The celebrated Malaysian fashion designer is thankful for 25 successful years in the fashion industry
1. The greatest moment in my life is being able to celebrate 25 years of involvement in the fashion industry this year. It’s not easy for anyone to be relevant or relatable in this industry for this long because there is a lot of competition.
2. The greatest regret I have is … I don’t have any because I always believe in God’s engineering. Things happen for a reason.
3. The one virtue I try to live by is honesty because when you practise that, you have nothing to hide. You are transparent and truthful.
4. The person I most admire is myself because I have split personalities and we admire each other. The fashion designer personality admires the interior designer personality, and vice versa.
5. I deplore people who are not punctual because they waste so much of my time.
6. The quality I like most in a person is truthfulness because you don’t have to examine him in order to have a relationship with him.
7. To keep motivated, I only have to look at the faces of the people I am responsible for. I can tell myself I have been fortunate and I have to be thankful for that.
8. The book I’m reading now is … I’m not much of a book reader.
9. My current favourite song is … I’m into classic French songs. I love the melody, the tempo, the rhythm, and the language. It’s wonderful. I’m not into Rihanna and all that.
10. The last time I took a vacation was in early May, back to my home town of Penang.
11. To relieve stress, I … I don’t really have stress because I know how to plan my life, my time and my work. When everything is well planned, you will never be stressed. But I love going back home to light a candle, have a good bath, and get a good night’s sleep. But before I fall asleep, I will talk to myself, go through ideas and look for inspiration.
12. The three things I cannot live without are visiting my parents, retail therapy, and my face mist.
13. My favourite movie of all time is The Devil Wears Prada. When I first watched the movie, I said, “Oh my God, someone made a movie about me!”
14. The most memorable scenes were … every single scene!
15. In another life, are you James Bond or Indiana Jones? James Bond because at one time, I was really into gadgets.
16. If I had superpowers, I want to become invincible because being a celebrity, people are always stalking and taking photos of me.
17. If I could turn back time, I would … not change a thing because it was made perfectly for me. I am happy with my life’s journey so far.
18. If I could invite three people, dead or alive, to dinner, they would be Karl Lagerfeld, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser al Missned (of Qatar and owner of fashion house Valentino), and Anna Wintour.
19. And we would be eating Malaysian dishes such as nasi lemak and mee bandung.
20. And discussing about the future of fashion.
21. When flying, I never wear anything tight.
22. When flying, I always put on something loose and comfortable.