For people in the creative industry, passion is a huge—if not predominate—part of why we do what we do. Whether it is storytelling through words and images, like us here at Tatler Hong Kong, or through unapologetically raw and abstract photography that challenges the way we think about women, our sexuality and agency, like photographer Marilyn Minter, whose thought-provoking work will be presented at Art Basel Hong Kong 2024.

Every year on International Women’s Day I am so happy to see the progress we’ve made towards greater gender equality and mutual respect—but that’s always immediately followed by the thought: “We still have such a long way to go.” This week’s stories perfectly encapsulate this duality. For example, we are having so many more conversations now about pregnancy, postpartum and motherhood; and women artists are using their craft to tell stories from devastating times in world history. However, if we look at a study on the state of gender inclusion in Asia Pacific, it shows that “APAC alone has witnessed female labour force participation in the region drop by nearly 10 percent between 1990 and 2021.”

Other newsletter highlights this week:

• Members of the Tatler community unite in celebration of International Women's Day and share why this day (still) holds such importance.
• With Mercury moving into Aries next week, Tatler’s astrologer Casey Chan explains what it means for each star sign.
• Cheeses Christ, this might make you blue, but brie and camembert are facing extinction.
• Messika founder and artistic director Valerie Messika tells us why her jewellery is “not meant to be kept in a safe”.

As a woman who is where I am today because I’ve been able to stand on the shoulders of other women, I urge you to embrace, honour and celebrate the women in your life today and every day. To the women in my life: thank you for what you’ve done for me, and I love that I’m in a place where I can pay it forward. To our wonderful Tatler readers and community, here’s to International Women’s Day and a happy Friday!

Heidi Yeung
Digital Editor

In honour of International Women’s Day, members of the Tatler Community came together to honour the remarkable strength and accomplishments of women from all around the world. 

From Anne Wang-Liu and Feiping Chang to men allies like Chibo Tang and Edwin Pun—here they share with us what makes them feel powerful and who their female inspirations are.

READ HERE

Oscar-nominated Chinese director Siqi Song talks to Tatler about her short film in the She Creates Change series, an initiative that showcases how young women in Asia and Africa are empowering themselves.

Song’s short film, titled Dewmini, is one of the six stories in the project, and the film series will air on Discovery Asia, TLC and Discovery+ on March 8, 15 and 22 across several countries in Asia.

READ HERE

Valerie Messika, the daughter of diamond merchant André Messika, is the founder and artistic director of Messika who created the luxury brand when she was 22 years old.

Tatler talks to the founder and artistic director during her first visit to Hong Kong in six years about how the Parisian jeweller has been challenging itself in the contemporary jewellery scene since 2005.

READ MORE

Delicate sticks of satay a tenth of their actual size lay on a grill, tins of milo smaller than your thumb, and plastic containers of air bandung grace a metal table, while matchsticks of youtiao sizzle in woks of hot oil.

Tatler talks to Eric Siow, the soft-spoken miniaturist about his insanely detailed gastronomical creations.

READ HERE

A recent study led by Asia Gender Network members Radha Goenka and Kathleen Chew revealed the state of gender inclusion in Asia Pacific, how far we still have to go and some strategies for the future.

According to the study, “East Asia will need another 189 years to achieve gender equality, while South Asia will need 149 years to close this gap.”

READ HERE