EIC Kenneth Goh On Working With Supermodels In His Career

Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Tyra Banks and Kimora Lee Simmons were at the top of their fashion game back in the 1990s. As supermodels—a term reserved for the best of the best in that glorious era—they ruled the runways and were seen practically everywhere, from billboards to music videos.

Harper’s Bazaar Singapore Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Goh talked about the times when he worked with these supermodels for the covers of Harper's BAZAAR Singapore on One FM 91.3 with Angelique Teo.

1. Cindy Crawford

 “We shot Cindy Crawford three times for Harper's BAZAAR Singapore. The first time was in 2005, where we photographed her in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, at Carcosa Seri Negara—the beautiful colonial hotel where they filmed Crazy Rich Asians. It was Nick Young’s family home in the film, where they had the famous blooming party.

I also remember how Cindy only wanted two people on set—the photographer and me—to direct her. She loved the photos so much that she asked for one of it to be used for her global Omega campaign.”

2. Naomi Campbell

“Everyone knows Naomi Campbell, and she is truly a colourful person. She was in Singapore back in 2013 for Digital Fashion Week, and we had the great opportunity to shoot her for the cover. Although she was here for less than 12 hours, she did three interviews, walked the Digital Fashion Week runway and our cover shoot. 

I remember that the only way to get her back on set was to literally trail her everywhere. I sat and watched her do the show, and rode the limo with her back to Raffles Hotel and conducted my interview with her in the backseat of a car.”

3. Kimora Lee Simmons

“We've shot the wonderful and fabulous Kimora Lee Simmons three times for Harper's BAZAAR Singapore, two of which were done in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and one of them was on a rooftop.

I remember that it rained so hard and I told her that we can't get the Roberto Cavalli dress that she was wearing wet. Without missing a beat, she stripped down to her underwear, used a plastic bag to protect her hair and ran across the road in her heels—I will never forget that.”

4. Tyra Banks

“Tyra Banks was in Singapore for the first season's finale of Asia's Next Top Model. And I remember how calm and collected she was. Plus she had the most amazing, velvety honey skin. 

When she came on set, she knew exactly where she wanted the light to hit her and she was essentially directing the photographer. We shot her for our January 2013 cover, so of course, we had to add our own Singaporean touch. We had a cage corset by Frederick Lee on set, and Tyra really liked it, so we fashioned it into a headpiece.”