QUINTESSENTIALLY ASIA - Autumn 2012

I dette nummeret

Power is mutable; it never comes in an unbreakable mass, except in the sense of a diamond, where every facet presents the world in a different light. Power has many faces, and often wears a subtle disguise, but it can scorch the soul and when it is held without legitimacy, those who wield it are likely to be incinerated when that power bursts into flames. In choosing Power as the theme of this fifth edition of Quintessentially Asia magazine, which coincides with our first anniversary, we were not driven by a sudden interest in political economy. And even though we are a magazine of the luxury world, we do not plan to expose the abuses of power that take place in an industry where predatory behavior exists to a surprising degree inside the shiny/grimy dream machine that we call fashion, as Mr. Gigli (Romeo and Silhouette) apparently discovered to his cost. Instead we are focused upon the power of beauty, ideas, creativity, education and horses, both mechanical and four legged. In The Bright Stuff and Young Guns we showcase the power of youthful imagination and its correlate, a lack of inhibition. I guarantee you will not see more inspiring coverage of fashion anywhere else this season. With Chukka Can we explore what the power of money (and a string of horses) can do for a brand with a long shopping list upon which the acquisition of heritage sits at the top. In Back Seat Driver there is horse power made sybaritic, as Bentley wheel out a new executive version of the Mulsanne that is more comfortable than most of the palaces where it will be parked; while Forbidden Suits examines how the power of China’s money has restrained fashion designers who might otherwise try to make all men dress like cartoon characters. At the leisurely end of the scale Operation Dinner Out reveals how a Hong Kong princess has used the power of simplicity to conquer the city’s social heights, and if understanding those with a power complex is of interest, The Crucible of Love examines how the stormy relationship between Carl Gustav Jung and one of IWC’s founders led the Swiss watch company to create one of the most interesting timepieces ever made. It is Jung who inspired our cover, or at least his work on the power of dreams. The founder of analytical psychology believed that dreams reveal the way our consciousness pulls at the puppet strings that guide our unconscious mind. But as our cover shows, we only think that we see the truth. Does the watch that covers his eye blind the young man? Or does it make him see more clearly? Maybe he is a time lord, building a machine that will take him – or us - to the future. Only our dreams can tell us what the answer might be, and without them we have no power at all.