It begins, as all legends do, in a quiet childhood dream. In the seaside gardens of Granville, a young Christian Dior collected blossoms and sketched silhouettes, a boy entranced not by the ordinary but by beauty’s promise. He would grow into a man who turned that dream into destiny—defying post-war austerity with a single swish …
Read more “A Dream in Dior: UBS House of Craft x Dior Arrives in Singapore”
In the soft blush of dawn, a woman in a rustic Balinese village stoops over a mortar, grinding roots and spices into a golden paste. Lemongrass, turmeric, galangal, coriander—fragrant oils seep onto her hands, releasing a perfume that drifts across the emerald paddy terraces shimmering beyond her kitchen walls. She rubs the sacred blend into …
Read more “Savour the Archipelago: Alila Seminyak’s Ode to Indonesia’s Culinary Soul”
Imagine Paris in the 1860s. The Seine rippling in silver light, a perfume of damp earth and cigarette smoke curling through the air, and two young men—Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir—side by side in the open air at La Grenouillère. Their brushes dance across canvas, feverishly chasing light that flickers and vanishes within seconds. They …
The Gulfstream hums like a cathedral organ as it slices through the last skeins of cloud. Inside, the cabin is a cocoon of curated indulgence—Hermès cashmere throws folded with military precision, Baccarat crystal flutes abandoned on polished walnut trays, the faint whisper of Cuir Beluga by Guerlain lingering in the air like a lover’s breath. …
Read more “The Divine Pause: Valmont at The Spa, Four Seasons Kuala Lumpur”
Bangkok has always been a city of appetite. At dawn, saffron-robed monks walk past steaming street stalls, their alms bowls brushed with the perfume of lemongrass and galangal. By dusk, the air is thick with chilli smoke, the symphony of woks clashing with the low hum of rooftop champagne bars. Here, flavour is theatre, and …
Read more “Bangkok in Bloom: Centara’s Michelin-Starred Renaissance”
Bangkok, 1876. The Chao Phraya glittered like molten gold beneath the setting sun as the young English baron, a merchant-adventurer of considerable fortune, disembarked at the river’s edge. His linen suit bore the gentle creases of weeks at sea, his pocket watch still ticking to Liverpool time. Yet here, in the kingdom of Siam, time …
Read more “Mandarin Oriental Bangkok Celebrates 150th Anniversary with an 18-Month Fanfare.”
She arrives not quietly, but as though conjured by the island itself—a woman of fifty, unapologetically radiant, equal parts myth and mischief. In her vintage Dior Bar Jacket, cinched like armour, and Saint Laurent safari trousers rolled just so, she steps barefoot onto the veranda of her villa at South Palms Resort & Spa Panglao. …
Read more “South Palms, Reborn: MGallery’s Seductive Ode to Bohol”
It is a late September evening in Singapore. The monsoon sky is dimming into mauve as the city hums with its polished blend of business and pleasure. A successful American executive, heels clicking across marble floors, wanders through the gleaming expanse of ION Orchard after a day of meetings with regional partners. She has lived …
In Paris, where pastries often parade like couture gowns, Alina Prokopenko has turned dough into rebellion. A Ukrainian in Paris, trained first in art history and photography, she swapped the camera for butter, the canvas for chocolate. But she never abandoned the artist’s gaze—she simply chose a more delicious medium. Critics call her the enfant …
Read more “Pastry as Couture: Alina Prokopenko’s AVANTBRUNCH at Lulu Bistrot”
Heinrich Walden arrived in Kuala Lumpur the way men like him always do—measured, pressed, and quietly commanding. At 35, the Hamburg-born executive knew the choreography of airports and boardrooms by heart, his navy blazer still sharp from the flight, his shirt collar casually open, suggesting ease without carelessness. The cuff of his trousers brushed just …
Read more “The Gift of Time: OMEGA’s Grand Return to Suria KLCC”