Barbara Palvin Channels The Sexy Sensibility Of The '70s For Our February 2022 Issue

It’s the 1990s and a Singaporean Chinese teenager is in London’s Heathrow Airport waiting to catch a flight to Rome with his family. From the corner of his eye, he spies a statuesque blonde bombshell—black Ray-Bans, red lips and all legs beneath a tight black miniskirt—who stops everyone in their tracks. That said teenager is me. I let out an internal scream, push my convenience-store-bought camera to my mum and rush across to her. Despite being timid, shy and with hardly any self-confidence, I didn’t hesitate this time. “Excuse me, Miss Jerry Hall, can I take a picture with you, please?” She looks down at me (I was about 1.58m tall then) and kindly obliges. I place her next to my granny (she was my fortuitous alibi), to whom she immediately drawls in her famous Texan accent: “I loooove your outfit!” And that was my first brush with supermodel stardom, which played a part in me eventually crafting my career as a fashion editor.

Fast forward to the recent Fendi spring/summer 2022 show, where models walked down the runway in Antonio Lopez’s illustrated silks, brilliant bright colours weaved into kaftans, marabou feather coats and thigh-high leather boots: To me, the muse for the show could only be Jerry Hall. That served as our mood board as we embarked on a cover shoot to capture the verve, sex appeal and excitement of the ’70s and ’80s—eras of fashion that were all flash, decadence and hedonism that Miss Hall epitomised so beautifully. We took top model Barbara Palvin down the disco route with electrifying makeup and all the props to make her a modern version of the iconic Hall. I hope you love this sexy, glamorous cover as much as I do; turn to page 108 to see more of this fabulous fashion spread (turn up the volume on anything Donna Summer to set the mood).

In another coup for us, we managed to grab newly crowned world champion shuttler Loh Kean Yew for a lightning quick chat and fashion spread when he came back to Singapore. Loh has been in the news for achieving global sporting glory for Singapore and has quickly become a national hero. See him decked out in the finest threads from Louis Vuitton (page 71) and read what he has to say about the missing ingredient in Singapore’s quest for more sporting glory.

Then, of course, there’s Lunar New Year. We turn to soothsayer, respected astrologer and feng shui master Jennifer Too for advice on the Year of the Tiger (page 56). She also shares the most brilliant gemstones that each zodiac animal should wear, just so that you can usher in luck, prosperity and great health. And for all you need to know about the season, there’s our spring/summer 2022 trend report, “The Bold & The Beautiful”, on page 38. Whether you dare to bare some abs, shake it up with fringe, show lots of leg, or rework the stuffy suit with a bra and a cropped top, it’s going to be a fun season that’s bright, colourful and full of sass. Time to turn back the clock and boogie on down.

—Kenneth Goh, Editor-in-Chief 

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Photographed by Yu Tsai
Styled by Wyman Chang
Model: Barbara Palvin/IMG
Makeup: Fiona Stiles/A-Frame Agency
Hair: Rob Talty/Forward Artists
Manicure: Bana Jarjour/Star Touch Agency
Production: Trever Swearingen/88 Phases
Digital technician: Luis Jaime/88 Phases
Photographer’s assistants: Embry Lopez; Giancarlo Decastro