the point with characteristic flair. The RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago, limited to just 50 pieces, brings together Swiss watchmaking precision and the storied Italian cycling heritage of Colnago, the Cambiago based frame builder whose bicycles have carried champions across the world’s greatest races for decades.

Rather than a simple exercise in branding, the timepiece reinterprets the very geometry of a racing bicycle. The RM64-01 calibre, comprising 274 components, is built around three governing principles: lightness, transparency and volume. Its skeletonised architecture, rendered in microblasted grade 5 titanium, exposes the movement entirely, allowing the eye to trace lines that recall a tubular bicycle frame rather than a conventional dial. The fast-rotating barrel at one o’clock sits in deliberate symmetry with the variable-inertia tourbillon at seven, a configuration that echoes a bicycle’s drivetrain with unmistakable clarity.

Read the full feature here at PrestigeOnline.

TBT: Throwback Thursday: Working with and at Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong

 

Over the past 20+ years, I've done so many random jobs, including this one for Lankwaifong.com

As expected, they were a fun team to work with.

Black, white and read all over.

Have had a few features in South China Morning Post recently. Where I started... all those years ago...

Archived here at SCMP. com

Body of Work: Model and Artist Afa Lee “Afa Annfa” on Her Art, Solitude and Yayoi Kusama

Gorgeous Afa Laa, artist based in Hong Kong. 

Have featured her a few times in print and online. Profile of her published in Prestige 40 under 40 here and her interview here. 

 

Tommy Hilfiger hits India

GQ India

Believe it or faint, Tommy Hilfiger has a deep connection to India. In fact, his first collection in 1985 was created with the financial backing of Indian-American entrepreneur Mohan Murjani. Today, the brand is hugely popular in India, operating over 100 standalone stores and hundreds of shop-in-shops across major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. It is positioned as an aspirational, premium lifestyle label catering to urban youth and professionals.

Born on March 24, 1951, designer Tommy Hilfiger is 75 years old. He began his career in fashion in 1969 by opening a local boutique called People’s Place, meaning he has been in business for over 55 years. The brand itself launched in 1985 and quickly became a multi-billion-dollar empire.

Hilfiger redefined pop culture in the 1990s by embracing street culture and hip-hop. He famously dressed hip-hop icons like Grand Puba, Snoop Dogg, Aaliyah, and Tupac, oversized silhouettes featuring his bold red, white, and blue flag logo into the ultimate status symbol. Across Asia, his "classic American cool" preppy aesthetic established a massive footprint, blending Western luxury with accessible sportswear.

The brand was prominently featured in late 1990s and early 2000s Bollywood cinema as directors adopted global streetwear to define "cool" youth culture. There are too many Indian celebrities and Bollywood stars (esp among the young) who embraced the signature colours of Hilfiger. Of the many, three films stand out that prominently featured the brand; 

• Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998): Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol wore bright Tommy Hilfiger hoodies and tees to portray trendy college students.

• Dil Chahta Hai (2001): Aamir Khan and Saif Ali Khan sported Tommy Hilfiger polo shirts to reflect urban, modern Indian youth fashion.

• Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001): Hrithik Roshan frequently wore the brand's athleisure to showcase his character's high-end, Westernized style.

Note, all A-listers, and none who were sponsored to wear the logo emblazed wardrobe! 

While others embrace minimalism and muted shades and quiet luxury, the brand's zestful, preppy, vividly colourful aesthetic fit into Bollywood like a hand in velvet glove. 

The brand needs to embrace Bollywood as hard as Bollywood's hugged Hilfiger!