Celebrity Life

Founder of athleisure brand Caelum Green, Charlotte Tsuei can work her toned frame in front of the lens.

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The jewellery lover reveals her most treasured possession once belonged to her grandmother.

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She is one of Hollywood’s most famous screen legends of all time with a style legacy that is going strong decades after her passing. Of course, Audrey Hepburn is a woman who needs no introduction. Now, fans can own a piece of Hollywood history as Hepburn’s famously chic wardrobe is due for auction. From Givenchy to Valentino, about 500 of her favourite items, most of which have never been offered for sale, will be auctioned live at Christie’s King Street headquarters in London on September 27.

Givenchy couture, pale blue cloque satin cocktail gown, autumn winter collection

The flagship live auction will commence alongside an online sale, which opens for bidding from September 19 to October 3. Film memorabilia, scripts and photographs will also pepper the auction offerings, though the highlight is no doubt the fashion pieces from various brands including Givenchy, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, Salvatore Ferragamo and Burberry. Auction items start off at around US$130, with some expected to fetch above US$100,000. Several pieces from the collection are available for public viewing until September 14 at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, and at Christie’s King Street, London from September 22.

Cigarette Lighter from My Fair Lady (1964) and Cartier Swizzle Stick with 'Audrey' engraving (circa 1950)

Hepburn formed close friendship with top fashion designers throughout her career, which birthed several iconic looks that are still admired to this day. Among her most famous friendships include that with Hubert de Givenchy, which saw the duo collaborating on several pieces rose to become as famous as its owners. Some of the most notable gowns to hit the auction include a couture blue satin cocktail dress with fringes from Two For the Road and a couture black satin cocktail gown adorned with feathers. One of Hepburn’s all-time favourites, two-piece couture cocktail gown of black satin, will also be auctioned, with sale estimates of US$65,000 – US$104,000.

Burberry trenchcoat from circa. 1980

Famous for adding notes and revisions to her working scripts in turquoise ink, fans can expect to bid for a dozen of Hepburn’s most iconic scripts. The Breakfast At Tiffany's icon shot to stardom with film classics including My Fair Lady and Roman Holiday, and was the first ever actress to receive an Academy Award, a Tony Award and a Golden Globe in the same year. The prolific actress went on to add three BAFTAs to her countless accolades, and most notably become one of just 12 people in history to sweep the industry’s four major awards – the Emmy, Grammy, Academy and Tony Awards.

Beyond her abundant career, Hepburn was also notable for her philanthropy. Devoting the later part of her life to the The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Hepburn embarked on various missions to the world’s most impoverished corners in the later part of her life, even when striken with cancer. In recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Hepburn was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992. In 1993, Hepburn died at the age of 63.

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Guess who this stylish lady touts as her hero of fashion.

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With a solid game plan, the founder of Crème Maison Bakery is set to bring her bakery to exciting new places.

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Updates: The article is first published in Prestige Indonesia's September Issue, days before Pierre Bergé's deathon September 8 at 86 in his Provence home. His passing was a month away from the opening of the museums.

The Mondrian dress. Le Smoking. The beatnik look. Those were only three of the ways in which Yves Saint Laurent revolutionised fashion in the swinging sixties. He shook up the industry even more by launching the first ever upscale ready-to-wear collections - at a time when haute couture was the only acceptable option for luxury customers.

A fitting tribute to such a revolutionary genius is to open a museum that archives all of his great ideas – or rather two museums, as will happen in October. Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé, his longtime lover and creative partner, had it all figured out - way before the designer lost his battle with brain cancer in 2008. The designer had been archiving each of his collections meticulously since his early years in the 1960s. Every sketch was kept with care. This year, Bergé, who helped the designer launch the Yves Saint Laurent Couture House in 1961, is opening two museums in his beloved’s memory. The spaces will exhibit Saint Laurent’s 40 years of
work, totalling over 5,000 couture garments and 15,000 accessories, as well as thousands of sketches, photographs and objects.

[caption id="attachment_55691" align="alignnone" width="897"] YSL's scenography[/caption]

The museums, perhaps, were what Bergé was referring to in his eulogy for Saint Laurent: “But I also know that I will never forget what I owe you, and that one day I will join you under the Moroccan palms.” Once opened, in Paris and Marrakech, the museums will be nothing short than a couple of great love letters to Saint Laurent. Bergé, aged 86, says: “Despite the passing of Yves over eight years ago, his name, his personality and his talent continue to fascinate. There is a real demand from the public to be able to admire and understand the designer’s creations. This museum will be the first in the capital of fashion to exclusively display the work of one designer - in the very space in which they originated.”

[caption id="attachment_55693" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Yves Saint Laurent at Place Jemaa el-Fna, Marrakech[/caption]

The first museum, opening on October 3, is a makeover of the existing atelier of Saint Laurent at 5 Marceau in Paris. The personal space has previously hosted over 20 art, design and fashion exhibitions throughout the 12 years after the passing of the designer. Bergé says that of one Saint Laurent’s biggest innovations was “his use of men’s wardrobe. He adapted it for women, giving them the attributes of power. Yves Saint Laurent accompanied women of his era in their journey towards freedom.”

Last year, the space was closed for renovation in advance of the museum opening. The work is led by stage designer Nathalie Crinière and interior designer Jacques Grange. The new space, occupying an area of 450 sqm, will take visitors to understand Saint Laurent’s creative process by walking through the studio which he worked at for over 30 years, as well as experiencing his archives. The exhibited showpieces will be rotated, around 50 at a time.

“Today, we can easily identify an inclination from the public towards everything that reveal secrets of making and all the mysteries surrounding creation, a sort of appetite for backstages,” says Bergé, who published Lettres à Yves, an intimate tribute to his partner in 2010. “With a personality as legendary as Yves Saint Laurent’s, we expect many people to be drawn to visiting the museum.”

[caption id="attachment_55694" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Musée Yves Saint Laurent. Marrakech[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_55696" align="alignnone" width="1024"] The auditorium at Musée Yves Saint Laurent. Marrakech[/caption]

In Marrakech, the museum will span 4,000 sqm and located in the aptly named Rue Yves Saint Laurent. The space is located close to Saint Laurent and Bergé’s home near Jardin Majorelle. In 1980, the pair bought over the storied garden to save it from demolition. Having adopted Marrakech as their second home, the pair then initiated a Berber culture museum on site, which draws close to 700,000 visitors annually. The garden is also home to Saint Laurent’s grave.

“Yves and I discovered Marrakech in 1966, and we never left,” Bergé once proclaimed. “This city deeply influenced Saint Laurent’s life and work, particularly his discovery of colour. It feels perfectly natural, 50 years later, to build a museum dedicated to his oeuvre, which was so inspired by this country. As for Paris, who needs to specify that it is where Yves created all his work and built his career?”

The major architectural project is led by Studio KO, a French architectural practice led by Olivier Marty and Karl Fournier. The studio, known for its minimalist approach to architecture, has previously designed Bergé’s holiday home in Morocco. For Musée Yves Saint Laurent, the studio builds a fuss-free space made of terra cotta, concrete and an earthen-coloured terrazzo with pieces of Moroccan stone. The museum is intendedly built to complement its surrounding, rather than standing out. The museum will exhibit a permanent display of Saint Laurent’s work in a 400 sqm space, with an original scenography by Creative Director Christophe Martin.

There will also be space for temporary exhibitions spanning 150 sqm and a 130-seat auditorium. A research library houses 5,000 books in multiple sections, including Arabic and Andalusian history, geography, literature and poetry, botany, and Berber culture. One section is dedicated to Saint Laurent’s work. Complementing the museum is a café-restaurant with a terrace and a bookshop.

[caption id="attachment_55697" align="alignnone" width="951"] Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent[/caption]

The plan for the museum has long been in the works. In 1964, Saint Laurent decided to keep a dress for the first time. “I remember it very well, it was a brown lace dress that he loved very much,” Bergé reminisces. With each collection, the archive grew, and finally the pair decided in 1981 to put Hector Pascal in charge of the collection. Pascal would go on to write a book on the designer, Yves Saint Laurent - L’Art du Ballet en Russie. In the nineties, the pair established a documentation centre at La Villette, Paris, where the archive is kept in museum-quality storage.

Bergé is undoubtedly very proud of the extensive Saint Laurent archive. While Saint Laurent’s iconic pieces are prized in the luxury vintage market, the foundation that Bergé and Saint Laurent conceived does not have to hunt down pieces to complete the exhibitions at the two new museums.

[caption id="attachment_55699" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Yves Saint Laurent at Dar el Hanch, one of his favourite haunts in Marrakech[/caption]

“Some of the more established brands, such as Dior, Balenciaga and Chanel, really see the value in buying back their heritage. This is something we don’t have to do, as we already have incredibly rich and complete archives,” says Bergé, who resides in a duplex in an 18th-century building on Paris’ Left Bank. “We have everything, from the sketches he made until the show. We have the whole process, including paper patterns, fabrics and accessories.”

The museums will be a lasting legacy of Saint Laurent, who in 1966, braved ridicule to open a boutique on The Left Bank dedicated to ready-to-wear. Explains his lover: “It was the firsttime a great couturier had designed ready-to-wear, and given it as much thought as haute couture. By creating clothes which were unbeatably priced and impeccably tailored, he realised one of his most cherished dreams: dressing all women, and not only rich clients.”

All photos are courtesy of Fondation Pierre Bergé Yves Saint Laurent

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As individuals, Elisa Khong and Khailee Ng have made their mark in their respective fields, leaving behind a wake of inspired bright young leaders and entrepreneurs. Before Khailee made his way to Silicon Valley as managing partner at 500 Startups, a venture capital firm, he co-founded and exited two different tech companies in Malaysia – Groupsmore and SAYS.com. Today his professional investing career has reached 1,800 startups in 60 countries. On the other hand, Elisa formerly served as Executive Director of China Overseas Petroleum Corporation and spent a significant amount of her fundamental years volunteering at Kechara Soup Kitchen. She is currently involved in a project to convert two of her heritage homes in Penang for Lemme Learn, an organisation that works primarily with autistic youths.

We find out how the couple merge their strengths and interests to be a bigger force for good.

LIVING A SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE

ELISA
By pledging to live a minimal, sustainable lifestyle, both Elisa and Khailee have made a conscious decision to adopt a cruelty-free approach to life, which encompasses all aspects of their daily consumption from fashion to food. “As we met more people, watched more documentaries, explored deeper into more industries, I realised the extent of how much the world has become increasingly more fragmented and disconnected. We don’t know where the food on our plate comes from, who made our clothes nor what chemicals are in our facial wash. There was something fundamentally unsettling about that disconnect,” Elisa voices out disparagingly.
“Everything we eat or buy affects someone else, it’s easy to forget that the cow we’re eating was killed in a windowless slaughterhouse or the clothes we’re wearing were made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh. I started to question myself, what was the real cost from my short-term satisfaction of buying that new dress or drinking that glass of milk? Was it a win-win situation or was there someone else on the losing end of my decision?” she muses out loudly. A full-time vegan for almost two years, Elisa is constantly in search of cruelty-free alternatives that fall in line with her philosophical belief. Whether it is vegan food hunting during her frequent travels, signing up for eco-friendly indigo dye cloth workshops, shopping for vegan designer wares at Stella McCartney or even getting rid of 85 per cent of all her worldly possessions including her home, she acknowledges that it has been an early yet unforgettable ride that has brought so much lightness and happiness in their lives.

KHAILEE
In 2016, Khailee embarked on an extreme personal transformation, which included embracing veganism full-time as well as sporting a brand new hairstyle and living out of a minimalist suitcase while he travelled the world to spark an entrepeneurial revolution. He confesses that prior to the transformation, he used to harbour an addiction for eggs and meat as well as a weakness for shopping. “Veganism and minimalism for me is about re-programming my mind and exercising self-control. It’s a daily reminder that if I can beat a lifelong habit then I can take on anything!” he says, citing those habits as distractions from things which really mattered.
Cultivating new habits and positive changes also played a fundamental role in his mindset transformation. With a significant reduction in material consumption and what he deems as ego-stroking activities, Khailee found himself with a renewed sense of purpose while directly impacted his work at 500 Startups. “For me, it is a joy to support passionate people who are solving problems that capitalism may not be designed to solve. Travelling around the world in a suitcase is a function of my global startup investing practice, and a convenient forcing function to travel light,” he remarks.

WHEN TECHNOLOGY & PHILANTHROPY CONVERGE

ELISA
No stranger to philanthropy, it comes as no surprise that Elisa attributes her fervent passion in the philanthropic sphere directly to her spiritual advisor HE Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and her mother Dato’ Ruby Khong. She spent five years of her youth actively volunteering at Kechara Soup Kitchen where her mother formerly served as president. “They’re both great reminders to always do good by others, at scale and in depth,” she shares.
While it is the norm for many of her peers to post photos of indulgent experiences and OOTDs on social media, Elisa is strongly aware that these posts will further drive consumerism habits and lifestyle decisions. Hence, she has made a conscious decision to utilise social media platforms as a tool to reach out to more people, encouraging them to embrace a more positive way of life by making small lifestyle changes and giving willingly to others. “I guess the conscious decision that comes with my sharing is that I do ask myself, does this post encourage more consumption or giving? Does it encourage more positivity or negativity?”

KHAILEE
A profound rise of young technology entrepreneurs such as Khailee is sweeping through the nation, aspiring to make a positive impact on the lives of others, as they measure success with a social conscience. Call them digital experts or innovative thinkers, the new generation of entrepreneurs are now being handed a precious opportunity to use their clout and blur the lines between the cut-throat world of business startups and the non-profit sector, all by harnessing altruism through the power of technology.
For Khailee, his work with 500 Startups involves equipping talents and regions of the world with Silicon Valley level of knowledge, network and financing. He dispels the notion that technology startups do not generate social value, adding that his mission goes beyond creating wealth for their investors as it is truly about creating wealth for individuals around the world and their economies. “Seeding technology startups kickstarts the new economy and the world will be a better place if everyone can benefit from this,” he says while confessing that he still has much to learn about how best to utilise other talents and opportunities for philanthropy.
The traditional philanthropic model is also undergoing a new paradigm shift as the ascent of mobile apps, high-speed Internet and the rise of crowdfunding have unfolded disruption and innovation. With over 1,600 investments in 50 countries, Khailee reveals that his investments include social crowdfunding sites such as Kitabisa.com in Indonesia, which currently channels over US$1 million a month to micro-causes and charities, and EngageSpark in the Philippines, which provides mobile technology and services to charities to execute fieldwork.

A DIGITAL WEDDING

ELISA
Earlier this year, Elisa and Khailee tied the knot in an intimate closed-door ceremony, attended by only three close witnesses in a quiet room. The couple chose to mark and celebrate their union in the most unconventional way by donating RM1.5 million and launching a unique wedding project. “It will be the first official step that we’re taking together as a married couple. We want to use our energy and youth to be a bigger force for good,” Elisa enthuses.
The wedding project will involve an app designed for other couples who want to follow suit and donate money instead of hosting a lavish celebration as well as an online wedding. “I was inspired by a father in India who opted to build 90 homes for the homeless in celebration of his daughter’s wedding and a Turkish couple who gave food to 4,000 Syrian refugees for their wedding. The scope of their care is so inspiring and it made so much sense,” she elaborates on their decision to host an online wedding. Elisa acknowledges that while both the donated amount and the idea are unconventional, especially when the couple’s Asian culture encourages big and multiple celebrations, they strongly believed that their decision falls in line with their beliefs and it simply felt like they were taking a right step in the right direction.
As the wedding project is still under development, Elisa reveals that they’ve managed to rope in help from a few friends who have been instrumental in building the wedding site. She does, however, let us in on a spoiler alert, the invitations for the online wedding will be out in the coming months and guests will be able to attend the wedding from the comfort of their own homes.

KHAILEE
The online wedding project seemed like a sensible idea to Khailee as he wanted to find a way to include more people in the celebration without making his friends spend copious amount of time and money on travel. The idea will also eliminate the unnecessary traditional wedding expenses on their part as other parties will be able to benefit immensely from the money saved. “We plan to create an online wedding experience that recreates the fun of weddings without the overhead costs and to include our guests in a giving experience to channel all that love and abundance to more people thus creating a bigger impact,” he explains in depth.
With that aim in mind, his message to young couples out there is “we inherit traditions and norms from society. But we also inherited independent thought, intuition and inner truth. This means you can both respect society, and unite around your deepest beliefs to design a life that is unique to you”.

The post Cover Story: Elisa Khong and Khailee Ng On Merging Philanthrophy with Technology appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

The former creative director of Shanghai Tang and founder of Clean Air Network and Plukka Fine Jewelry shares her thoughts on Hong Kong society.

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This series sees 17 personalities taking on the #PrestigeQuestionnaire for out 17th anniversary. How forthcoming will Billy Lee be?

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We spent the day snapping Hong Kong's favourite fashion girl and couldn't resist capturing it on film.

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One of Hong Kong's hottest imports sizzles in front of the camera.

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Find out what star-studded parties and VIP get-togethers you missed in the Fragrant Harbour over the last few days, and get a sneak peek of what we’ve got coming up.

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