DT Asia Helps Asia Celebrate Aura With A Magical Launch

History was made at Thursday’s grand launch of “Aura by Swarovski”, as DT Communications Asia Pacific (DT Asia) successfully organized a media event and cocktail party to celebrate the perfume’s official premiere in the region. The occasion featured a never-before-seen light show and the collection was brilliantly showcased with cutting-edge special effects in a dramatic unveiling ceremony.

“Aura by Swarovski” marks Clarins Fragrance Group and Swarovski’s first fragrance collaboration, and the two European brands, along with DT Asia, pulled out all the stops with a star-studded launch event attended by Mr. Christian Courtin-Clarins, Chairman of Clarins Group Supervisory Board.

The impressive highlight was the fantastic light show, beamed from the venue to the building across the crowded Queensway street. The first of its kind in Asia, the spectacle of light featured the “Aura by Swarovski” video commercial, and captivated guests in a monumental gesture announcing the fragrance’s arrival in Asia’s fashion capital. This bold and innovative display reinforced the larger than life beauty and magic of the fragrance, as well as the tenacity of DT Asia’s production team.

Hundreds of guests, including more than 200 local and regional media from China, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines, were also in attendance for the epic unveiling ceremony. The collection was revealed in a glorious fashion, with state-of-the-art special effects being employed. When the time came for the unveil, the atmosphere was intensified with lights descending on the stage, perfectly synchronized with smoke and music as guests were treated to the perfume line’s first appearance in the region.

In addition, the Swarovski dress, designed by the late, great Lee McQueen of the fashion house Alexander McQueen, enthralled fashion lovers with its unparalleled beauty and intricacy. Beauty enthusiasts were not left out, as they enjoyed the entire “Aura by Swarovski” collection, which was elegantly displayed on several fragrance bars strategically placed around the venue.

The sheer beauty of the venue also had party-goers singing non-stop praises. The perfect location to announce the Aura, the venue's unique architecture of majestic glass walls and waves-inspired ceiling played the perfect backdrop for the unveiling, artistically mirroring the inspiration for the perfume: pure light.  The venue was drenched in a brilliant pink light that bounced off the building’s curves into an enchanting dance, magically transforming the location into the mystical World of Swarovski.

General Manager of DT Asia, Ms. Alice Fok, said: “Months of hard work and dedication from Clarins Fragrance Group, Swarovski and the DT Asia team made this launch an incredible success. We are honoured that our distinguished guests had a fabulous time and we feel motivated to tackle similar challenges in the future.”

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About DT Asia:
DT Communications Asia Pacific (www.dt-asia.com) is a one-stop Public Relations and Marketing agency, providing the full range of communications services to professional institutions. DT Asia’s network extends throughout the Asia-Pacific region, with nine offices and affiliates in seven countries. Over the years, through close collaboration with governments and organizations, DT Asia has accumulated a sophisticated and professional intelligence and resource network. The firm’s specialty in innovation and creativity, combined with its insightful perspective of the industry and the vast experience of its PR professionals, provides local and foreign enterprises with the best formula for success.

“Our eyewear is so distinct and unique, we do not need a logo to emphasise ourselves,” Vance smiles.

Sheila Vance, the internationally renowned eyewear designer and founder of Sama Eyewear, works with her husband, Ross Vance, towards one simple goal – to help as many children as they can. inMAGAZINE talks to the designer about her eyewear and her views on life. DESIGN ELEMENTS Loved by many royal members and Hollywood celebrities like Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sama Eyewear designs the world’s finest luxury fashion eyewear. Sheila Vance’s specially designed sunglasses are featured in dozens of blockbuster Hollywood films including “The Hours”, “Mission: Impossible III”, and “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”, and have helped build many iconic characters in Hollywood. All eyewear collections of Sama are handmade in Japan with the highest quality materials and most advanced production techniques as the designs are complicated and need precise execution. The uniqueness of Sama eyewear lies upon its quality, in which one of their newest collections, ‘Heart of Gold’, uses 24-carat gold and 18-carat white gold frames with Swarovski crystals. The company is also introducing a new edition to their ultra-premium luxury diamond sunglasses collection, which is made of the finest diamonds with a high-quality jewellery setting. “Our eyewear is so distinct and unique, we do not need a logo to emphasise ourselves,” Vance smiles. WOMEN VS MEN Designing sunglasses for men and women should not be the same. Vance says designing for women has fewer limitations as women wear vast colour combinations from fuchsia to charcoal to peony; they also wear an abundance of elements from snakeskin to titanium to feminine elements like feathers and pearls. For men, she focuses on masculine shapes, elements and colour combinations with distinctive and bold features. Vance summarises her own designs in three words: romantic, hope and luxury. Among other forms of accessories, why did Vance choose to specialise in eyewear design? From the moment she needed to wear prescription glasses, she decided she had to design fashionable eyewear. Vance believes eyewear is the must-have item in the world of fashion. “Eyeglasses finish the look!” she asserts. A pair of appropriate eyeglasses is an effective way to change a look. One can be younger, older, sexier or more mature with the right pair of glasses. For Vance, she has over 20 pairs of eyeglasses in her car, which allows her to easily create a new look for different occasions. With her already successful designs, Vance’s proudest achievement so far is when she sees many celebrities and other influential VIPs wearing Sama among the countless other brands on the market. Vance routinely attends and organises fashion shows in major markets as Paris, New York, Dubai and Italy - her next step? “I am hoping to organise a runway show to properly show looks to the elite in Hong Kong.” Sama eyewear from LensCrafters

Volkswagen XL1 Concept

The Volkswagen XL1 Concept is the car of the future. It looks futuristic enough, with its lack of a rear view mirror and sleeky design, complete with hidden rear wheels. Heck, it even looks like the Jetsons' family car. But what truly makes it the car of the future isn't its fancy gulf wing doors or Bugatti-like body kit. What makes it the car of the future is its outrageously green mileage. With just 0.9 litres of diesel, the machine will take you a whole 100 kilometres. That's about 10 times the average car.

Remember that song that goes "girls don't like boys/ girls like cars and money"? Well usually this isn't true. Usually... This might be an exception though; sexy, functional and environmentally-friendly.

To Lee, With Love, Nick

Tomorrow will be the first anniversary of Lee McQueen's tragic passing. Fashion house Alexander McQueen's driving force was a visionary and his bold designs drew the likes of Hollywood and beyond.

So as a little tribute to the designer, here's a snippet of To Lee, With Love, Nick, a short film by photographer Nick Knight, featuring Bjork.

La Blogotheque

If you're stuck on indie music, then you probably worship La Blogotheque. The French site and main man Vincent Moon have revolutionized the idea of the music video, by bringing bands into the streets and out of their comfort zones for stripped down performances, all caught by the La Blogotheque team's talented bunch of sound and camera folk.

One of their recent features is Southern California band Local Natives.

A bunch of good-looking guys, sleek camera work, amazing music and a stunning view of the streets of Paris; what more could you ask for?

www.blogotheque.net

2011 Superbowl Ads

The Superbowl was this past weekend, and although Green Bay brought home the gold, there's a wealth of laughs in the Superbowl commercials.

These 30 second to a minute spots sell for at least US$ 3 million, but regulars like Doritos, Budweiser and E-Trade come back every year with bigger and better ads aimed at your funny bone, and commercial time during the big game has become the Holy Grail of comedic and marketing genius.

My favourite this year is Volkswagen's Darth Vader commercial.

Spoiler alert! The idea is simple: kid dressed as Darth Vader tries out 'the force' but can't seem to work his jedi powers. Dad comes home in the new Volkswagen Passat, and just for kicks, humours the kid, who can't believe that he just used his mind to power the Passat. It's great; very very funny.

Lanvin F/W 2011/12

Lanvin puts a modern twist on the cowboy look in their latest Fall/Winter collection. Wide-brimmed hats, interesting outerwear and turtlenecks worn under collared shirts all contribute to the 'wild wild west' feel of the collection, and intricate tailoring is perfectly paired with rugged elements like boots and leather gloves for the sexy, dangerous James Bond vibe.

(images via coutequecoute)

Katy Perry Collection by OPI

Part of every girl's Teenage Dream is to always have a great manicure. Having pretty fingers makes us feel like Fireworks and although we might be stuck at work, one glance at our nails and it's almost like we are California Girls Waking Up in Vegas.

Her five-colour collection is exactly what you'd expect from the vivacious singer, who's known to heat up the red carpet with outrageous outfits covered in anything from sequins to feathers to lace.

Teenage Dream is a bright glittery pink, sure to match your cherry chapstick, Not Like the Movies is an alluring silver, and Last Friday Night is an electric blue with electrifying glitter. There's also The One That Got Away, which is a dark magenta, perfect for those dress-up nights, and Black Shatter, a revolutionary new top coat that creates a cracked pattern resembling a wild leopard print.

Eat Drink Tea(R), bioactive Pu'er essence; at the forefront of the new health movement

Renowned food connoisseur Chua Lam just underwent a balloon angioplasty procedure late last year, but even with a New Year approaching, he still holds onto his love of unhealthy foods and has no plans to change. In fact, Mr. Chua wouldn’t even entertain the thought of reducing the intake of his favourite fatty foods and joked: “as long as we eat whatever we want, the new year will be a happy one,” staying true to his food-loving nature.

Chua Lam, whom from young acquired his love of cooking with pig’s oil as the essential ingredient, coined the phrase “猪油美味“, which translated, means ‘pig’s oil is the epitome of good taste’. He jokes that in the heart of all old food enthusiasts is the love of lard and reiterated by saying that pig’s oil symbolises a good start to the New Year, and cannot be foregone in the celebrations.

“A lot of my good friends are worried about me. But it’s difficult to enjoy food, yet eat healthy. I’ve always believed in the benefits of drinking pu’er tea and its ability to rid our digestive systems of excess oil, and I recently discovered Eat Drink Tea® - bioactive Pu'er essence, which is suitable for my food-loving lifestyle. Earlier, I joined Amanda S and the director of Eat Drink Tea®, Mr. Simon Cheng, for some tea tasting and found the product very much to my liking,” he said, “It has 8 times the polyphenols than in regular pu’er tea, and it is even easy to carry around; incredibly convenient for someone like me, who is constantly on the move.”

These days, many do not understand what truly constitutes ‘tea drinking’. Chua Lam explains that it has origins in the language of ancient China, and to “go tea drinking” actually means to “go eat tea”, emphasizing the Chinese tradition of appreciating tea completely by both eating and drinking.

Cheerfully dishing out some New Year’s advice, Chua Lam said that in this especially cold and bitter winter season, the best way to celebrate Lunar New Year is to gather around the fire, drinking tea and enjoying the company of close friends.

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