Celebrity Life

Evelyn Choi — actress, model and influencer — shares fashion and beauty tips.

Evelyn Choi’s familiar face stares out from numerous advertising campaigns, magazine pages and social media posts. After first coming to prominence 14 years ago in the film Echoes of the Rainbow, alongside Simon Yam and Sandra Ng, she’s appeared in many TV shows and nearly a dozen films.

Her social media posts are peppered with makeup trends and tips, nods to designer brands, accessories, colourful dresses, jeans and frilly tops. She’s also known for mixing up designer gear with street chic, so we had to ask Evelyn Choi about all things fashionable – and the trendy young star obliged by doling out helpful advice, and her notions of fashion dos and don’ts.

Evelyn Choi, Actress-Model and Influencer

How has your fashion journey evolved?

I read a lot of fashion magazines and I check up on runway shows, but the most important part of my fashion journey has been the experience. My advice to others is simple: know yourself well and then you’ll know what kind of style suits your personality and shows the best of you.

Your Instagram feed is studded with tags for brands such as Gucci, Sacai, Miu Miu, Tods, Loewe and Giorgio Armani. Which are your favourites?

I don’t have a favourite brand or designer per se, as I think different brands have distinct features that make them unique. I enjoy and appreciate every individual designer.

Tell us about your accessories journey.

I like to wear the same accessories often, but style them differently each time. How do I choose a bag? Well, it’s quite funny: I use my wallet as a yardstick. Of course, I also see whether the bag goes with my jeans, as well as my little black dress. Quite a lot of people might opt for a signature look of a high-end brand, or a classic design. Somehow, I always end up liking new designs that encapsulate the brand spirit.

Would you be influenced by a model or celeb because they endorse a particular brand?

I usually decide for myself. A particular look or accessory might look good on a particular model, but not on me. That’s why they’re models. I believe different people have their own styles and qualities. Choose a style that matches you, not others.

Knowing you influence young women, does it make you more conscious about what you wear and post on social media?

For sure. That’s why I always share my #ootd (Outfit of the Day), not just because I want to share my fashion but, more importantly, because I want to give girls tips on finding their own style.

Who are your favourite Asian designers and style icons?

Three people spring to mind: designers Jason Wu and Vera Wang, and model and influencer Kiwi Lee.

What’s a fashion oops you had – and what did you learn from it?

I must say, hip-hop style really isn’t my cup of tea. I tried wearing very oversized tops and low-rise wide jeans and ended up looking very short and with no shape. But I wouldn’t say this style is an “oops I made a mistake”, it’s just not for me. I just can’t pull it off like others can.

Are there shows you watch just for the fashion?

I must confess I really like reality shows that help and encourage new and upcoming designers, like Project Runway and Next in Fashion. It’s always good to see how they fight for their dreams – and you as a viewer can also learn how to view fashion from different perspectives. From fabric construction to window dressing, the journey of an outfit from the designer’s first sketch to the end product is fascinating.

If you were to go to the MET Ball, who would you wear?

Wow – I really don’t know what I’d wear. I guess I need to see what the theme was first – it really starts from there, as the theme sets the tone. What I’d wear for Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination would be very different from China: Through the Looking Glass.

How collaborative are you with stylists?

To be honest, I don’t usually work with stylists, as I like to choose outfits myself – though sometimes I’ll work with a stylist on commercials or magazine shoots. I respect all the stylists in Hong Kong – I think they’re very professional.

What do you always have in your makeup bag?

Lip balm.

Beauty trends have been leaning away from glamour and towards skincare and wellness. What are your skincare tips?

My tips for readers are easy: less is always more. Don’t try to put lots of stuff and product on your face if you’re worried about your skin. I always remind myself that my body needs water. Good skin comes from within, not externally, so for glowing and smooth skin, drink water.

What’s your fashion advice for young girls – or boys?

You’re under no obligation to follow a trend. Maybe you can create your own instead.

The post Style Folio: Evelyn Choi, Actress, Model & Influencer appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Shanyan Fok Koder and Richard Bassett explain how a Hong Kong art entrepreneur joined forces with a former special-forces soldier to launch a health and mental wellbeing app, Mentor360.

"Mental health and mental fitness are universal concerns," says Shanyan Fok Koder. "And regardless of your demographic, social status, your job or your age, it’s something everyone has to deal with."

Shanyan Fok Koder & Richard Bassett on Mental Health App Mentor360

The Mentor360 app dropped on World Mental Health Day in October, the cumulation of the last 20 months of work and conversations (usually across continents over Zoom) between former military man Richard Bassett and worldly art advisor Koder. A month later, I’m sitting with both in a North London café talking over slices of pizza.

Their app, they hope, offers everyone a holistic 360 guide and framework to “finding your formula” for mental and physical wellbeing. It uses a hybrid approach, with a core layer of clinicians and professional Mentors and then celebrity Ambassadors (who’ve publicly shared meaningful life stories) critical for building noise and momentum.

"I’d been in the military for a long time. And there were a couple of incidents in my life that made me want to create something," Bassett, the CEO, explains. "Firstly, it was my father committing suicide. Then my son had a bit of misdirection. And several of my friends in the military had PTSD issues or adjustment disorders."

"The biggest issue is why people wouldn’t come forward and say they’ve got a problem?” he asks.

“Unlike some apps, we’re not trying to get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it”

— Richard Bassett

The answer often lay in culture, lack of education or concerns about privacy that prevent many from seeking help. With that came Bassett’s idea of creating an app that functions as a “non-judgmental toolkit” with content validated by experts – who include coaches, performance psychologists, mental health-specialising nurses and a clinical psychologist.

Basset’s link with Koder came when his best friend, ex-special forces colleague and TV star Jason Fox, sat next to a pregnant Koder at a charity fundraiser for Born (which researches to prevent premature birth) in late 2019. As the pair talked about their passions for mental health and children’s wellbeing, the connection to Bassett’s idea became quickly apparent.

"Foxy told me that I have to meet his friend, Richard, who’s building this app," Koder recalls. "I was always wanting to support things that are very meaningful and close to my heart … and now Jason is actually our key mentor. The partnership between Richard and I was almost like two parts of a jigsaw puzzle come together."

Although some might go to the app for help with stress, trauma or even resources to help with suicidal feelings, Mentor360 is designed specifically as a three-dimensional offering that will also encourage fitness, workouts, performance and meditation or more clinical matters.

"We wanted to maintain the human factor as a constant throughout. So it feels like somebody has given you some advice rather than some process-driven machine learning," Bassett adds.

The co-founders might come from two different worlds, but the unlikely partnership speaks to the ubiquity of the issues at hand. Bassett’s 25-year military career saw him being appointed the first ever Command Sergeant Major within the UK Special Forces military group. "It was at that stage where I was asked if I wanted to run defence,” he says. “At that point, I thought, I’ve kind of had my fill of the military now, it’s time to move on."

Koder meanwhile grew up in Hong Kong and the UK as the daughter of Li Ka-shing’s "right-hand man" Canning Fok, carving out a career in the arts and taking over her family’s impressive collection. As a female art entrepreneur and mother, her challenges would be different.

"When I had the misfortune of losing three babies to miscarriage and dealing with that emotional fallout, it led me to want to support this as a cause," Koder divulges. "If there’d been something like this app available to me, I don’t think I’d have suffered as much as I did emotionally. It’s a topic that’s still very taboo, even in this day and age … and while you eventually find your own community, at the very beginning, you do feel very alone."

Both were clearly driven towards the app through deeply personal experiences. Bassett saw first-hand how soldiers who’d done several tours in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered – his best friend, Fox, had left the forces with PTSD. Perhaps machismo or fear of institutional repercussions meant that the issue was often ignored or hidden in the military – but he hopes that Mentor360’s holistic approach can gently lead people to explore mental fitness alongside physical performance too.

The male-female perspectives of the pair offer a well-rounded, powerful tool. And while the wellness space is already crowded, Mentor360 stands out by being so broad, human-focused and non-prescriptive.

There’s been exciting traction too. Since its launch, the app has been downloaded in more than 176 countries, with the UK, the US and Australia leading. British schools have reached out and it’s one governance board away from being trialled within the National Health Service (NHS), which means added clinical risk management in the app. That has been an important validation, says Bassett, "especially when an institution like that has picked it out from a huge spectrum of apps on the market today."

Covid-19 and lockdowns have helped throw light on mental health, taking the conversation more mainstream. The timeliness has hit home; as Bassett says, “there’s a lot of people now struggling with the transition between Covid and normality”.

Koder tells us that the plan is to serve individuals but also institutions such as the NHS and the military. There’s also the option of “white labelling” it, so the app can be packaged and tailored to certain industries or corporate employees. In the future, might they look more global, with different languages and translations? Absolutely, the pair say, but they’re taking it “slow and steady”. There’s been interest from American corporations and Koder says that she’s keen to push into Asia very soon. Although going truly global might mean translating for languages, cultures and tone, as well as working with diverse psychologists, it remains a future ambition.

Mentor360 may be extra helpful in cultures where mental health is still relatively taboo. As Koder says, "I think, coming from our Asian culture, it speaks volumes to me – so much of our culture is about still performance or hiding a lot of what you’re feeling."

"Unlike some apps,” Bassett adds, "what we’re not trying to do is create a hook or get people hooked. Come on to it when you need it, and if you don’t need it for a while because you’re good, you can just put it away … We’re starting to see those patterns in the trend analysis."

To get a little personal, I ask what works for them individually to keep a healthy mind and body. Bassett’s formula revolves around daily exercise, time with the family, dogs and good sleep – even the occasional glass of wine on the sofa in front of a crackling fireplace. Koder’s happiness hacks centre around motherhood, being content and at peace in her skin, and looking at life with a certain romanticism: "I always love to see the poetry in my day,” she says, "and I think it’s important to just pause throughout the day, check-in and acknowledge that I’ve achieved these things and I should be proud of myself, rather than just rushing on to the next thing."

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Eliza Sam, the Hong Kong actress with a million social media followers, talks to us about everything from style to stilettoes, on-screen and off.

Beauty Queen, film star, television actress, wife, mother and model – Eliza Sam is the gorgeous Canadian-born girl next door who’s been in the spotlight ever since she won the Miss Chinese Vancouver Pageant in 2009 and went on to take the crown in the 2010 Miss Chinese International Pageant.

She was shot further into the orbits of celebrity via the smash television show Divas in Distress – her popular role in the latter gave her the nickname “Princess Heung Heung”, which still follows her to this day. We snatched a few minutes from Sam’s packed schedule to chat with her.

Eliza Sam, Hong Kong Actress

How has your fashion journey evolved over the years?

When I was a kid, I watched my mom upcycle clothes that I’d grown out of to make outfits for my Barbie. When I was an awkward tween she let me use her sewing machine, and ever since then, I’ve been making my own clothes. I studied fashion design too. I actually wore a DIY gown to a red-carpet event – I pulled an all-nighter to make it.

What do you love wearing?

I like to mix and match classic or luxury brands with unbranded street chic. Styling is mixing something old and new, not wearing a full look.

Tell us about your accessories journey.

Growing up, I’d buy a lot of things that were trendy at the time. But nowadays I prefer to invest in classic items, ones that I’ll like and use for a long time. My motto is “quality over quantity”. Once in a while, I’ll supplement with some seasonal items, but not often. It’s less wasteful and I regret less.

Bags or shoes?

That’s easy. My real love is shoes – they can make or break an outfit and I consider some to be art pieces. You can tell bits of a person’s personality by looking at their shoe collection.

Would you be influenced by a celebrity wearing a brand?

Influencers can definitely make me aware of a new bag, but I wouldn’t be influenced enough to buy it just because someone else has it. I can be inspired – if it’s styled really well I’ll think about it. There are a lot of It-bags, but I like to think about which situation of my life it fits into, whether it’s an everyday utility or a waiting-for-a-special-event kind of bag. I think a lot before I commit.

When did you make the leap from a few followers to this sudden jump to more than a million on Instagram?

I remember the day I reached 1,000 followers. I was amazed and touched that people even cared to follow me. I’m so thankful to all my followers, who encourage me to work harder and do better. It’s more than a million now and I’m genuinely amazed.

Knowing you influence young ladies who are looking at your aesthetic, are you more conscious about what you wear or post?

I’ve been aware from the beginning that, as a public figure, I inevitably have some responsibility to be a good role model. I love fashion, so I love styling and being styled in beautiful fashion. It makes me feel good. For me, fashion is an interesting thing – it can make me feel really amazing and confident, or it can make me feel self-conscious. Great fashion is really great art.

You’ve been in several television shows and films and had to wear clothes according to your character. What’s been the most memorable experience?

With shows like Emily in Paris or Sex and the City, it’s fun to look at the fashion – and there are a lot of It-items and so-called inspirational looks for that season or time frame. But I love looking at the clothing in dramas that hark back to a bygone era because we’re never going to wear such beautiful garments today.

Have you ever had the opportunity to wear such costumes?

Yes, twice, in two of my dramas. I had great costume designers and assistants who helped me wear them. You get to put on these grand robes and you really feel as if you’re in a fantasy. A lot of the historical things I wouldn’t know about, so I had implicit trust with the wardrobe department because they knew exactly what to wear according to which Chinese dynasty it was. I’ve had two parts like that, in Under the Veil and Lady Sour. Those have been my favourite costumes on-screen. I’m fully aware that, had I not been an actress, I’d never have experienced this kind of majesty in costumes. So in a way, I’m more interested in costumes than I am in contemporary fashion per se. Contemporary fashion makes me feel cool, but historical fashion offers a glimpse of fantasy.

What are the momentous outfits you’ve worn?

Two spring to mind: the gown I wore when I won my title and, of course, my wedding outfit. I have two boys now, so I guess, 30 years from now, I’ll save them for my daughters-in-law.

Rumour has it you have an epic shoe collection.

Yes, it’s true. More than 100, easily – and that’s not including what I have back in Canada. They are some shoes I have – like maybe 10 pairs – that are in mint condition. There’s a Miu Miu platform shoe with rhinestones, which is special. And heels, so many heels. Of course, I have a lot of Louboutins and I only wear them for a short period of time. When I’m home alone, I put them on, play along with some music and have my own dance party for one.

Has your fashion changed since your boys were born?

No, I was always a white-shirt-and-jeans girl. I’m still a white-shirt-and-jeans girl. I hike up the look with interesting shoes and bags, but at heart, I haven’t changed.

Any fashion regrets?

Super low-rise pants. They were so cool at the time, but I don’t think I could do it again. Ever.

Style Folio: Actress Eliza Sam on Her Fashion Journey

PHOTOGRAPHY RUBY LAW
ART DIRECTION AND STYLING TASHA LING
HAIR KOLEN BUT
MAKEUP DEEP CHOI
ASSISTANTS VENUS CHU AND PHEOBE
LOCATION THE LANDMARK MANDARIN ORIENTAL

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