PROMISE OF TOMORROW

As I’m writing this letter in my study on Christmas eve, I eye the pile of presents waiting to be wrapped. It’s the yearly pandemonium, more so this year as it’s the first time my parents have returned home after a four-year absence due to Covid 19. Thus, this Christmas is all the more poignant. There are times in life when you realise that you are truly blessed. And this is one of them. Having a simple dinner together, with home-cooked favourites like Nonya chap chye, chicken rendang and finishing up with bubur hitam, I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world. Blame me for being an ol’ romantic, but nostalgia has always been my calling card. Being in an industry where newness is celebrated and ‘ what’s next’ the constant refrain, I am all for respecting the past and acknowledging where we came from. Which brings me to our cover star Cindy Crawford. This the fourth time she has graced our cover and she remains as relevant and as sensual as ever. She was my first supermodel I shot for BAZAAR and that was almost 20 years ago. I remember that shoot vividly, sweating buckets styling one of the most beautiful and recognised supermodels in the world on the staircase of the Carcosa Seri Negara in KL. This was the time of polaroids and the first shot was a ‘make it or break it’ moment. As photographer Simon Upton peeled the first polaroid open and waited as the picture slowly surfaced, I looked away. Cindy took one look, said “Fabulous!” and everyone laughed, out of relief. Putting together the very best designer pieces was only half the task. What could I bring to the shoot that said this was done in Asia? I was inspired—it would have to be our own national flower. But the Vanda Miss Joaquim is rather insignificant in pictures unless it’s a huge bunch. So I got a large white phalaenopsis, which I had air-flown from Holland, pulled Cindy’s famous locks into a tight bun and plopped a single exquisite bloom behind her ear. That bloom was handy, showing throughout the shoot on her neck, wrist and even delicately caressing her bosom. Cindy loved it. The pictures even made a global campaign for Omega. That’s the power of Cindy. And here we are again, with the modelling icon. Cindy talks candidly about her decades-long career, her recent Apple TV+ documentary The Super Models alongside her fellow supers: Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell and Linda Evangelista. She also talks about her close relationship with her model daughter, Kaia Gerber, and her long-standing relationship with global brands. Read Renée Batchelor’s interview on page 78.

I also got a chance to art direct our BAZAAR Man cover stars, Thai artistes Mew Suppasit Jongcheveevat and Tul Pakorn Thanasrivanitchai in Bangkok. What struck me most was their openness, their candour in front of the camera and their obvious chemistry that is electrifying. I hope this first official shoot of the two of them brings about more discussions about breaking barriers and opening more doors for a more inclusive world. We can but hope, but this is certainly a great start to 2024. Happy New Year, dear readers—enjoy an issue that has a little of the past, a lot of the present and the promise of a brighter future.