Celebrity Life

Growing up in a family of fabric merchants, Abhishek ‘Abhi’ Poddar was constantly surrounded by various textiles and weaving machines as a kid.

His childhood years saw him learning about the technical aspects of fibres, yarns and fabrics, as well as the manufacturing processes involved.

While he has always held an interest in the world of textiles, it was only after completing his degree (in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan) that he joined the family business, Siyaram Silk Mills. When he returned to his motherland in Mumbai, he launched a new vertical for decorative home textiles from the ground up, expanding the company’s portfolio that mainly revolved around men’s formalwear fabrics.

Since getting married to Vihari Sheth (now Poddar) and moving to Singapore in 2017 to expand the home furnishing business in this part of the world, he has some time to also think of new projects, and one of which is the new Mr. Square, a fashion e-commerce site that caters largely to men.

Name: Abhishek Poddar
Profession: Managing Director of Mr. Square
Industry: Fashion, fabrics and home textiles
Company size: Two, plus designing and sourcing operations in Paris, Milan and Hong Kong
Startup since: 2020

Why did you decide on this platform?

I believe in slow fashion. I have seen first-hand how the economics of fast fashion creates disparities across the supply chain, and the textile industry has one of the largest carbon footprints on the planet. My family has been involved in the menswear business for over 40 years, so the menswear space is a natural fit for me.

The idea behind Mr. Square is to create a men-focused, slow-fashion shopping experience, offering a variety of dressing styles and occasions for varying age groups. The aim is to provide clothing that are trendy, built to last, relevant for a more than a season, and fairly priced for their quality.

Is there anything new in the pipeline that you can share?

We are living in unprecedented times, and everyone is getting used to multi-tasking and working from home. Casual clothing is now the norm. I am working on a line of live-in tees, which will be launched in a few months. This line is called Mr. Square Essentials, and will consist of basic t-shirts and shorts, made with specialty fabrics that get softer and more comfortable with every wash. I truly believe every man needs a few of these in his closet. My wife wears them and swears by them, too!

What is a normal work day like for you?

At the moment, no day is typical! Being a startup, there are different challenges that come up every day. Work usually involves Zoom calls with designers, factories, tech guys, followed by a whole bunch of ‘self-study’ to prepare for the next round of teleconferences. Our business is very tactile — it is very difficult to perceive the true weight, feel, texture, colour, brightness, and sheen of a fabric over the screen. We’ve been spending a lot on couriers these days! Apart from that, I do like to walk around and discover various stores, checking out the new collections on offer.

As a child, what did you aspire to be?

I wanted to be a fighter pilot! But I didn’t have 20/20 vision, and we don’t have conscription in India, so that notion was discarded once I hit my teens. I’ve always loved machines, and knew that I would be involved with technical processes as an adult. Even now, reading and learning about technical innovations excites me, and gives me a glimpse into our future way of life.

How hands-on are you?

I am extremely hands-on. Having said that, I love to delegate. It’s quite a paradox actually. You could say that I’m hands-on at efficient delegation!

What do you do when you’re not at work?

I am a very engaged parent of two very naughty and energetic kids. I usually workout in the morning, and spend most evenings with my kids, swimming, or cycling, and sometimes getting them to do homework. Music plays a very important role in my life, and helps me set my mood. I love discovering new music, new artists, and mixing music on my home DJ setup. Being a committed father, it’s not very practical to go around chasing club gigs like the younger days. In fact, with the clubs closed due to Covid-19, I have a podcast which you’re welcome to listen to!

What has been your biggest hurdle and how did you overcome it?

Needless to say, Covid-19 has been the single biggest challenge for us all. The fact that we cannot travel to meet designers and physically look at and experience product is a particularly difficult. The restrictions on social gatherings and events have also forced me to rethink all the grand plans I had in place to launch the store. Nevertheless, Covid-19 has been a great equaliser for us all, allowing smaller, innovative companies to be heard and seen on social media. I’m doing my best to adapt to these challenges. Only time will tell which strategies work, and which don’t. All of us have to be responsive and innovative in these unprecedented times.

Looking back now, what would you have done differently?

I believe there is no point looking back and wondering what things would be like if done differently. Time stops for nobody, and we all have to do the best we can, based on the judgements we can make. The main thing is to own your decisions, whether right or wrong, and act accordingly on the outcomes.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start up?

If you believe in your product, don’t be afraid to give it a try and don’t be afraid to fail. Calculate your risk and take a moderate risk. I’m sure you will learn many things along the way. Don’t be greedy for instant success — Rome wasn’t built in a day. Be lean, be nimble, and be adaptable.

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing what you do now?

I’d be living in Mumbai, with my kids spoilt rotten with excess house help, while being stuck in home quarantine! I am very glad I decided to move to Singapore, and very thankful for the quality of life my family has in this city.

Which markets will be important for you? Why?

Southeast Asia is one of the most populated corners of the world, if you don’t consider India and China. It is, therefore, a vast consumer base for all types of goods and services. It is also, demographically speaking, a very young population, which looks to the West, but is very confident in their rooted Asian values and culture. I believe the Southeast Asian market has tremendous consumer potential. Of course there are challenges, and a lot of fragmentation due to different cultures, but the underlying values across various geographies are quite consistent and can be appealed to.

How do you define success? Do you consider yourself successful?

Success, to me, has several factors. Financial success is very important, but along with that, is emotional, mental and physical health. Family and values play an important part here, and these aspects can further enhance financial success. Mr. Square is a passion project for me. I did not start this with the aim of making this a multi-million dollar business. The fact that I am able to afford time for this business, without stress, while having secured an overseas income with a successful business which can provide my family a decent lifestyle, already measures success for me.

What’s next for Mr Square?

I want to expand our product offering slowly, to encompass men’s various lifestyle needs. I will bring to market a few new products steadily, and test the market’s response before diving deeper. I plan to have a few pop-ups at different locations, in order to give Mr. Square some visibility, and enable buyers to touch, feel, and experience the products before they buy.

This story first appeared on Prestige Singapore

(All images: Abhishek Poddar)

The post Startup Life: Abhishek Poddar on Slow Fashion and His E-Commerce Site Mr Square appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Have you ever tried switching to solid soap bars?

If not, then there's no time like the present, as solid formats are the shape of the future when it comes to beauty routines.

Which means it's out with shelves of bottles and endless ingredient lists, and in with new-gen shampoos, conditioners, toothpastes and soaps that are light on packaging — and preservatives — for a revamped, 100 percent responsible beauty routine that's good for your skin and for the planet.

Old-school soap is where it's at

[caption id="attachment_211231" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Good for the environment and for your skin, solid cosmetics are set to take over your bathroom cabinet. (Image: marekusz/ Shutterstock)[/caption]

The move towards more responsible and environmentally respectful consumer habits can sometimes -- in fact, often -- mean taking a step backwards. And cosmetics are no exception, with the solid bars of soap used by our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents slowly creeping back into bathrooms in recent years. And for good reason, since these soaps — suitable for face and body — don't need any plastic packaging and are kind to skin, so long as you stick to natural varieties.

In fact, solid soaps contain virtually no water — unlike liquid shower gels — which is good news for the environment and which also means that there's no need for preservatives or chemical additives. With soap, the endless lists of ingredients typically found in standard shower gel labels are largely simplified — and generally more transparent — with a majority of raw and natural ingredients that are less likely to damage your health.

Another plus point is that the standard solid format is, by definition, portable. That can help cut unnecessary consumption, because there's no need to buy special travel formats for trips away. Moreover, they're generally suitable for facial use with gentler formulations than body-specific versions.

Soap gets an update

[caption id="attachment_211233" align="alignnone" width="683"] Today, there's a slew of solid soap bars to choose from. (Image: Michelle Henderson/ Unsplash)[/caption]

Some of the oldest and best-known soaps are Aleppo soap and Marseille soap, which are mostly made from vegetable oils. Today, however, there's a slew of solid soaps to choose from, that are each more fun and original than the next. Forget your grandmother's dull old wash bars, as today's soaps come in all kinds of vibrant versions. And they don't have to rely on chemicals or potentially unhealthy ingredients to put the fun into bath-time -- just look at the endless options from Lush, a brand known for its colorful solid cosmetics that come in all kinds of wacky shapes.

While there are plenty of options from specialist or niche brands (Lano, Seaweed Bath Co, Nubian Heritage etc.), recent months have also seen a growing number of launches from mainstream brands like Garnier (solid shampoos), and Love Beauty and Planet (soaps and shampoos). There's now enough choice out there to ensure everyone can find their own accessible solid beauty routine.

And soaps aren't the only products using this "innovative" format, since nearly everything in your bathroom cabinet can now be switched to solid, from face wash to shampoo and conditioner, not to mention makeup remover, deodorant and toothpaste. It can even be easy — and cheap — to make solid cosmetics yourself thanks to the many online tutorials.

(Main and featured image: Annie Spratt/ Unsplash)

The post It’s Time to Switch to Using Solid Soap Bars in Your Beauty Routine appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Sustainability has become a particularly popular and talked-about topic in recent years.

Prominent names in the fashion, beauty and F&B industries have jumped on the green bandwagon with everything from vegan leather to biodegradable packaging and plant-based foods. Hospitality group Ovolo Hotels is taking this a step further by pledging to go vegetarian in all restaurants, bars and in-room dining services across its properties, for an entire year.

This initiative is titled “Year of the Veg” and kicked off on October 1 in conjunction with World Vegetarian Day. According to Ovolo Hotels — which operates establishments in Hong Kong and Australia — it was “inspired to act on climate change and environmental conservation.” Its new vegetarian menus will showcase meat-free, plant-based dishes incorporated with locally and ethically-sourced produce.

[caption id="attachment_211247" align="alignnone" width="8688"] Corn kichdi at Veda. (Image: Ovolo Hotels)[/caption]

This isn’t the first time that Ovolo Hotels is offering fully green repertoires in its restaurants. Its Veda eatery at Ovolo Central became Hong Kong’s first vegetarian hotel restaurant when it opened early last year, and serves up healthy but tasty concoctions such as aloo gobi (baked cauliflower) and corn kichdi (spiced mushroom curry and sweet corn porridge). Over in Sydney, Alibi Bar & Kitchen at Ovolo Woolloomooloo specialises in vegan cuisine the likes of kimchi dumplings and pan-fried marinated tempeh.

Next in line to go plant-based are all-day dining spot Komune at Hong Kong’s Ovolo Southside, Monster Kitchen & Bar at Ovolo Nishi in Canberra, Za Za Ta at Ovolo The Valley in Brisbane, and Mr Percy at Ovolo 1888 at Sydney’s Darling Harbour. Room service menus in all Ovolo hotels will also be completely vegetarian.

[caption id="attachment_211245" align="aligncenter" width="672"] Spiced purple cauliflower at Komune. (Image: Ovolo Hotels)[/caption]

Ovolo Hotels has been ramping up its sustainability efforts over the past year by phasing out single-use plastic bathroom amenities, and switching out plastic straws with environmentally-friendly alternatives.

“Dining out – enjoying quality food and wine with good company – is one of life’s greatest pleasures. We want to be conscious about what we’re consuming and practice sustainability as much as we can because we believe this can have an enormous impact on the environment and humanity at large. To that end, we’re evolving our food offerings so that our guests can continue enjoying great dining experiences in a more sustainable manner,” said Girish Jhunjhnuwala, Ovolo Group’s founder and CEO. More details here.

This story first appeared on Prestige Singapore

(All images: Ovolo Hotels)

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Carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has declared plans to incorporate features made from Econyl, a 100 percent recycled nylon made from ocean and landfill waste, into its vehicle interiors.

Upcoming models of the carmaker's Jaguar and Land Rover brands will feature floor mats and trims made from Econyl fibres. The material is made by the firm Aquafil using recycled industrial plastic, fabric offcuts from clothing manufacturers, as well as retired fishing nets and "ghost nets" recovered from the sea. This type of nylon is already used to make handbags, swimwear and watch straps.

[caption id="attachment_211145" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Jaguar Land Rover will make floor mats and trims with Econyl nylon produced using plastic waste. (Image: Jaguar Land Rover)[/caption]

Aquafil recycles up to 40,000 tonnes of waste each year. Producing 10,000 tonnes of raw Econyl material reportedly saves some 70,000 barrels of crude oil and 65,100 tonnes of carbon emissions equivalent.

According to Jaguar Land Rover, the production of Econyl nylon by Aquafil reduces the global warming impact of nylon by 90 percent compared with material produced from oil. This recycling process is part of the car manufacturer's ambitious Destination Zero program (zero CO2 emissions, zero accidents and zero congestion).

[gallery ids="211143,211144"]

Jaguar Land Rover already uses a eucalyptus textile in its Range Rover Evoque interior, while other models come with features in Kvadrat (a material made with recycled plastic bottles).

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If it were not there before, 2020 has made sure that sustainability is now at the forefront when we’re talking about the future of fashion.

“Covid-19’s retail and supply-chain disruptions have stranded materials in warehouses, factories and stores globally. Now’s the time to catalyse the circular economy – and this is the focus of Redress,” says Dr Christina Dean, who in 2007 founded the Hong Kong-based charity dedicated to eliminating waste in fashion. The Redress Design Award, now in its 10th year, is the world’s largest sustainable fashion design competition, attracting competitors from around the world. This year, hundreds applied from 48 countries.

Just announced, the Redress Design Award 2020 winners – who were chosen by a diverse judging panel including designer and co-founder of Fashion Revolution Orsola de Castro, and fashion expert and writer Susie Lau (Susie Bubble) – presented a truly international line-up. Le Ngoc Ha Thu from Vietnam won the Grand Prize for Menswear, and Juliana Garcia Bello of Argentina walked away with the Grand Prize for Womenswear.

[caption id="attachment_211127" align="aligncenter" width="768"] Ruth Weearsinghe's design, which bagged the first runner-up Womenswear title at the Redress Design Award 2020. (Image: Redress Design Award)[/caption]

Almost as impressive was Sri Lanka’s Ruth Weerasinghe, who was inspired by the fights against climate change and pollution to create eye-catching, protective, detachable and ultra-durable pieces made from textile and industrial offcuts.

Meanwhile, Redress Design Awards Menswear winner Thu hit home with a colourful, cool and complex capsule that won him a place in the Timberland Global Apparel design team, helping to design and commercialise a capsule that will be launched in 2022. Titled Slow Boy Archive, the designer’s entry employed elements of Japanese-style Americana, using zero-waste patterns and recycled fabrics in subverted menswear classics. Thu will be working with Kevin Bailey of the sports- and street-fashion conglomerate VF, and Christopher Raeburn (founder of his own sustainable label, and global creative director of Timberland), both also Redress judges.

[caption id="attachment_211124" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Le Ngoc Ha Thu's designs, which won the grand prize for Menswear. (Image: Redress Design Award)[/caption]

Netherlands-based Bello, meanwhile, will be collaborating with upcycled label The R Collective on a 10-piece capsule collection to be sold commercially. The Argentine designer’s winning womenswear outfits wove a compelling story about community and heritage, using garments donated by neighbours and friends, and upcycling them to fashion-forward minimalist yet adaptable pieces with a clearly elevated aesthetic. Judges in the London session (where we sat in) commented that Bello’s work was impressive in look and ready to retail at any top boutique in the British capital.

[caption id="attachment_211128" align="aligncenter" width="768"] The Womenswear prizewinning look by Juliana Garcia Bello. (Image: Redress Design Award)[/caption]

As sustainable design becomes more sophisticated, the emerging designers attracted to it are likewise more globally and aesthetically aware each year. As this sector of fashion moves steadily towards the mainstream, for designers and the industry it’s also been a sharp learning curve about which theories and techniques work and which do not. The dream of a circular fashion system is edging closer to a reality. But to create real change, we’ll need big corporate game-changers to come together with a new, more conscious generation.

The post Meet the Winners of the Redress Design Award and Their Showstopping, Sustainable Looks appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Businesswoman and eco-warrior Dee Poon opens up about her lifelong commitment to sustainability, and how her family’s company has been working towards transforming the fashion industry landscape – a shirt and a mask at a time.

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Dee Poon plops down on the couch, brings out the sandwiches she’s packed for herself, takes a sip of her Starbucks coffee – by then tepid, but she doesn’t mind at all – and in no time at all, signals that we can begin. Poon moves just like someone who’s inured to working and is constantly on the go, with a distaste for wasting time. I take particular note of the latter and power through my questions. A few minutes into the interview, I decide that this articulate, intelligent and no-nonsense lady belongs on a TED stage. 

Poon is the daughter of Dickson Poon, owner of the upscale speciality retailer Harvey Nichols, and Marjorie Yang, a successful businesswoman in her own right who runs the global textile and apparel manufacturer, Esquel, where Dee is now the managing director of brands and distribution, and heads the men’s shirt brands PYE and Determinant. 

[caption id="attachment_210980" align="aligncenter" width="1295"] Outfit: Giorgio Armani[/caption]

For someone accustomed to being on a plane every week, the travel bans must be tough on Poon, I suggest. “The last time I’ve been in a place for this long was at boarding school!” she says. “But I can’t say I feel entirely out of sorts. There’s just less socialising – though really, I don’t go to many of those big events anyway – and I still get to see people, friends one on one. Of course, I miss my museums, I miss seeing friends who don’t live here, but other than that it’s been all right and work has been full steam ahead,” says the self-confessed homebody, and apparent workaholic. 

“I honestly think I’m busier than I was before Covid. While business might have come to a halt in many companies, we started so many new things this year; in the last six months, I haven’t taken a single day off – save for Sundays and some bank holidays.” The last time Poon set foot on an airport was in March, when she got back from London to shoot PYE’s autumn/winter look book. “We literally managed to come back to Hong Kong just before Europe enacted the travel ban; it was right before everything shut down.”

If there’s anything Poon has found considerably challenging, it’s been keeping herself in “functional shape” to allow her to work at a level she wants and needs to. This requires her to be in bed by 10-10:30, and awake by 6, followed by yoga and exercise. “If I wasn’t going to take a day off for six straight months, I knew I had to make a more conscious effort to keep myself healthy. But yes, it’s just an extreme maniacal discipline but it has to be done. I just know that I cannot not be rested and cannot not be focused,” Poon says, almost emphatically. 

The seemingly frenzied life she’s been leading under these not-too-rosy economic conditions is, I have to admit, curious to me. But as I learn, her family business was way ahead of the curve when it came not only to accepting that business had to change under the pandemic, but also how it had to. As most businesses were just beginning to realise the severity and damning effects of the pandemic in the first quarter of the year, Esquel had it pretty much figured out. 

[caption id="attachment_210981" align="aligncenter" width="1297"] Outfit: Giorgio Armani[/caption]

“Agility and essentially knowing how to deal – and quickly – was key. We also were of the mindset that things will change, things won’t always go your way and we had to find a way to work around those circumstances."

There were changes we had to implement at our manufacturing plants around the world, as countries faced lockdowns. And on the retail side, when Hong Kong faced wave 3 of the pandemic, we immediately went to an A-B shift in our Hong Kong stores. We knew we couldn’t lose an entire team, so we implemented measures that allowed us to continue to function.”

Come April, mainland China – where PYE has four stores and counting – was telling a different, promising story. According to Poon, most of their stores in China were pretty much business as usual by then. “China, by that time had gone through all their major lockdowns and when they re-opened, that was the beginning of “revenge spending!” I mean, the first time we heard that term was in China – in mid-March! Retail has been on an upward trajectory since.” Poon adds that PYE this summer launched its first Wechat store, T Mall, and is set to open a new store in China.

And then there’s the story with the masks. For this, Poon takes us back to February, right after Chinese New Year and with Covid is raging in China, while the rest of the world is still in the dark as to the severity of the situation. “This was like February 6 – I remember that day well,” she says.

[caption id="attachment_210982" align="aligncenter" width="1295"] Outfit: Giorgio Armani[/caption]

“We just did our Chinese New Year traditions and my mom gets a call from a friend who tells her: ‘I think you must make masks.’ No one really knew then what was going on and we were starting to hear news about people going out trying to get masks. By lunch that same day, we were all together, bouncing ideas around. By the end of that conversation we’ve decided we had to step up to help Hong Kong if this got very serious – and, as we all know, it did. Two days later we’ve locked down what we were supposed to do, and already had a bunch of our friends from the medical field willing to become advisers. Long and short, the first masks went down the line on February 17 or 18, the same day we shipped out our first batch of masks.

“Learning all about masks was essentially my February. That was just ‘mask insanity’ – and you can quote me on that,” Poon says, grinning. “Then half the stores in China and Hong Kong were closed and there wasn’t anything much to do other than comfort and tell each other to keep calm and carry on.”

But that wasn’t the end of the ‘mask insanity’. Shortly after they shipped the first masks, Covid hit the West and other parts of the world. “Then we realised – wait, the whole world needs masks!” At the time, the masks were unbranded, but Poon explains, to enable them to sell and donate them as they want, they place them under the Determinant label, which the Esquel owns rights to in China. And that’s how Determinant pretty much blasted out from China to the rest of the world.

“This is what I call a Live Beta! We moved by the fly, finding opportunities and acting on them!”

Within the first couple of months of producing masks, Determinant had donated 300,000, and by June, more than 30 million masks had been shipped worldwide to both private and public sectors. To put that number in perspective, that quantity would be enough to replace one billion single-use masks, as each could stand up to 30 washes. 

[caption id="attachment_210983" align="aligncenter" width="1295"] Outfit: Giorgio Armani[/caption]

And this segues perfectly to a cause of great importance to Poon, sustainability, which I dare say is the crux of Esquel’s business model. Today this term loosely used – and abused – by companies that show little if nothing to warrant their sustainability claims. But in the case of Poon, it’s an entire belief system, one that she and her family heave advocated from the very beginning. This philosophy is ever-present even in the manner in which Esquel conceives its brands. 

Case in point, Determinant, which is at its core, a minimalist brand that to date has only 16 essentially simple products that everyone can use and little or nothing to do with creating fashion. “Determinant is a solution for guys who are practical, who just want things that work. It wasn’t about creating style or more styles; it was, on the contrary, something you could wear over and over again and, as a result, it not only simplifies dressing, but also reduces consumption.

“I grew up knowing the importance of sustainability. It wasn’t an option, it was necessary. It was something we got increasingly involved in as the situation got worse, and as we became more cognisant of how we were contributing to the problem, and by the same token, that we can play a part in resolving the issue. We just want a place where we can live later, and for many, many years to come.”

One of its more recent programmes was the recycling platforms Esquel set up in its factories last year. “We looked at ‘chains of waste’ and realised that within garment production, most wastage happens in the cutting-room floor. So we basically created a platform to minimise this by separating the excess cut-outs by colour, so that we can make clothes using recycled plus virgin yarns in over 5,000 colours.”

While all this is impressive, Poon admits that there’s still a lot to do within the organisation to educate people about the cause and get more of them to act on that commitment. What strikes me about this conviction, though, is that while Esquel has arguably done much more than other brands in the fashion industry when it comes to sustainability, Poon doesn’t point the finger at others who stand idly by or whose commitment is mere lip service, but instead looks inward.  

“I get really upset when internally we greenwash our products. To make something truly sustainable, I tell our people that we have to understand the entire consumer process. Even within the company, there are suggestions that are probably half-thought. For example, we don’t offer, say, a polybag that’s compostable to a market that doesn’t compost or recycle or segregate. So essentially, you just greenwashed a product by saying that it’s recyclable – good for you – but if no one actually recycles then it doesn’t really help.” 

[caption id="attachment_210984" align="aligncenter" width="1292"] Outfit: Giorgio Armani[/caption]

Poon – scion, Harvard graduate and true-blue eco-warrior – walks the talk. When I asked what accomplishment she’s most proud of – and indeed there’s a list to mention – she simply says,

“That I’m still standing. And the fact that I’m still here, still trying, I’m really proud of me. I think every day is a battle, life is a battle. In some way Covid made me think this way and to come to the realisation that it’s an incredible thing to still be here." 

“I was raised by parents with very different characters. My mom, a genuinely interested, curious intellectual, told me once that the best way to get into the school of your choice is to have a unique selling point, be different. That you don’t necessarily have to be the best, you just have to be memorable enough – but, of course, you also need to be good enough. On the other hand, my dad, focused and brilliant, strives constantly for quality and excellence. So being around them, these two very different people, is a lesson in itself. Raised by two almost opposing personalities, being between two very different points of view, taught me to think very carefully about how I approach the world and how to deal with stuff, life.”

I ask her what she does to decompress, apart from practising yoga. Unsurprisingly, she’s a voracious reader and mentions a few books she’s currently reading. One of them is Has China Won?, by Kishore Mahbubani. “I’m intentionally reading this slowly. He talks about whether or not China is expansionary, he talks about the America. I usually just fly through books, but for this I read only two chapters a week. I love though that he also has a great sense of humour. I’m also reading about the history of Samsung. And a good friend of mine, Clarissa Ward, just wrote a book and I just finished that one.” 

And to that I could hardly conceal my excitement; CNN war correspondent Ward is a rock star in my books. And just when I think that she can’t get any cooler, she confesses something rather unexpected: That she has really bad teeth.

“Something people might not know about me is that I have a lot of cavities! I hate going to the dentist so much that I got a general anaesthetic to have a tooth taken out.” And to that we all burst out laughing, making a rather sweet ending to this encounter. What’s particularly striking about Poon is that in spite of all her accomplishments and privilege, Poon comes across as someone you’d just want to have a good laugh with.

CREDITS:
ALL OUTFITS GIORGIO ARMANI
ART DIRECTION SEPFRY NG
PHOTOGRAPHY VINCI NG @NUMBER FIVE STUDIO
VIDEOGRAPHY KENNETH CHAN
STYLING CRYSTAL YUNG
MAKE-UP VINCI TSANG @VINCIWINKI.COM
HAIR BILLY HAI

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