Has this been the most feng-shui-ed November in recent eventing history? For store openings and product launches and flagship unveilings? In a 48-hour window my name found itself on the guest list to nine gigs in town (never mind one was also not invited to seven others, nyah-nyah-so-there-Pooh Bear).
When I first met Joan Collins – well, how else do you want me to say this? – she made it known that “birthdays are silly, and for children” and that what she really needed “is a wife”. All right, I am only quoting the glamactress, sisters, so quit the hissying. The multipled-married padded pair of shoulders was merely stating she could use an extra pair of arms and legs on terribly busy days.
I was exactly musing that very thought as I galloped from Ferrari the prancing horse to horses racing at the Longines Singapore Gold Cup. Betwixt which I schlepped and scurried and hastened and hurried cross town and city and back, to watch SK-II luminaries light up Tangs’ Christmas tree lights, join guests piling up on the chocolates laid out at Chocoolate, the newest boutique from i.t. Then back to the basement of Tangs for a feeding frenzy at the launch of its makan place, take tea with the lovely people of Crabtree & Evelyn, ogle the yuletide orb in Robinsons Orchard, run ION to ground hunting for COS (H&M’s upmarket bro), and finally some flimsy thingy regarding Victoria’s Secret (she wouldn’t say).
Yes, it would not have been amiss to have hired a hand. Ahem, to help with the door gifts. It was a mug. A Ferrari mug for your (Italian) coffee. At the debut of the Ferrari 458 Speciale, so monikered for its advanced aerodynamics and extreme technology. A ride from its Leng Kee showroom would have been much appreciated…
At Chocoolate in Bugis you were encouraged to fill takeaway boxes with choccies and sweeties. Eco canvas bags were given out for your purchases of its avant-garde, cutting edge street fashion with a personality all its own.
The brand behind crystal clear skin, SK-II, upped the ante, with a show-stopping festive light-up. Shoppers, browsers, passers-by halted in their tracks (not unlike Rudolf when signalled to brake) as SK-II ambassador gorjus Godfrey Gao, and slebs Sheila Sim and George Young switched on the SK-II Christmas tree lights outside Tangs. It could only have come, COS clothes of style from the H&M smart Swedish folk, cleaner lines for a clutch of dollars more.
The crown to top off last week’s events season was – Swiss encore – Longines Singapore Gold Cup at Singapore Turf Club in Kranji (where is Ferrari when you need). The precision timekeeper of renown had its crown jewel local turf event, its fourth year here, at the Singapore racecourse. The Longines Singapore Gold Cup race is a highly-anticipated and prestigious one, with a prize bag of $1.35m. I’ve met Aaron Kwok and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan at past Longines Gold Cups (the stars are brand ambassadors). This year guest of honour was past president Mr S R Nathan.
