Yen Kuok gets candid on fashion and identity (Part II)

In an online exclusive for Gafencu magazine, Robert Kuok’s youngest daughter talks about giving up her Malaysian passport and fashion inspirations. Gafencu sits down for an exclusive interview with the sprightly fashionpreneur.

Yen Kuok at the *Gafencu* photo shoot last December 2017 at her father’s Island Shangri-La

In part two of our exclusive digital-only edition Q&A with Yen Kuok, we get up close and personal with the founder of second-hand luxury business Guiltless, who considers herself full Hong Kongese. If you missed the first part, read all about it here.

Would you say that the tag of ‘Robert Kuok’s daughter’ has been a heavy presence following you around?

Growing up, it was definitely not something I was proud of. At school I was a good student, so I was picked to join interschool organisations. I remember we would go to meetings and afterwards my driver would come pick me up, but obviously it would be awkward if everyone’s taking the MTR. They’d be like, ‘How are you getting back?’ to which I would say, ‘Oh, I’m walking to the bus stop.’ ‘Which bus stop?’ ‘Oh I don’t remember the name, somewhere down that road’ – I would try to cover it up.

If I had been sent to an international school like my older siblings, I probably would have been very different, but my parents decided to send me to Diocesan Girls’ School – one of the most academically competitive local schools in town. The environment was cutthroat, pushing me to prioritise doing well in my studies. I was much more chilled and less driven before going to DGS as a kid!

Your dad being Malaysian Chinese, would you consider yourself Hong Kongese?

I consider myself one hundred percent Hong Kongese. I gave up my Malaysian passport – I don’t speak the language, don’t have any friends there, rarely go there. I might as well call myself Japanese ‘cause I go to Tokyo more often than KL!

You would never catch me dead in something like Céline or Haider Ackermann, I’m not going for that aesthetic. I have been in this maximalist phase for the past few years versus minimalism.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I had a really horrible break up a year and a half ago, and it wrecked my skin. I’ve gone through really tough periods before, but that was the only time my skin was affected so dramatically by emotional stress. I broke out had rashes everywhere – it was horrible. I didn’t leave the house, I was crying everyday… I finally said, ‘I need to fix my life. Let me start with my skin.’

I began looking into skincare, going deep from ingredients to ‘What is the best kind of exfoliator?’ or ‘What’s the difference between an apricot shell scrub and a walnut shell scrub??’ [Laughs]

When I set my heart on something I go all in, so ever since then I’ve become all my friends’ go-to person whenever they have skin problems or want recommendations. I’m always the first to know about beauty gadgets, home lasers, nano-current devices, LED facial machines… That’s what I do in my free time – I read beauty blogs to research on skincare!

Styling by San Wong; Photography by Neville Lee

Let’s talk about fashion, since you’ve taken the deep dive into doing business in the industry ever since. Who are your favourite icons and go-to designers?

You would never catch me dead in something like Céline or Haider Ackermann, I’m not going for that aesthetic. I’m all about Erdem, Nanette Lepore, and of course the Dolce & Gabbanas, the Cavallis, the Versaces…I have been in this maximalist phase for the past few years versus minimalism.

There’s a fine line between what I mentioned and being overdone or tacky, sure, but I can’t help but be drawn to complexity and pattern. Etro is one example, for the diversity of textures, and then there’s Iris van Herpen who does 3D printing, which is all about the intricacy. Check out some of her runway pieces, they’re really beautiful. I remember she came out with this innovative skeleton dress which visualized the inside of the body outside [Editor’s Note: The piece was later acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art].

Iris van Herpen’s plastic skeleton dress represents her feeling of being reborn during a parachuting jump. (Cariole June 2011)

Today it’s women’s fashion, lifestyle goods and gadgets; tomorrow you mentioned wanting to expand into men’s and children’s wear. What’s next – with the recent success of your pop up, do you plan to open a physical shop eventually?

We had never entertained the idea of opening a permanent physical shop because looking at the likes of Net-a-Porter, staying online has been one of the reasons they’ve been able to maintain a successful international business model with an image extending to all corners of the world. Once you have a physical shop, you become localised to a certain place. But this pop-up has been a pleasant surprise, so I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but right now I’d rather focus on online.

Thank you.

Catch our main interview with Yen Kuok on Gafencu magazine’s March 2018 print issue coming out in newsstands on the 1st of March 2018!

Interview by: Julienne C. Raboca

Yen Kuok on the shocking burglary of Guiltless’ pop-up store (Part I)

Yen Kuok has been typecast all her life. Whether it‘s ‘family black sheep’ for leaving father Robert Kuok’s Kerry Properties, or ‘spoiled rich heiress’ during her school days, she has lived in the shadow of her family name since birth. Over the past few years, however, Yen has taken great strides to break free of the stereotypes that have been attached to her by carving out a name for herself in an industry she is passionate about: second-hand luxury.

In 2015, Yen founded Guiltless, an e-commerce site targeted towards the Asian high-end market allowing people to buy and consign pre-loved designer items. Last November, the brand launched a pop-up on Queen’s Road Central that was so successful they ran for two months instead of the normal two-week duration for standard pop-ups.

In a disconcerting spin on events, last December the shop was broken into by unidentified burglars who escaped in a white seven-seater. The three felons ran away with fifteen Hermes and YSL handbags worth a jaw-dropping HK$1.44 million (US$184,000).

We were able to catch up with a less than chirpy Yen just three days after the robbery. Although gutted by the blow to her business, she showed up for the photo shoot and kept her composure throughout the interview, sending rapid-fire messages to her team handling the crisis every time she had a few seconds’ break.

Scroll down for the first part of the exclusive online Q&A precluding our March 2018 print coverage of the interview and photo shoot with Yen Kuok.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Balad-0AbVB/?hl=en&taken-by=yenskiboo

Last December the Guiltless pop-up shop was broken into. That must have been a huge blow to you – can you tell us about that? What happened?

In the early morning a few minutes past 6 o’clock on December 5, the CCTV showed three robbers breaking in via the mall’s interior entrance to the store. They used a giant hammer and literally smashed through the glass. They knew exactly what they were looking for, going straight for the bag cabinet where we kept all our Birkins. They picked out fifteen bags and made a swift exit.

It was quite scary because they clearly knew what they were doing; the robbers didn’t go for the exotic bags because they knew it would arouse more suspicion if they tried re-selling it in the second-hand market as they’re more easily identified. It’s also more difficult to bring those exotic Birkins overseas because all these skins are being restricted just like furs… the thieves made sure not to stir up any suspicion on the Queen’s Road Central main entrance side. They did everything inside the mall. It was a shocking experience.

Sorry to hear that. What’s the equivalent value of what they got?

The estimate is up to HK1.5 million. It’s difficult to put a price on the Birkin bags, it’s like trying to put a tag on a limited edition stamp.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BaWCg9hABZR/?hl=en&taken-by=yenskiboo

I stopped by the pop-up just last Sunday, actually, and thought the branding was really well done.

We had only wanted to do two weeks in the beginning, actually. We didn’t want to compromise on a prime location as it was our first pop-up; we had to do it in a place that sets the standard. It had to be on the ground floor – none of those walk-up-the-stairs gallery space kind of nonsense – it had to be a main street location in Central. We had dabbled with the idea of doing it in Causeway Bay, but decided that for the first one we definitely had to do it in Central; we treated it like a flagship.

And did it work?

The results were really good, so we extended it for another month. The landlord was happy about that because it was driving a lot of traffic to the mall itself, us being right at the entrance. The window displays were interesting and fun – we had games inside the store. The management approached us to extend, and we said ‘Yes, looking at the financials it makes sense to do it.’ But in the end I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse since we got robbed!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbbdLzUlb6A/?hl=en&taken-by=yenskiboo

What were your demographics like? Who were your biggest fans?

A lot of the people who went to our pop-up have actually been the slightly older customers and tai tais who come in and buy like ten items at a time. They would say things like ‘Honestly I don’t really buy anything second-hand, but everything here looks so new, it’s wonderful.’

That’s the feedback that we get all the time, so much so that when we just opened the pop-up store, people didn’t realise it was second-hand and couldn’t figure out why we were so cheap. In the first week we had to print emergency store stickers saying ‘second-hand’ because unless you say it, people think it’s first-hand!

Stay tuned for the second part of this article, up next Sunday. Yen divulges tidbits from her personal life along with her fashion inspirations.

Interview by: Julienne C. Raboca

HiPriced

With the ubiquity of smartphone technology and Apple’s extensive market share, iPhones are far from a rare sight. Those looking to stand out from the ever-growing horde of iPhone devotees, need look no further than the bespoke handsets now on offer from Falcon, a New York-based luxury brand.

The company’s customised iPhones are the last word in super luxurious, having been upgraded using platinum, 24-carat gold or rose gold and then adorned with a variety of precious gems. The price of these bespoke phones reflect their exclusive nature with the base model starting at US$1.65 million, with costs then going all the way up to the Super Nova edition, complete with pink diamond, that comes in at US$48.5 million. The iPhone collection includes 24 choices, combining three same-cost case choices ― platinum, 24-carat gold and rose gold ― and eight embedded gems ― black diamond for US$1.78 million; emerald cut diamond for US$2.43 million; blue sapphire, emerald or ruby for US$5.13 million; blue diamond for US$35.1 million; orange diamond for $45.9 million and pink diamond for US$52.4 million.

Each phone comes with 128GB of memory as standard and includes a USB cable, power adaptor and standard Apple headphones. Of course, the standard white plastic Apple headphones don’t quite cut it when your phone is fully decked out in precious metals and gems, so Falcon also offer solid platinum, 24-carat gold or rose gold sets as optional extras for a mere US$300,000 a go.

CanAsian

As luxury living becomes ever more de rigueur, the demand for fine art continues to grow. It should be no surprise then that Waddington’s, Canada’s largest and most diversified auction house, has posted ground-breaking results – including five new records being set within three hours – during its recent sale of fine Asian art.

This is the second offering of Chinese artworks from the highly distinguished collection of Doctor David Lin. The sale attracted buyers from Asia and New York, underlining the growing significance of the Canadian auction scene.

The sale came following an exhaustive three-month selection process, with representatives of the auction house extensively assessing and evaluating the works of art to be included in the auction. Among the many star lots uncovered were a series of Japanese woodblock prints, as well as a fine selection of jade and porcelain snuff bottles, all created by the country’s foremost masters.

Other highlights included such rare and previously little-known gems as the Copper Red Lotus Ewer from the Hongwu period (AD1328 – 1398), which eventually sold for a truly mammoth $2,992,500.

With the level of pre-auction interest unusually high, the bidding was exceptionally tense throughout the entire evening. Overall, the success of the event exceeded all estimation. Speaking after the sale, Duncan McLean, Waddington’s president, said the price paid for the Ewer represented the highest amount bid for any item of fine art auctioned in Canada this year.