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All the fancy gadgets in the world can’t beat the enduring charm of a mahjong set from Hermes.

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All the fancy gadgets in the world can’t beat the enduring charm of a mahjong set from Hermes.

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When it comes to luxury, you can rest assured that Prestige has it covered. But with the sheer multitude, let alone variety, released regularly on the landscape, it can become rather difficult to figure out the best from the rest or to even pick up the newest and most exciting. As luck would have it, our editors are forever on the look out: discovering on-the-rise labels, picking up new products from cult brands and the finding the most desirable items there are. So for those that are curious what that might be, keep scrolling to discover what made the cut in our weekly Most Coveted list.

The post Most Coveted: Isabel Marant, Boucheron, Valentino and More appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Not many 25-year-olds can open a museum and anticipate art’s global cognoscenti of dealers, collectors, gallerists, owners, digital platforms and venerable institutions to be watching every step of the way with breathless anticipation. So it is with one of China’s millennial calling-cards, the dynamic artrepreneur of style and the aesthetic, Michael Xufu Huang, and founder of Beijing’s X Museum, which opens next month.
Huang exhibits soft power on a prolific scale, and his creative ambition encapsulates both the country’s newly wealthy seeking a richer cultural life and those legions of newly influential digital hipsters whose minds are both more open and more international than their forebears, and more concerned with high class and good taste than just riches. Huang is digital marketing’s content It-boy nonpareil and he’s riding the now-and-future wave array of electronic excitation that World 2.0 has become. And a Great Wave it is.
Despite his being a mere spring chicken of a lad – and a mighty stylish one at that – this isn’t the first time Huang’s initiated such a venture. In 2014, he co-founded what’s become the much-lauded M Woods non-profit private museum in Beijing’s 798 art district with Wanwan Lei (former model for revered Chinese painter Liu Ye) and her husband Lin Han (a prolific collector) – the couple’s fame and network lends them glowing digital celebrification.

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The trio wanted to bring experimental and international art into China. Their collective mantra was squarely aimed at luring a younger generation of Chinese into museums so they might adopt art as a hobby and grow a lifestyle with it. And rapidly came the expectant eyes of global art’s jet-set. And yet, five years on, despite art’s percolation and greater popularisation in China, Huang is choosing to move on at what seems like the pinnacle of success. Why?
“There’s a few reasons,” he says between changes of costume during our shoot. “First, I think I’m quite disappointed with the Chinese museum scene, in terms of everyone doing Western-themed artists.” Huang doesn’t deny that such exhibitions are publicly important for art education and has actively promoted them in the past (Andy Warhol, for example) with M Woods, he just can’t reconcile how that leverages 2020 China’s influence in the global art world.

“Form the New Norm,” goes his X Museum mantra, and like millions of his millennial peers and looming Gen-Zers, he’s in a rush to expedite this century’s geo-cultural shift via scroll, in the blink of an eye and the
“Like” of a social-media post. “I just want to show that we’re not like a typical museum. Yes, we’re starting with a collection, but the whole idea is to cultivate new talent.” Huang explains that currently there’s no such mechanism in China to help nurture young artists in such a way. Thus, he plans “to help them build their career and gain them more international attention”. He pauses. “I think that’s something I cannot resist – to show people how curious we are and why it’s important that we’re here.”
Huang has been continually travelling, (he was in Bangladesh prior our meeting in Hong Kong and flying to London the following day) and claims never to have much time to read long-form art-world articles. “I never have any time. I’m a workaholic,” he says. Little wonder given his remit. For X, he’s overseeing programming, development, promotion and more. “It’s like my baby,” he jokes. “I do everything for it.”
X Museum is a two-storey building in the city’s Chaoyang District orchestrated by Beijing-based Korean architect and designer Howard Jiho Kim, who oversees the studio TEMP. Huang’s opening exhibition How Do We Begin? , which forms the first part in a triennial, consists of 33 artists who espouse the millennial zeitgeist, and is curated by London Royal College of Art graduate Poppy Dongxu Wu (@poppydxwu). “This is her first exhibition in China,” says Huang, almost matter-of-factly, “and she’s doing a really good job. She’s from an architecture background too which is good for our multidisciplinary viewpoint.”
As counterbalance, Huang has assembled a glittering jury who will award a cash prize, consisting of Hans Ulrich Obrist (Serpentine Galleries, who says that Huang’s “immense curiosity” never ceases to amaze him), Kate Fowle (director of MoMA PS1), Zhang Zikang (Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing), and Diana Campbell Betancourt (Samdani Art Foundation). Looking ahead he also foresees digital projects. “I’d like to do curatorial projects online because the physical space can only allow you to do so much – like one or two shows at a time. There are also so many good curators I want to work with in China.”

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While Huang grew up and schooled in London and went to the Tate Modern every weekend to learn more about getting into the profession, his art epiphany came in the less likely art milieu of one of the Tate’s satellites. Holidaying – in fact he says he was camping – with friends in the seaside village of St Ives, southwest England in 2012, Huang discovered the Tate St Ives showing American artist Alex Katz’s seascapes and beach scenes and went to take a look. “What got me hooked is when I went to Tate St Ives, and Alex Katz, everything clicked in my heart. This was like a revelation, and you feel it’s a part of your life. It made me extremely happy and meaningful.”
It’s curious that Huang succumbed to the leisure and recreation of Katz’s work, the American’s high-intensity art paintings being defined as they are by an economy of line and indulgence of style, along with their cool but seductive emotional detachment. That could be a description of Huang. Influenced as much by style, fashion and music as by art history, yet still classical at heart despite the “now-y” vibe. Katz’s sassy show, appropriately enough, was called Give Me Tomorrow.
Poet, writer and University of Pennsylvania professor Kenneth Goldsmith taught the undergraduate Huang, who sat in on a grad seminar he was teaching in the art department, which Goldsmith describes as a “free-form discussion group about issues of the day”, and Huang also took a class Goldsmith taught about fashion theory and creative writing. The Ivy League professor recalls Huang’s unusual “X” factor. “He was perhaps the most unique student I’ve had in the 15 years of teaching,” he recalls. “He would saunter into class wearing furs and designer sunglasses, hanging on every word I said, taking in every bit of information about art, literature and music I had to offer. He was very quiet but very engaged. He cast a spell on myself and all of the other students, who at first were a bit perplexed but in time came around to adore him.”
How does the X man see himself? “A paradox,” he says, managing to reference an “X”. Personality-wise, I’m quite aloof in some ways. I like to have a lot of ‘me time’ when I can. I don’t like to socialise or be too public. But nowadays if you want to do anything you have to be present, so it’s like a paradox. You want to be real, but there’s that sense that your platform or social media is just curated or performed. It’s not the real you. And then you have to say what’s politically correct; there’s what you believe in, or what you have to believe in.”

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In retrospect, Huang, despite his “cool for Katz” epiphany in St Ives, England, thought the London galleries too inaccessible and “too posh” in their ways at the time he was growing up. “London galleries are more distant if you’re young. It’s easier to access art spaces in New York, and that brought me into the community, and I became more involved. It created a sense of belonging and that definitely helped.”
Goldsmith recalls a conversation he had about what Huang might do after graduating. “I do remember one time talking to him when he was considering going into tech after school. I told him that although he’d undoubtedly make a lot of money, the art world would be a lesser place should he not pursue it. We’re all glad to he took my advice!”
Despite the classicism, Huang, like many who’ve grown up in his generation, follows what’s called “Post-Internet” Art. “I’m very interested in Post-Internet Art. And I want such artists to come to China – there’s such a lot of material people can use in China, and post-internet art in a China context.” How does he define such Post-Internet Art? “It’s art dealing with tech, digital, industrial materials; for our generation it’s something we grew up with.”
How does he assess the legacy of contemporary Chinese artist Cao Fei, whose first major solo exhibition Blueprints is showing at London’s Serpentine Galleries until May 17. “For me, she’s not really my generation, but she has set a tone for Chinese art. She’s probably the first who represented China globally and challenged everyone’s perception. I think the new generation in China are now very international.”
Which in Huang’s generation means a huge number of people that have studied abroad and have a global vision. And even those who didn’t. “Everyone is pretty educated now, the education system is good, English is very good, everyone is curious. Like film, and music, or even #Metoo,
people see that and its global effect. And with that, Chinese institutions can have influence globally now.”

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So far Huang’s X Museum is generating all the right noises. “I think we’re already generating a lot of fuss, and on digital and social media, people are excited about it, people are talking. It’s also word of mouth; we bring out the community of real talent and of course they have their own communities. I think it’s just a matter of time. We also have fashion people, brands I want to collaborate with, and sponsors.”
“You know our slogan is ‘form the new norm’, and I think we’re doing that and I always see the art world as a challenge, I don’t follow all the institutions, I do what I think I should do, and what I think is correct. You must believe what you believe in and there are so many paradoxes along the way. We want a new generation of art lovers and supporters and people who influence society. So I’m very grateful they are on this journey with me, and to have this power in China. After all, why do expensive shows that don’t give us any benefit. I don’t believe in that.”
What will be his own definition of success? “When I can retire without worry,” he says. “When the programme and the institutions are good enough and the team is running itself. That’s my dream of success.” And then he gets objective about his situation. “But, if there’s another young person, then I too would question how legit they are, how serious, as anything new takes time to get used to. At least people are used to me already and aren’t surprised when I call up with something like this. And the result has been phenomenal”
I ask if there’s anything he hasn’t shared he’d like to convey before he saunters off to ride and drive the wave of his ambition. “It’s mainly about taking our power back and the new generation doing something interesting with our own content. I think that’s the key.”
And President Xi? “We would really like him to come, and I hope that when we do well he would want to come.” From X to X, the geo-cultural future starts here.

Photography Ricky Lo 

Art Direction Sepfry Ng 

Styling Zaneta Cheng 

Hair and Makeup Kidd Sun 

Photography Assistants Jason Li and Kelvin Sim

The post The Artrepreneur, Michael Xufu Huang appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Fresh off the plane from a week at Milan Moda Uomo, where he spent his days between shows and dinners with the likes of Sylvia Fendi, Daniel Lee and Isabel Marant, and then a couple days in Beijing tending to his various businesses, Oscar Wang arrives for our shoot on a Saturday morning in Hong Kong, on time, dressed discreetly in a beanie and trench coat, and ready to deliver. It’s difficult to imagine that Wang, all of 29 years of age, who now juggles a diversified portfolio of agency work, talent management, creative branding, a club in Beijing and restaurants in Shanghai, didn’t happen on his career until quite recently.
Known for most of his life as “the son of actress and acclaimed director Sylvia Chang”, Wang’s search for what he wanted to do took a little time. “I wasn’t an academically gifted student,” he says, laughing. Yet even at an early age and despite poor grades, Wang knew in the back of his mind that he wanted to be a businessman – and possessed an independence of spirit that allowed him to forge a path of his own choosing. After what he describes as a particularly gruelling time studying at LaSalle, one of the best local boys’ schools in Hong Kong, Wang’s parents decided to move him to Yew Chung International School, where the academic rigour was less intense for both mother and son.
“I went there and life was much easier,” Wang says. “I was considered academically gifted at Yew Chung for three years. People thought I was a genius because it was so intense at LaSalle that my grades were amazing, I was so ahead. I didn’t have to study or anything. But it started showing after grade five.”
t which point, Wang took it upon himself to apply for boarding school at Cheltenham in England – and to both his and his parents’ surprise, he got in. The note of pride is evident even now in Sylvia Chang’s tone when she recalls her son’s proactiveness. “When he reached his early teenage years, Oscar began to focus a lot on his peer group, and it was around then that he decided he wanted to go to boarding school. So, I said to him, ‘If you can apply and get in, then you can go.’ And he applied and got in!”
For Wang, going to boarding school in England was a way for him to escape Hong Kong and its pressures, “I just thought Hong Kong was a little tiring,” says Wang when asked why he wanted to leave. It’s not necessarily surprising, given Wang’s background as the son of one of Hong Kong, Taiwan and China’s most celebrated directors of film, stage and television.

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Of this, his mother says, “In the beginning, he wouldn’t tell anybody that I was his son. He didn’t like that. He didn’t want people to know him only as my son. He wanted people to know him for who he is. And I’d say to him, ‘Oscar, you have to accept the fact that I am your mother. And being an actor or a celebrity or whatever they call it is a fact. You cannot just deny it. It’s something you have to live with.
“As he’s grown up, he’s come to realise that it’s OK, because he now has confidence and has found something he’s good at, something for which people love him, like him, accept and admire him for, as Oscar Wang. And people now recognise him for his work, rather than simply as my son.”
“I can’t hide from it,” says Wang. “I tried to hide but that’s how people like to introduce me, so I’m used to it. I think that as long as I’m doing something good in life, there’s no shame in it. You can really work on your own path and now a lot of people call her ‘Oscar’s mother’, so it’s shifted in some sense.”
But Wang does credit his work ethic to his mother. “Her main influence on me was that of hard work,” Wang says. “When it comes to creativity, the details that she focuses on, what she’s trying to portray in a film, all of that she says has to come from the soul. It’s always about portraying the truth to an audience. It can be through any medium, in any shape and form, but it always has to be truthful.”

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Wang was made to go out and work from a young age. “I always worked every summer and Christmas. My parents sent me to my aunt’s garment factory in Thailand when I was a kid, where we’d make T-shirts for big brands. I was quite young, so I didn’t really know what was going on, but I found it really fun. I’d tag the clothes and feel good because I knew I was earning money doing it.
“I also worked as a bell boy at the Grand Hyatt. I’ve worked at streetwear stores and was a personal assistant in Taipei. Usually it was a month or two, but working hard came easily to me. Being a bell boy was quite interesting, though, because it was in Hong Kong and I’d get recognised by uncles and aunties who’d tip me pretty well.”
Wang ultimately chose to attend the Chelsea College of Arts because of his gift in sculpture, a talent his mother only discovered when she saw one of his school exhibitions. “He was always very good at drawing doodles and I knew he had good taste, but I never really knew how good he was or what aspect of art he was talented in until he was in high school – and I saw that he’d created a sculpture,” says Chang. “I was amazed. Even in high school, the teachers told me that the only thing he could sit down, concentrate on and enjoy doing was art.
“So I then tried to persuade and encourage him to become a sculptor, but he refused!” she says, letting out a mirthful belly laugh.

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For Wang, it was a period of soul searching. “I stopped sculpting when I reached Chelsea College of Arts,” Wang says. “I did the foundation course in the first year, where you’re encouraged to figure out your path, and I was really bad at that, so life became really party-driven and I figured I’d chill out and be a fine artist.
“Then one day, a tutor said to me, ‘Hey your grades are really bad. You should really figure something out that will make you more driven in life, something with some structure.’ So I chose interior spatial design, because there are deadlines and you had to pass your course according to a rubric. So I began shifting away from fine art and into design.”
From there Wang applied for an internship at the studio of Irish designer David Collins, where he was exposed to projects the firm was working on with Alexander McQueen, the Ritz Carlton and properties in the Arabian Gulf.
“It opened up my world in terms of how everything works differently for each client and how to adjust designs to suit specific requests. They also did a bit of furniture and small design pieces here and there, which really inspired me in terms of the breadth of creativity that was allowed in the luxury sector.”
Once the internship was complete, Wang intuited that a move to Shanghai would be his next step. “I felt that if I didn’t go back to China, I’d regret it in the future, to not have utilised our strength right now as such a powerful country,” Wang explains. “I meet everybody from around the world in Shanghai. They’re all somebody back in Europe and the world, but when they’re in Shanghai, they’re kind of in your territory and they’re willing to spend more time to understand you.” Initially Wang set up his own interior-design studio but two years later, in 2015, Apple acquired Beats by Dre and for a long time was looking for celebrities to feature in a campaign for China, but to no avail. Word reached them that Wang could help and a few phone calls later, Apple had its campaign faces. “My partner and I are well connected in the entertainment industry, due to our backgrounds, so we made it happen. And suddenly we realised, ‘Oh this is interesting.’ We didn’t realise this was a business – connecting celebrities with brands – and we started doing it more and more,” Wang explains.
“Basically every campaign, campaign shoot, spokesperson and face of a product launch was arranged by us. We started from there and slowly became an agency connecting brands with artists. Slowly we realised that not only did international brands need talent, but so too did national ones. Now we do KFC, Pizza Hut, Proctor & Gamble and even Unilever.”
From there, because Wang’s firm also handled payments for talent, he diversified and began managing talent. “We started with Natasha Liu, because she had a unique look and she could fight. That was how it started,” Wang says.

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“Now, we have a supermodel and a young boy who’s still in training, but he’s doing more acting and a bit of singing. We’ve also signed on Kevin Hart, to help with his social platforms, and we’ve started trying to figure out and strategise how to bring Western talent into China.”
Due to sustained success, Wang closed down his design studio in order to focus solely on growing the business. But almost as soon as he did so, Fendi came knocking with a design project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Peekaboo bag. Wang was invited alongside six other artists to design a special-edition Peekaboo, and has since become a firm collaborator with the Italian fashion house. This February, he’s launching Chinese New Year FenDidi animations alongside an installation in Taipei.
It’s a busy start to the year for Wang, who takes a frenetic schedule and constantly moving parts in his stride with a soft-spoken and calm demeanour. In between shooting his Prestige cover and the launch of the installation, he’s to fly back to Shanghai to check on his new ramen restaurant and oversee new flavours for Joe’s Pizza, a franchise he licensed from the New York original. How does he do it? “Just do it, don’t waste time and be curious,” Wang says.
For someone who insists that his academic career wasn’t spectacular by any stretch, Wang is now an avid reader. “I’m more conscious now, because there are so many elements of my business that can be affected by what happens around the world and I have a lot of partners who are well versed in what they do and are constantly sharing knowledge.
“Given that I’m in such a great position in terms of the creative businesses, as well as my other businesses, I need to upgrade myself so that when conversations happen, discussions are more fruitful – and being informed in an exchange really comes off better when you also understand what they’re talking about. That way, when you come in with your unique spin, people are guaranteed to love it. At the end of the day, we just want to make something exciting happen.”

Photography Karl Lam

Art Direction Sepfry Ng 

Styling Zaneta Cheng

Hair and Make-up Kidd Sun

Photography Assistant West Ng 

Styling Assistant Lau Bo

The post The Son Also Rises: Serial Entrepreneur Oscar Wang appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.