All posts tagged: Profiles

Inside Penang’s museum of rare vintage bags by a Singaporean collector

Inside Penang’s museum of rare vintage bags by a Singaporean collector

Published by Sam Flores

A trip to New York in the 1990s further solidified Lim’s love for bags. Drawn into a cluster of vintage shops, she paused outside one store where sunlight streamed through a window. “I stopped because the light was sparkling on something, and when I looked closer, I realised they were lucite handbags,” she said. “At the time, I didn’t even know what they were made of, but they were beautiful.” Lucite handbags are vintage-style purses made from a type of acrylic plastic. They became especially popular in the 1940s to 1960s, known for their boxy, sculptural shapes and glossy finish.  Over the course of her corporate career, Lim worked with several luxury brands, including Dior, Donna Karan, and Giorgio Armani. She now runs her own fashion label, Strangebutcool, known for its distinctive aesthetic with bold, expressive prints.  “When I left the fashion industry, I asked myself: I’ve got just about every bag from every label out there – there has got to be something more interesting. That’s when I started carrying vintage bags. From then …

Sexualized dating profiles can sabotage long-term relationship prospects, study finds

Sexualized dating profiles can sabotage long-term relationship prospects, study finds

Published by José Betancourt

You’re trying to get noticed in a crowded dating market. But as new research shows, the very strategies that grab attention might be the exact ones pushing love away. When my daughter was a teenager, she uploaded a photo of herself in a revealing swimsuit to social media—something many teens do. My parental instincts kicked in, and I asked her to take it down. My concern wasn’t just about the wrong kind of attention (or even predatory audiences). It was also about the message the photo sent: “This is what I have for sale,” when I knew she had so much more to offer. I shared this concern with a friend, expecting support. Instead, he looked at me like I was overreacting. “She’s attractive, and that’s part of how people get noticed,” my friend said. “Why not use that? Once she gets the attention she wants, she can reveal the deeper, more sophisticated parts of herself.” Dating app users face the same dilemma every day. On the one hand, they want to stand out in …

Maison Q founder Suhana Ab on kidswear that lasts

Maison Q founder Suhana Ab on kidswear that lasts

Published by Sam Flores

Kids could enjoy a Style the Butler Bear experience, while families could dine at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant – all decked out in Maison Q fabrics, of course – as well as pick up limited edition merchandise at the hotel’s gift shop.  Suhana shared that the collaboration felt surreal, beyond her wildest dreams. Having long suffered from imposter syndrome – an outsider entering the retail realm – it gave her the confidence boost she had always yearned for. “I didn’t expect it…but I think with [the St. Regis] association, it really positioned us as a brand that created things that are refined and elegant.” A FAMILY AFFAIR Being a mother of three kids – Arissa, 13; Omar, 10; and Eissa, 6 – no doubt influenced Suhana when conceiving Maison Q’s product lineup. “Comfort always comes first. If, for example, the fabrics feel ‘scratchy’ against the skin, forget it. My kids won’t be comfortable.” But motherhood isn’t the sole driving force behind her inspirations. A lot of ideas stem from Suhana’s own childhood experiences, both positive …

Maison Q founder Suhana Ab on kidswear that lasts

Maison Q founder Suhana Ab on kidswear that lasts

Published by Sam Flores

Kids could enjoy a Style the Butler Bear experience, while families could dine at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant – all decked out in Maison Q fabrics, of course – as well as pick up limited edition merchandise at the hotel’s gift shop.  Suhana shared that the collaboration felt surreal, beyond her wildest dreams. Having long suffered from imposter syndrome – an outsider entering the retail realm – it gave her the confidence boost she had always yearned for. “I didn’t expect it…but I think with [the St. Regis] association, it really positioned us as a brand that created things that are refined and elegant.” A FAMILY AFFAIR Being a mother of three kids – Arissa, 13; Omar, 10; and Eissa, 6 – no doubt influenced Suhana when conceiving Maison Q’s product lineup. “Comfort always comes first. If, for example, the fabrics feel ‘scratchy’ against the skin, forget it. My kids won’t be comfortable.” But motherhood isn’t the sole driving force behind her inspirations. A lot of ideas stem from Suhana’s own childhood experiences, both positive …

Schizophrenia symptom profiles are reflected in patients’ written language

Schizophrenia symptom profiles are reflected in patients’ written language

Published by José Betancourt

Recent research published in the Journal of Writing Research suggests that the written language of people with schizophrenia provides evidence about their specific symptom profiles. The study indicates that analyzing how these individuals summarize a story can reveal distinct patterns in their writing, depending on whether they experience predominantly positive or negative symptoms. These findings highlight the potential of using writing tasks to monitor clinical changes and tailor therapy interventions for people with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a severe mental health condition that affects thinking, emotion, and behavior. The condition tends to be divided into two main categories of symptoms. Positive symptoms involve an excess of abnormal experiences, such as hallucinations or delusions, which are fixed false beliefs. Negative symptoms involve a decrease in typical behaviors, such as a lack of motivation, emotional flatness, and reduced speech. Scientists recognize that schizophrenia often disrupts how a person uses and understands language. This disruption typically affects the social and practical use of language, making effective communication difficult. While speech difficulties are well documented, writing is an area that …

Niall Horan Makes Sense of Love, Loss, and Growing Up

Niall Horan Makes Sense of Love, Loss, and Growing Up

Published by Jenni Sidey

Horan’s knack for live performance has also proved useful during his three-season stint as a judge on The Voice, where he closed the loop on his reality TV competition days and mentored each of his seasons’ final contestants to victory. He also got really into golf. (Like, so into golf that he bought a golf management company in 2016.) Through it all, he was still getting on planes and living out of suitcases. But something about turning 30, then 31 and 32, startled him into a reflective state. “When you’re going through something when you’re young, you’re kind of either breezing through it and it’s just happening around you or you’re constantly overthinking,” he says. “The older I get, the more grateful I’ve become for what I’ve had. Not that I wasn’t grateful before, I would say, but I was blown away. Just taking it in now at 30-odd is kind of a cool thing. To look back and look at all photos, look at all the videos, think about what you did. It’s pretty …

How Jake Dyson turned the Dyson Zone into OnTrac headphones

How Jake Dyson turned the Dyson Zone into OnTrac headphones

Published by Sam Flores

For starters, the headphones are said to optimise the listening experience with best-in-class noise cancellation, powered by a custom Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) algorithm that uses eight microphones to sample external sound 384,000 times a second. This, combined with premium materials and carefully designed internal geometry, helps cancel up to 40dB of unwanted noise. Its 40mm, 16-ohm neodymium speaker drivers, together with advanced audio signal processing, reproduce frequencies ranging from 6Hz to 21,000Hz, delivering deep sub-bass and clear highs. Meanwhile, the speaker housing is tilted 13 degrees towards the ear for a more direct audio response. Naturally, the housing for these advanced technologies ought to be made from high-quality materials. The outer caps, for instance, are machined from high-grade aluminium for a lightweight yet durable finish. Then there is the 55-hour battery life – about double the market average. If you are going to wear a device on your head for that long, it had better be comfortable. “We did a lot of work on the weight distribution – the comfort on the head and …

Luke Combs Wants to Win the World Over With Country

Luke Combs Wants to Win the World Over With Country

Published by Jenni Sidey

And then, of course, came “Fast Car.” Combs had always loved Chapman, listening to her first on cassette tape in the back of his dad’s pickup truck. He’d covered the song for years, finally releasing a studio version on 2023’s Gettin’ Old after the fans demanded it (Combs listens to his fans). It was the first solo composition by a Black woman to go number one in country music. Chapman joined Combs to sing it together at the Grammy Awards, her only TV appearance in almost a decade. He’s reluctant to take too much credit, but proud of the ripple effects. “I imagine there’s a whole new generation of people that have gone back and listened to all her amazing records now,” he says. “I’m happy to be a launching pad for people to just rediscover how great she was and is, as a person and as an artist.” They still talk from time to time. Chapman will call Combs out of the blue. “Every time it’s an ‘unknown caller,’ and that’s how I know …

Why 3 Singaporeans chose life in Chiang Mai

Why 3 Singaporeans chose life in Chiang Mai

Published by Sam Flores

Lim’s restaurant began in 2015. It started as a project to help Hmong youths gain vocational skills – youths she had met on school trips years earlier. The initiative later expanded to include at-risk teenagers and former offenders. Now, instead of retiring, she runs Paak Dang Riverside Chiang Mai, employing 23 full-time staff. Lim has watched Chiang Mai transform. The post-pandemic influx has brought more Singaporeans – including DINKs (double income, no kids) couples and families with young children – alongside Taiwanese, Koreans and long-established Caucasian communities. The cost of living has risen, but so has the quality of everything from dining to healthcare. “You can live as cheaply as you wish, or as lavishly,” she said matter-of-factly. “Within the city centre, which is quite compact, you can find food, shopping, and medical care comparable to Singapore’s. But if you prefer quiet, the mountains are only 30 minutes away.” Infrastructure improvements are coming too. A new international airport, larger than the current one near the city, is slated for completion in five years – about …

Riz Ahmed on the Messy Vulnerability of His Bond-Baiting New Show

Riz Ahmed on the Messy Vulnerability of His Bond-Baiting New Show

Published by Jenni Sidey

The son of Pakistani immigrants, Ahmed, 43, was raised in Wembley and educated at the elite Merchant Taylors’ School in northwest London, and graduated from Oxford; he is an actor and a rapper, both under his own name and with his group the Swet Shop Boys, and he’s still dedicated to both disciplines. He was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as a drummer losing his hearing in the 2019 film Sound of Metal, but he’s also made meals out of otherwise thin blockbusters, like as an entertaining Elon Musk–type villain in the ridiculous 2018 superhero film Venom. His new project, Bait, embraces contradiction. The six-part comedy-drama, written by and starring Ahmed, focuses on Shah Latif, a struggling actor who, after being seen leaving an audition for the role of James Bond, becomes the subject of an intense media storm. It’s a spiky, disorienting satire of the entertainment industry that also explores family, mental health, and Shah’s desire to succeed without alienating his community. The series, made for Amazon Prime Video, is a perfect …