Portrait of a Lady:

Prestige mini feature by me for a wonderful cause. 

This ran in Jan issue - more at PrestigeOnline.com

Eternal Elegance: Giorgio Armani Retrospective: Prestige exclusive

With subtle fabrics and understated colours, Giorgio Armani’s fashion creations are a testament to enduring design

Take any chapter in the rich history of Giorgio Armani and behold the timeless, seemingly effortless elegance that transcends the epoch his outfits were born into. In the ’70s he brought power dressing to leading ladies on screen (reflect on how he dressed Diane Keaton); in the ’80s he relaxed that silhouette with softer fabrics (sure, he worked the shoulder pads, but he made the jackets in velvet for Jodie Foster); in the ’90s, he singlehandedly transformed Oscar red-carpet dressing by eschewing Vegas-style-sequins, feathers and costume jewellery for aesthetically impeccable ensembles and diamonds. As he famously said of dressing leading ladies for the red carpet, “She will not regret what she is wearing when she looks at pictures of herself in the press the next day. Or even next year.”


Or even next decade, as hindsight now reveals. Armani refrained from being trendy, opting for classic. Fads meant nothing to him as he focused on the eternal, putting the pow into power dressing with his signature style. This season however, he’s gone for a gentler, ethereal silhouette.

Enhanced by the use of “liquid” fabrics and aquatic colours, the latest collection is based on an abstract inspiration: a game of refractions created by a ray of light on a body of water. To that end, Armani uses fine lines and materials for clothing that envelops the body and flows with the silhouette, resulting in an impression of soft and gentle elegance.

The liquid effect is reproduced in organza and translucent materials, blended together and overlapping, with ruffles and layers in subtle, delicate hues: metallic greys, silky pastels, pale blues, with touches of pinks and bright greens. The overall effect is one of iridescent and poetic elegance: fragility full of strength.


“Collection after collection, I hone the idea of soft elegance,” Armani says from his studio. “This season the challenge has been to transpose the mutability of the shape and colour of water into garments and accessories. I achieved this effect with subtle but firm fabrics, using linear constructions and a masterly play on lightweight overlays and glossy embroidery.”

On this journey, the Giorgio Armani woman finds strength in gossamer grace and apparent fragility. Armani was about power dressing. Now, he dresses the empowered.

armani.com


P.Ramakrishnan

How Now Brown Cow: Premium Beef in Hong Kong: Mayura Wagyu

Every few months, we get a newsbyte on premium beef, with the terms ‘artisanal’, ‘curated’, ‘exclusive’ thrown into the mix to try and wet our palate – none have worked as well as the invitation from The Steak House winebar + grill (at the InterContinental Hong Kong) to try the Mayura Wagyu from Australia, also known as Chocolate-Fed Wagyu. 

Mayura Wagyu is acclaimed for its signature sweet, rich flavour, resulting from the unique chocolate diet 100% of the Wagyu cattle are fed in their final stage of maturation. Introduced to Hong Kong by Scott de Bruin, Mayura Station's managing director, under the magical hands of Executive Chef Maxime Luvara and Steak House Chef Chiu Ming Chan, their perennial quest for the ”best of the best” beef from artisanal (there's that word again!) farms around the world has resulted in aces. Such tender lovin’ steak we haven’t sampled in years as it was pure love at first bite. 

From now until 30 April 2019, you can get a taste of this unique and exceptional Wagyu prepared expertly by Chef Chiu Ming Chan over the restaurant’s charcoal grill.

The 'it' Gals of Hong Kong, 2019

YSL Beauté unveiled a leather version of its Le Cushion Encre de Peau at ifc mall, where we found a gaggle of celebrities and socialites – all dressed in black – at the YSL Beauté counter, sampling the compact, gorgeously packaged in black crocodile-patterned leather.

Who was invited, just the current crop of Hong Kong's 'it' gals. Have interviewed just about all these gals at some point or another... check 'em out at PrestigeOnline.com

Laurinda Ho

Elly Lam

Antonia Li

Feiping Chang

Alison Chan El Azar

Ashley Lam

Jude Tsang

Stephnie Shek

Esther Sham

Pearl Shek

Natalie Kwan

Print matters: What influences luxury purchases in Hong Kong; magazine ads and editorial!

Click to enlarge

Preach.

Lifestyle 2019 by Prestige Hong Kong

 

It's here! On sale in newsstands for the rest of the year, the annual tome published by Prestige Hong Kong. 

Worked with Dino Busch for the cover shoot (three years in a row with Olivier before) as Dino - Jess - and I all started working together x years ago and we are a trio that cannot be broken! lol. Have to say its one of my fav Lifestyle covers... EVER. Apart from looking great on newsstands everywhere (for the whole year! woot woot!), the entire team involved was so great that pulled it all together. 

 

My Editor's page - which people generally skip over - below! 

Glad Tidings

The volume you’re holding is an annual accompaniment to Prestige magazine, a new-year tome that is now a decade old. By the time we collate these pages it seems more than apposite for our editors to reflect on the year gone by, and as such we review here for you the best society events of 2018 (page 20) featuring the year’s most fabulous parties, and we present the finest hotels, bars, restaurants and spas sampled by our roster of wordsmiths (“The A List”, page 92). Our penultimate page is a tongue-in-chic recap of the year’s pop culture and celebrity antics (“That Was 2018…”, page 104), putting a humorous cap on the Year of the Dog as we step into the auspicious Year of the Pig. 

According to my feng shui mistress Thierry Chow (what, you don’t have one?) it’s a year of good fortune and luck as the Pig occupies the last (12th) position in the Chinese zodiac. And good fortune and luck is just what we wish our young and gorgeous cover stars, actress Jessica Jann and entrepreneur Kenneth King, as they embark on a lifelong journey together as a newly married couple. The day this magazine comes hurtling out of our printer’s vans and on to newsstands, the duo will be walking down the aisle – and we couldn’t be happier for them. Months ago, as they recounted their romantic journey, smiling and gazing into each other’s eyes – even when our photographer didn’t instruct them to – we got a little misty for young love and new beginnings. Our jaded, crusty and calcified heart skipped a beat – and I’m sure yours will too.

Have a prosperous and productive new year – according to the stars aligned, it’s a great one for making and investing money. We wish thee glad tidings dear reader, glad tidings indeed.   

P. Ramakrishnan

Editor

The entire cover story and shoot is up at PrestigeOnline.com

Outtakes: Jonathan Cheung: aka JC in Hong Kong .

Always good to make 'em laugh. Photoshoots and interviews make people oddly anxious or nervous. Takes a while to get into the groove of things. Have always found humour helps to ease people into... revealing everything about 'em for interviews! 

The delightful Jonathan Cheung of Buzz aka JC. 

It annoys photographers when they break between shots but all our shoots are chill. And fun. Mag life!

Posting this today [19 Dec] as its JC's birthday. Happy birthday kiddo. We first met during a 40 Under 40 shoot. Still a nica fella.