1. A.P.C. x Vanessa Seward printed silk dress. $915 from Front Row. 

2. Jimmy Choo buckled heels. $1,125 from Jimmy Choo.

3. Comme des Garcons eau de toilette. $149 from Comme des Garcons

4. Polka-dotted Yayoi Kusama cushions. $480 each from Museum of Art & Design

5. McQ t-shirt with back print. $230 from Club 21b

6. Current/Elliot denim jeans. $309 from Inhabit The Other Store.

7. Red and white Bernstock Speirs straw hats. $230 each from Club 21b.

Tell us about your training sessions.
Helena Wong: I train up to six times a week. Prior to the run-up of a major competition, I would train up to twice a day.
Dipna Lim Prasad: I train six days a week. My training programs are a mix of track and gym workouts. I also practice hurdling every single training session.
Geraldine Lim: I train 11 sessions a week and have recently returned from a three-week training camp in Hungary.

How would you rate your chances at the games?
Wong: My current personal (combined) best stands at 153 kg. The current world record for women’s 53 kg stands at 230kg; set by China’s Li Ping in 2010. It’s a long shot for me to get to the Olympics podium, but I am not relenting or giving up. 
Prasad: It’s important to not pressure yourself at any competition. I’ve been training hard and through breaking the 100m hurdles national record, I hope my time at the games will reflect that.
Lim: I think the chances of me getting past the heats into the semi-finals are pretty slim. However, I will do my very best. It’d be a bonus if I proceed to the next round.

What can we do to improve our overall rankings?
Wong: The sport has been seeing more participation from a broad spectrum of enthusiasts, from students, PMEBs and even professionals. What’s even more encouraging is the weightlifters are getting younger.
Prasad: On an individual basis: through hard work, discipline and doing all that with heart.
Lim: I hope we can increase the culture in Singapore in a way that sports can become a part of everyone’s life from an early age.

Jim Morrison once said, “The future is uncertain but the end is always near.” Such is the fatalistic nature of time seen through the eyes of the legendary American singer-songwriter-poet and frontman of rock band The Doors, who remains a source of inspiration for aspiring artists all over the world today.

In a similar vein, American artist-scenographer-filmmaker-poet Hilton McConnico explores the fragility and transient nature of time through his installation-based exhibition The Gift of Time, held at the Tanjong Pagar railway station in collaboration with luxury fashion brand Hermès. “Time is filled with fragments of everyday life. Simple things. Memories. Childhood. And it’s that emotion which is alive in each one of us,” he says. “Time is a circle.”

McConnico’s poetic and dreamy installations, set in different rooms within the unconventional space, charts the history and evolution of the Hermès brand through “a series of sensory discoveries and an imaginary experience because life is that way.

He adds, “Sometimes the room that follows is in harmony with the last one but most of the time I try to make it unexpected. A unity of color or theme might give us a feeling of déjà-vu.”

According to the artist, the connecting thread that brings these rooms together is their differences. A colored room may be followed by its complementary, whereas a dark room followed by a light one can give you a shock when you are in search of a certain harmony. In fact, it’s a series of “intentions that gives the illusion of an unwinding phenomenon.”

This explains some of the more ambiguous and surrealist-inspired pieces such as the two hanging horse heads set in a blood red-drenched room installation or another with a parrot in a cage. The works are displayed alongside some of Hermes’ most coveted bags like the Birkin—making them equally random, beautiful and suitably dark.

Part of the exhibition’s charm also lies in its venue. “We chose the railway station so that visitors can travel into the heart and emotion of Hermès time at a space which itself is embellished by time and movement,” explains Alli Sim, press and communication attachée at Hermès.

That emotion is translated into some of the most defining moments in art and McConnico sums up his philosophically thought-out pieces as an “imaginary trip into the heart of darkness.”

He adds, “With a bit of luck it will take us into a spiral of dreams projecting us into memories of childhood. The path of the exhibition is like a loop starting all over again.”

The Gift of Time is on through August 12 at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.

You know guys here take fashion very seriously when they don jackets to the clubs (or even hawker centers). Fad or otherwise, the preppy look most recently inspired by Mad Men has never been more popular, with two new bespoke men’s boutiques opening at Ann Siang Hill in the past six months.

Enter the newly minted Swagger which just opened last month, although the store took two years to set up. “We wanted to get the formula right before we opened,” says its marketing manager Bryant Tang. “We spent as much time traveling and researching, sourcing the globe to bring unique brands and products that are rare or produced in limited quantities, but are incredibly well made and affordably priced.”

What you will find in the store is a carefully curated selection of apparel, leather goods, accessories, literature, vintage collectibles and grooming products that are “distinctive or have a deep heritage,” says Tang.

Highlights include the Raleigh Denim Workshop jeans imported from the US, bearing a hand-stamped edition number on each pair and customized details on the inside pockets ($369), and the handmade leather Wood & Faulk bags and belts ($329 upwards) by American founder-designer Matt Pierce.

But men come here primarily to make a suit (made from Italian wool fabrics, available from $1,200) or shoes. A pair of made-to-measure leather shoes is priced from $650 and you can customize it from a range of leathers and finishing, with four lasts to choose from.

Just across from Swagger is Finespun Clothiers, another one-stop destination for men seeking bespoke tailoring services, shoe customization and readymade prêt-à-porter labels. The four-month-old establishment founded by Caroline Yak uses only fabrics from renowned English and European mills for its bespoke pieces. It also just launched a new range of one-off shirts ($220 each) that make great statement pieces.

After soaking up different experiences overseas, Yak returned to Singapore to embark on this bespoke boutique journey. “I’ve been surrounded with textiles since young. Our family business begun with trading suiting fabric, evolved into shirting fabric and eventually in sourcing and manufacturing,” says Yak. “I’ve always been fascinated with the finer details in menswear: Creating and redefining traditions with an edgier flair, sealed with artisanal tailored finishing.”

The result: Affordable shirts off the rack from $220 and an exclusive range of shirts that bears Yak’s care and attention to detail with variation in texture, weight and cut (from $1,800). On top of an array of ties, bow-ties and pocket squares ($65 upwards), you can also get bespoke loafers ($800 upwards) made from fine European leather by experienced European craftsmen, which take about three to four weeks to complete.

Yak sums up our fascination with all things bespoke best: “Individualism is the dress of thoughts as it allows the clients to reveal their innate [taste]. Le style c’est l’homme même (The style is the man himself).”

Other boutiques offering bespoke clothes:

Kevin Seah
Apart from handcrafted tailored menswear, the boutique also carries a small selection of vintage Cazal and Nackymade eyewear and Lodger shoes.

CYC The Custom Shop
Customize a shirt from just $109 here. Regular ones are also available from $89.