Chasing the Sun
As it turns out, it’s not always sunny skies and blue waters in paradise
hen the singapore tatler team looked out of the windows of our seaside villas at The Residence Maldives, we saw plenty of water all right, but not the kind we had hoped for in this nirvana 3,365km from home. It’s one of the properties under Bonvests Holdings, where our cover star Gary Xie, son of the company’s founder Henry Ngo, is executive director. On the day of our arrival, the wind was howling, the ocean current was arresting and the rain was beating down so persistently, it was hard to imagine how we were going to pull off a 10-page cover spread in less than 24 hours. But we did. Call it fate, call it the power of prayer. It was about six in the morning—beauty guru Cheryl Ow had just applied the final layer of lip gloss on Gary’s other half, Beverly Chin— when light broke. The sun rose with a pink glow, providing our first photo at the hammock the kind of halo effect all photographers cross fingers for. “Yes! This is perfect, Bev. Just keep doing what you’re doing,” contributing fashion director Desmond encouraged our first-time model, who had been instructed to look afar into the horizon. As we transported our gear from one sun-kissed location to another, tan lines began forming much to the delight of the crew members. The constant change in light exposure that came with the movement of clouds, however, meant we raced against time to capture the sweet shot we needed before the golden gleam disappeared. Gary expressed his nerves at being on the cover, but he was a natural. Beverly was nearby, sneaking pictures of him as he strutted towards the camera. “Can I see them?” Gary asked for her secret snaps. With a cheeky smile, she whisked her phone out of his reach. We had predicted delays due to the temperamental weather. Surprise, surprise, we wrapped at teatime, mere moments before menacing clouds rolled in to envelope the resort again. Rain took over not long after. Just as well—everyone decided on a much-deserved pre-dinner power nap, so we could chase the sun all over again tomorrow. Darren Gabriel Leow, assisted by Darren Chan
FASHION DIRECTION
Desmond Lim, assisted by Joey Tan
HAIR AND MAKE-UP
Cheryl Ow/indigo Artisans, using Dior
OUTFIT
Hermès
JEWELLERY
Hermès
LOCATION
The Residence Maldives
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