The Art Of Being Graceful

The pandemic has forced us to cancel our beloved annual ball, but it isn’t stopping us from celebrating our 2020 award winners. Crystal Lee catches up with the recipient of the Prestige Style Award, GRACE CHNG, and ponders if style is something one can cultivate.

- Crystal Lee

Style is elusive. Like love, it’s easy to recognise but difficult to define. It goes beyond a person’s aesthetic choices, manifesting in the ways one talks, moves, or does anything for that matter.

Grace Chng is a woman of style. As a former model and a model trainer, that’s hardly a surprise. Sitting with her at The St. Regis’ The Drawing Room feels like a scene out of a Hong Kong TV show. Yes, the setting is palatial and movie-worthy, but it’s Grace’s star-quality presence that made our tête-à-tête seem like a dreamy affair.

She has on a short denim shirt dress, cinched at the waist with a simple fabric buckle belt to create a flattering peplum silhouette, bejewelled sneakers, an oversized floral appliqué ring and a diamond-encrusted watch with a canary-yellow strap. Her glossy shoulder-grazing hair is swept into a loose low ponytail. Her make-up, flawless.

It didn’t matter whether she was wearing Zara or Gucci, Grace looks purposefully and impeccably put together, as if for the camera. Her eyes sparkle when she speaks. She gestures frequently and – may I say – gracefully during our conversations. Even the way she adjusts her skirt and repositions herself on the armchair has an air of refinement. Yet, there’s no snobbery about Grace. She’s warm and welcoming, like a hostess with the mostest. But when I ask if she threw parties, she says no, with a shy smile that whispered a quiet, private side.

HER OWN WOMAN