GIVING BACK IN STYLE

As The Melium Group gears up for its 35th anniversary Charity Auction in 2024, we speak to founder and president Dato' Sri Dr Farah Khan and Natasha Kraal, Publisher of BurdaLuxury, and discover a visionary leader, a partnership with purpose, and an unwavering and collective commitment to philanthropy.

- Andrea Wong

There are people who seem larger-than-life almost, their presence felt the moment they walk into a room. It’s palpable, an energy they emanate before they even speak. Dato’ Sri Dr Farah Khan pretty much leads that cohort. It’s not just because of the definitive strides she’s made in the business of fashion here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia over the last 35 years, or the accolades she’s accumulated, but because of her indomitable spirit. “Oh, I don’t know about indomitable,” she laughs in true modest fashion.

As founder and president of The Melium Group, the luxury fashion retail group that introduced to Malaysia brands such as Givenchy, TOD’s, Roger Vivier, Max Mara and MCM, alongside many other thoughtfully curated designer labels, she’s built a company that’s survived multiple global economic crises and a pandemic that brought the world to a complete halt. “It was unprecedented, the Covid crisis. Every day of those months and years was unnerving, fraught with tension, uncertainty. All I knew, all that kept me going, was that there were people relying on me, on my will to get up every day, get dressed and move on. We made some tough management decisions, we tightened our belts and literally did all we could to survive.”