I've moved on...
...to a different domain. Why, what were you thinking? The truth is, I just woke up one day and decided it's time for a change—a metamorphosis, if you will; or, in layman's terms, if Britney can shave her head, then maybe so can I? Nevertheless, it's been a rather handsome 10 years of talking to you, and thank you for putting up with all my moodswings and terrible dad jokes. Fear not! The hormonal imbalance and jokes are more terrible on CUBICLE, see you there.
mythical ambrosia favoured by Greek gods as they loitered above the clouds on Mount Olympus
photography & words SHINI PARK created for CARTIER

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The lifts at Fondation Cartier pour L’Art Contamporain glide up without hesitation, gradually lending a slightly more scenic view over the 14th arrondissement at each level. The hubbub of the foyer is long since muffled as I step off onto the top floor and into the office/laboratory of Cartier in-house perfumer, Mathilde Laurent. Later I would realise, that this 20-second ascension would be more symbolic of this brief stint to Paris than any souvenir I dare brought home.

The office is through a set of corridors and the laboratory itself, and I can’t help but observe the distinct lack of smell, or scent, until I reach Mathilde’s light-swathed office. “Sorry, I’d hoped it would be sunny for you!” she says entering, beaming, with a box of Ladurée macarons in her hands. She is like a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.

And despite the twenty-four fragrances developed under her tenure – L’Envol de Cartier being the latest – the office doesn’t boast one in particular. None, rather. At the same time it triggers an explosion of senses.

There are philosophical quotes on the windows hand-written by Mathilde herself; plants – dry, cut, fresh, amongst vials and tester arms from the laboratory; and behind her desk, a collection of shoes and magazines – glittery Miu Mius and gold-painted Converses. The space has a Phillipe Starck-like sense of humour. In the meantime, Mathilde nurses a pot of Juk-ro (죽로차] (a South Korean black tea from bamboo leaf) that she calls her drug. The earthy, almost cake-like smell of the tea mixes with the crisp November air that seeps in from the open balcony door and all my senses stir awake.

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My genius is in my nostrils
– Nietzsche

We talk about macarons (she has my favourite: orange blossom), her daughter, and intuition. She waves me over to her desk where she brings over a stack of Cartier signature red jewellery boxes and points at one labelled XI – aptly named, L’Heure Perdue, and launches a stunning video clip that illustrates the scent as I inhale the inside of the box. “It smells like a warm hug”, I say sheepishly. and then learn that this overtly human, emotional scent was composed using only molecular ingredients.

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There is something mythological, and abstract about her approach to her work in fragrance. Her eleven years at Guerlain and the eleven now at Cartier would attest to that – her latest creation L’Envol is perhaps the perfect embodiment. Inspired by ‘Hydromel’, the immortality mead of Olympian gods and theoretically designed for men, L’Envol is not a caricature of masculinity. It is an embodiment of intuition, bravery and the split-second of panic/elation when something takes flight – a wild idea perhaps, or a hot air balloon. The fragrance blends Gaiac wood with notes of honey on intense musk and patchouli, and is presented in a refillable bottle; another tribute to the Cartier belief that every one of its objects should last forever.

As I say goodbye to Mathilde and make my descent to catch my taxi back to the station, I feel as I’ve stolen away a vial of liquid luck from the clouds.

A waist-high black panther guards Laurent’s office

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“Listen to your instincts when you buy perfume, it has the power to set you free.”

– Mathilde Laurent

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Top – Helmut Lang. Skirt – Zara (similar). Boots – Stuart Weitzman

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creative direction SHINI PARK photography assistance SIMON SCHMIDT created for STUART WEITZMAN

You click, you add to cart, you open two more tabs, maybe a few more… add more stuff into baskets, rip a bit of your eyebrow out, chant ‘Velvet booties’ enough times to make it sound alien, Google “Is velvet sexy?”, land on Henry VIII’s Wikipedia page, cobble together a Bloody Mary from leftovers in your fridge… open more tabs…

See, sometimes, just sometimes, it’s nice to unplug yourself from the online shopping rut. For the sake of sanity, for the sake of you poor readers having to read that first paragraph. So out I went, equipped with a sturdy pair of boots, a bottle of water, a torch and a can of jungle bug-spray (how does one do this again?). I headed to the Stuart Weitzman flagship on 200 Regent Street, fixated on scratching the Velvet booties itch, but also because I wanted to touch EVERYTHING. Because opening 243 tabs wasn’t an option at home. I WANTED CHINESE BURNS ON MY ARMS FROM SHOPPING BAGS.

Top & sleeves – Emma Charles. Skirt – Dagmar. Boots – Stuart Weitzman.

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Dress – Emma Charles. Coat – Mango. Heels – Stuart Weitzman

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It’s incredible how easily you forget how much fun it is experience a store, to dip into the visual universe that no doubt many heads joined to bring about. This one is my ideal New York apartment: Sleek shelving, modular benches on minimal low-pile carpet and herringbone wooden peeking through. I did what I did best and open as many tabs as I could, just so I can say I made a throne at Stuart Weitzman and sat in it in thigh-high boots.

Dress & sleeves – Emma Charles. Boots – Stuart Weitzman

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creative direction SHINI PARK photography assistance SIMON SCHMIDT created for CALVIN KLEIN
Top – Calvin Klein. Bag – Calvin Klein. Jeans – Zara

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“My superpower? Awkward.”
“What’s awkward?”
“No, that’s my superpower. Inducing awkwardness.”
*awkward silence*
“Okay.”

At the start of a recent phone interview I was dealt this ice-breaker question, which – for all means and purposes – I wrecked. I basically GLUED TOGETHER any ice at this point and the rest of the interview was downhill from there. When I was 14 this would have brought me to hot tears, and would have faltered in my full skinny, gawky glory. Believe me, I had the full set: the braces, the cheap glasses and a social aptitude that of a blind mosquito.

However, from a certain point in my life I started being able to use this awkwardness to my advantage – accidentally at first – and found it the most exhilarating superpower in my arsenal (right next to being sexay). It wasn’t easy to hone, probably because you can’t hone it – I’m still awkward AF, but when used right it’s magic. It’s a truth serum at times, and in others, a douchebag survival tactic. (Asking “are you poor?” with genuine concern works EVERY TIME) (However, this has now morphed into a bit of a running joke on Snapchat @Sparkncube)

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Dress – Charlie May. Leather Trousers – Calvin Klein Jeans Capsule. Bag – Calvin Klein.

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I suspect that this is one of the reasons why I was drawn to this Calvin Klein pony-hair number so much. Its slightly awkward size and shape is reminiscent of my past (and admittedly still, present), but flaunts its personality and functionality in the way it knows best. In simple terms, this bag fits everything (including a proper book, for once) and goes with practically anything. Even douchebags like me.

Top – Calvin Klein. Bag – Calvin Klein. Jeans – Zara

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creative direction & photography SHINI PARK location GSTAAD, SWITZERLAND

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Le Grand Bellevue is home away from home, with all the right soft corners but with the edge that tends to come with boutique luxury.

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Right: André Ledoux 1948 ad for anouraks. Left: unknown source.

Right: Winter 1963, Vogue.

Above: Spread with Jacques Heim 1938 Winter Sportwear

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Après-ski

Whether you’re an all-terrain ripper or a lumbering human ice-cone-machine in stirrups (AKA me), après-ski cocktails by a roaring fireplace is equally rewarding, if not nourishing. Le Grand Bellevue is home away from home, with all the right soft corners but with the edge that tends to come with boutique luxury. The lounge sports House of Hackney wallpapers, the subterranean spa a labyrinth of sauna and steam rooms, and Le Petit Chalet that serves mind-blowing raclette*, just a stone’s throw away within the grounds. Pack for the glaciers but don’t forget the lightweight cashmere basics for toasty lounges.

*You’ve already scaled a mountain (on a chairlift) (WHATEVER) today, so go on, have some cheese and spuds.

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Le Grand Bellevue
Untergstaadstrasse 17, 3780 Saanen, Switzerland
+41 33 748 00 00
www.bellevue-gstaad.ch

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Holy mother of gherkins, what is that thing you ask. Remember that moment when you near sprained your eyeball trying to see the unicorn in a Magic Eye? You know where you were on that day. Just like 911. We all know when we first ever ‘got’ Magic Eye. Coincidentally, for me it was at a McDonalds birthday bash where the air was laden with sugar dust and this nine-year-old was one orange Fanta away from sprouting propellers and flying (into a coin operated toy).

Man, the dreams I had that night.

That thing, my readers, is the Chapman Brothers for you – for Louis Vuitton’s 76sqm menswear pop-up in Selfridges – manifested in a 10-feet tall giraffe that definitely should not be fed, and Selfridge’s-exclusive bits from Artistic Director Kim Jones’ SS17 and pre-collection with Chapman Brothers’ illustrations of safari animals who look like they’ve also just ‘got’ Magic Eye. The space is a safari itself – inspired by Kim Jones’ childhood in Kenya and Botswana, with a sprinkle of London punk, on ever-emblematic savoir-faire of the Maison – wherein beasts lurk in monochromatic corners, or hide in plain sight. Depends how many Fantas you have before visiting.

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Exclusive to Selfridge’s

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In collaboration with Louis Vuitton. Exclusive leather goods only available until January 15th 2017.

Louis Vuitton London Selfridges
400 Oxford street
W1A 1AB London
Monday-Saturday: 9:30AM – 9:00PM
Sunday: 11:30AM – 6:00PM