Here’s a smiley, happy girl beaming at you from the cover of our Escape issue this month. She’s clad in a CELINE ensemble of tie-front shirt and jeans, and looks, dare I say it, wholesome. In this mad pandemic world we live in, it’s nice to see and feel happiness. Even if it’s momentarily, there’s no better time than now for that feel-good factor.
Meet Ella Yam, scion and only child of legendary Hong Kong actor Simon Yam and his model wife, Qi Qi. Just 16 years young, she’s already carving a serious career in modelling with her fresh looks, perfect skin and statuesque 1.76m height. And she’s not just about looks. She scored impressively in her recent IGCSE (Hong Kong’s equivalent to our GCE O Levels) and harbours ambitions to read economics at a London university. In our cover exclusive on page 118, Ella speaks of her famous folks, the strong work ethics inherited from her mum and shares why Bella Hadid is an inspiration.
If BAZAAR can propel you to do one thing, it is to fantasise. There’s no need to venture beyond your four walls when we deliver the best of the world right into your hands. In search of nature? Turn to “Finding Motherland” (page 106) for the most beautiful rural spaces in China, with gorgeously languid clothes that fit in at the office as well as they do on open fields. Call it the pandemic effect, but the shifts in mindsets as well as physical spaces have seen fashion relaxing tremendously. What was once considered weekend attire has now settled itself comfortably on the work front. Just change up the shoes and you move fluidly from work to home in a flash. We show you how on page 126, where Creative Director Windy Aulia gets into Netflix-and-chill mode shooting perfect WFH ensembles. But if you’re hankering for some action and razzmatazz, Jeffrey Yan’s “Fight or Flight” feature on page 42 will give you the lie of the land with two distinct camps: One out to battle in cargoes and combat gear, the other to titillate you into submission with feathers and sequins galore. Fantasy versus reality—truth be told, we really need a dose of both in this new norm.
And finally, a topic that I recently found myself thinking about a lot, even before the papers dropped news about the world’s most expensive NFT (non-fungible token) being sold for a whopping US$69.3 million to a Singapore-based crypto entrepreneur. I tasked my team to find out more about NFTs and, to my surprise, discovered a lot of Singaporeans and local-based entrepreneurs who are making a mint out of them. Read our story on page 90 and discover how something so abstract can suddenly become the hottest trending topic at every dinner conversation. Even our BAZAAR Man star, Dharni, of global beatboxing fame, has plans to launch an NFT platform called Tezarekt. He’s confidently forging a career in music while simultaneously trading in cryptocurrency, which he hopes will make him a millionaire in six months. Hugely ambitious? Well, why not? It’s perfectly in sync with the rest of the personalities we featured this month because we all wish, work and strive for a better tomorrow, sans mask. Till then, escape into the pages of BAZAAR and be inspired. I hope it will also make you rich in dreams and ambitions.
—Kenneth Goh, Editor-in-Chief
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Photographer: Leung Mo.
Stylist: Daniel Cheung
Makeup: Jane Lin
Hair: Him Ng/The Attic
Producer: Una Ho
Photographer’s assistant: Sammy
Stylist’s assistant: Yoyo Gu
Producer’s assistant: Tiffany Tsui
