Editor’s Letter
Big cities and famous sites don’t always spin the best stories; small moments also create special memories as modern-day travel is all about the experience. Cuba made some of my coolest Insta-shots with its colourful street life, the classic shot of womanwith-cigar, those neo-baroque buildings and vintage cars—Old Havana is easily the most photogenic city I’d ever been to—and did I get many Likes for it. But sitting in the back of a shanty Oldsmobile taxi weaving through the inner lanes of the exotic city while picking up local strangers along the way was surely unforgettable as it really captured the spirit of Cuba that no photo could. My recent trip to Berlin was postcard-perfect with the historic sites from Brandenburg Gate to the East Side Gallery, elevated with an 11-course dinner at the Michelin-star Cinco by Paco Pérez, although walking through the graffiti-landscaped district of Kreuzberg and its bustling Turkish markets in search of Berlin’s best döner kebab (Imren, FYI) and ice cream (a tie between vanilla with pumpkin seed oil and raspberry with basil at Rosa Canina), then catching the manifesto art at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, proposed a unique multisensorial experience. Sounds, flavours, and smells transcend the image, which is why I would always choose to be in the moment—your mind, heart, and being have to embrace it fully for a three-dimensional memory. Switch off and take it all in. “I love leaving our hotel without our phones, to wander into the unknown,” says travel Instagrammer Tara Whiteman, featured in the back page ‘Why Don’t You...’ on her poetic adventures. “We always try to get a little lost in places that offer so much more than just picturesque Instagram photos.” There’s always #TBTs. This Travel Issue captures the true essence of being somewhere in time ... with all the fashion, beauty, and ideas to enhance your experience of the world. “Fragrances inspire the mind to travel to a time and place,” says Olivier Polge, the perfume creator for Chanel, who I interviewed in Paris recently for the launch of his new collection of sublime haute colognes. Find out how he gives fragrances a “point of view” (page 102) that truly makes him a master perfumer for the new millennia, and the reason why we’ve awarded him ‘Perfumer of The Year’ in the BAZAAR Fragrance Awards 2018. Then, build your own collection from the winning portfolio of 32 scents, meticulously judged by a panel of five (the BTS on www.harpersbazaar.my), and discover the ultimate ‘Fragrance of the Year’. Now this is something you can’t quite catch on camera, or in words, so breathe in the beautiful alchemy. It’s a different kind of magic.