ifc mall opens doors; we pride ourselves on being the first in all aspects of life.

“First Fashion” This year, we had the opportunities to give our shoppers many different ‘firsts’ and it is our philosophy to continue to do so. We bring you the crème de la crème of cutting edge style.

“First Lifestyle” We want you to live long, and to live well. That’s why we’ve flown in international chefs to delight your palates with exclusively prepared dishes. And what is life without good health? This is your one-stop shop for all the best, health-boosting ingredients, so you can indulge yourself at home too.

“First Culture” Widen your horizons and nurture your mind with the wonder of shopping and museum culture combined. As a pioneer in bringing museum- quality exhibition experience into a shopping mall, this year we are delighted to bring you the inspiring Baby Mammoth Exhibition. Kids and adults alike came again and again for these extraordinary experiences, witnessing the lives of the Great Hairy Mammoth and the whirlwind journey 40,000 years back through the Ice Age.

Originality and uniqueness are keys in creating the ifc mall visit. Whether it’s your first visit or your hundredth, you’ll be sure to discover something new every time.

First Fashion

Hong Kong: an ever-changing landscape, bursting with eclectic creativity and decadence, the perfect showcase for new ventures and ideas. This season, try something different and take your pick from all the new brands flocking to Hong Kong for the first time. It’s easy to be a chameleon in this city of lights- dress down in a baby-soft tee by American Vintage, or drape yourself in edgy art nouveau jewels from Solange Azagury-Partridge. Freshen up your home with a new spring outlook, lighting up corners with fragranced diptyque candles flown all the way from Paris, and dab your wrists and neck with all natural herb based perfumes from Santa Maria Novella.

Live Well

At ifc mall, everyone has access to the most current fashion and lifestyle trends so it’s easy to update your style day by day. It’s much the same with food-have you thought about adapting what you eat to your new current lifestyle? Do you eat to live, or live to eat? Supreme gastronomical choices surround us ever increasingly; it’d be a sin not to indulge yourself. GREYHOUND Café presents a unique style-focused eating experience, where contemporary Thai dishes are plated with quirky design touches. Forgo the usual rock-hard, dry popcorn fare for flavoursome, light alternatives at Garrett Popcorn Shops^®. How do you take your tea? Tea connoisseurs will rejoice to hear that the in-store brewers stick to meticulous methods to create their refined tea. There’s no shortage of variety. Sip a cup at the lavishly furnished TWG Tea, or take home a loose-leaf concoction to savour yourself in the comfort of your own home, sip an Amo Eno red wine in its uniquely designed glass for the perfect ending to a busy day.

They’ve inspired incredible cave paintings as the subjects of art by the very first human beings to roam the earth-and now, thousands of years later, you too can be inspired by the story of the great woolly mammoth, a creature that most of us human beings have never seen. Come with us on a journey through time with ifc mall to discover the events that plunged into the extraordinary Ice Age. You’ll be able to see with your own eyes how the amazing Nenets discovered the frozen baby mammoth Lyuba in Siberia, hidden under 40,000 years of snow and ice.

In a step by step process, see the woolly mammoth come back to life as historians and explorers go to the depths of the tundra and piece together the memories of Lyuba’s short life through fossil findings, sketches and real-life samples. Lyuba herself will be on display, alongside huge 2-storey high mammoth skeleton and skulls from other now unfortunately extinct animals of the Ice Age. How similar are elephants and humans? Why were all the woolly mammoths wiped out? How big are baby mammoths? All your questions can be answered here - truly an experience for the curious.

For the last 30 years, Ulrik Garde Due repositioned some of the world's biggest English and French luxury brands – names like BURBERRY, for example – while working across continents, but when the opportunity arose to lead Georg Jensen, a Scandinavian luxury lifestyle brand from his native Denmark – and a brand he grew up with – Garde Due took the honour with pride.

Taking the helm of CEO in late 2007, Garde Due had one goal in mind: to bring Denmark's well-known hospitality to the brand. "I want to make the Georg Jensen shops as accommodating to a customer as possible. I want them to feel like a guest inside my home," he says.

That idea has been put in place in all of Georg Jensen's stores, but none more so than the first Hong Kong concept shop at ifc that opened last year. Dubbed "A Danish Home", featuring gorgeous wooden floors, slatted larch wood walls and ceiling panels – a trait of traditional Scandinavian homes – this store is perhaps the centerpiece to an aggressive global expansion that also includes a new store in Russia and the expansion of another in Singapore.

Indeed, this is a big year for Georg Jensen. The brand's Masterpiece collection – a line of silver kitchenware that exuberates the brand's timeless designs – is being expanded, with new designs that will be a blend of new and old. Not sticking solely to tradition is something Garde Due learned from his experience in the industry, working for major brands across multiple continents. One of the reasons Georg Jensen has been such a success in the past few years – especially in Asia, where the brand launched shops in Tokyo and Shanghai – is because Garde Due has found the right balance between tradition and innovation.

"Every one of our craftsmen knows our archives like the back of their hands. We have a respect for the past, but with an eye to the future. And the future right now is in the Hong Kong market." In addition to being affable, Garde Due is a master of studying market trends. He has taken his experience worldwide, along with an analysis of the Asian market, to build a brand that has great appeal in a metropolis like Hong Kong.

"I think consumers in Hong Kong appreciate high quality and good design, and they're willing to pay the price if the design and craftsmanship are of high standard," Garde Due says. "And that's what we offer here at Georg Jensen."

"The international clientele at ifc is crucial too," he says. "ifc, like Hong Kong, is a mix of all worlds and culture," says Garde Due. "I hope we've done a good job of bringing Denmark's culture here."

Over the past four decades, fashion brand Reiss has been a successful and respected label, growing from a single store in Bishopsgate, London to a worldwide operation with over 100 stores. But it wasn’t until last May, when Kate Middleton, the fashion-savvy Duchess of Cambridge, was photographed in a cream-coloured Reiss dress during her visit to the White House, did the brand turn into a buzzworthy, household name worldwide.

“People knew of our brand before,” says David Reiss, owner of the brand. “But Kate pushed it to another level.” Reiss’ phone ran nonstop the next few weeks, with everyone in the fashion industry and media interested in the dress. “I think, aside from the design and the look of the dress, it got so much publicity because of the price,” Reiss says. “Here is Kate Middleton, British royalty and perhaps the most photographed woman in the world, wearing a dress that costs about $250 to $300 US dollars.” Affordable luxury, as he calls it, is what sets the Reiss brand apart, and what has made Reiss a success the past few decades.

Having celebrated its 40th anniversary and with brand exposure at an all time high, Reiss figured it was the perfect time for an aggressive global expansion, which started last December when the brand opened its first UK managed flagship store at ifc with Reiss having direct input from the store concept to its birth. “Asia is the key market, and I felt that, to expand globally and internationally, ifc is a prime location to spearhead the movement,” he says.

O“Hong Kong is such an energised, vibrant environment that I knew we had to match it with our store,” Reiss says. “Retail isn’t just about the products, but something I’d like to call retail theatre – it has to be filled with energy and excitement.” For 2012, Reiss figures to continue pushing the trend.

Reiss explains that his brand of clothing operates on a pyramid structure. “Every collection must have a stable piece, a piece that people can see and associate with the brand right away,” he says. “So 45 percent of our line will always be a core piece, something with the Reiss DNA. Another 30-35 percent of the line focuses on the latest seasonal trends – essentially what is “in”. Then finally, the last 20 or so percent, we want to push for something unique, something different, something that provides individuality.” It’s a formula he’s stuck to since taking over the business from his father, David, in 1973.

“I believe that in business and in life, the key is to always look forward,” he says. “Never look back, always move ahead – I’m already planning my next move in Hong Kong.”

What is the secret to revealing the windows of a brand’s soul? The visual merchandisers-the eyes. From fine-tuning the aesthetics of the mannequins to creating fantastical conceptual landscapes, a visual merchandiser’s job is to dazzle and inspire the customer's imagination with their window displays, inviting them into the stores. Visual merchandisers know that first impressions are also lasting impressions. We speak to some of the most creative members of the Visual Merchandising industry and ask them to share some of their secrets with us.

BOSS Black from HUGO BOSS

Joe Chau - Senior Visual Merchandising Manager

Giuseppe Zanotti Design

Kevin Weng

Brunello Cucinelli

Francis Leung - Visual Merchandising Manager-HK/China

on Natalie
BOSS Black pink jacket (HK$6,150)
BOSS Black pink trousers (HK$3,150)
BOSS Black goatskin shoes (HK$5,550)

on Alexis
Ermenegildo Zegna navy double-breasted wool jacket (HK$18,300)
Ermenegildo Zegna red striped cotton shirt (HK$3,700)
Ermenegildo Zegna navy wool pants (HK$7,400)
Ermenegildo Zegna red/blue/white striped silk tie (HK$1,800)
Ermenegildo Zegna black calf leather belt (Price TBC)
Ermenegildo Zegna white calf leather briefcase (HK$10,100)
Ermenegildo Zegna black calf leather lace-up shoes (Price TBC)

Styling liu kin wai, but waiting
Photography fung kwok fai
Model natalie & alexis @ primo
Makeup & Hair evelyn ho

on Natalie
ESCADA and ESCADA SPORT shirt dress in nude (HK$4,500)
ESCADA and ESCADA SPORT patent belt (HK$2,100)
on Alexis
LANVIN-Men cross-dyed jacket (HK$13,700)
LANVIN-Men two-fabric navy blue cross-dyed jacket (HK$13,700)
LANVIN-Men navy blue cross-dyed trousers (HK$9,200)

ETRO coral pink silk dress (HK$11,900)
repetto ballet shoes in saumon (HK$699)

on Natalie
TORY BURCH linen striped jersey shirt in tamarind with peony print lamé dickie (HK$2,180) (the above item is not for sale in HK)
on Alexis
agnès b. LA LOGGIA ecru double-breasted linen jacket (HK$5,590)
agnès b. LA LOGGIA patterned silk scarf (HK$1,690)
GIVENCHY white shirt from Lane Crawford (HK$3,590)

on Natalie
CÉLINE yellow top (HK$8,900)
ALAЇA black patterned pencil skirt (HK$9,900) (all from Lane Crawford)
on Alexis Prada
beige jacket (HK$16,200)
Prada beige pants (HK$5,400)
Prada brown patterned scarf (HK$1,900)
GIVENCHY white shirt (HK$3,590) from Lane Crawford

on Natalie
BURBERRY magenta pink folded front silk dress (HK$7,700)
on Alexis
BURBERRY camel wool and cashmere contrast undercollar overcoat (HK$15,500)
BURBERRY pale barley merino wool check shoulder v-neck sweater (HK$3,600)

on Natalie
VALENTINO white dress (HK$78,000)
VALENTINO white belt (HK$4,600)
on Alexis
VALENTINO brown shirt (HK$3,600)
VALENTINO brown pants (HK$3,900)

on Natalie
ROBERTO CAVALLI one shoulder red silk dress (HK$11,995)
on Alexis
MARC JACOBS navy blue jacket (HK$12,900)
MARC JACOBS blue shirt (HK$3,890)
MARC JACOBS denim pants (HK$4,590)
(all from Lane Crawford)

on Natalie
Salvatore Ferragamo red leopard print jumpsuit (HK$27,900)
on Alexis
Salvatore Ferragamo khaki jacket (HK$26,900)
Salvatore Ferragamo off-white shirt (HK$4,800)

From left
imm. Living Inc. stopper (HK$220) from Lane Crawford
imm. Living Inc. opener (HK$280) from Lane Crawford
Mikimoto graduated necklace set (HK$43,300)
diptyque Feuille de Lavande mini candle (HK$280/70g)
Santa Maria Novella Elisir di Rose 500ml (HK$600)
diptyque Roses mini candle (HK$280/70g)
Tiffany & Co. Victoria earrings with marquise diamonds in platinum (HK$46,400)
Tiffany Locks bangle in sterling silver with round brilliant diamonds (HK$4,650)
Tiffany Locks bangle in 18k rose gold with round brilliant diamonds (HK$35,000)
LALIQUE New York picture holder (HK$6,800)
Reichenbach two birds(HK$1,600) from Lane Crawford
Swarovski crystalline box (HK$1,260)
diptyque Freesia mini candle (HK$280/70g)
Amo Eno The Ö1 2+2 GLASSES by L'ORFEVRERIE D'ANJOU (HK$1,888)
Dymocks Simple Stunning Bride by Karen Bussen (HK$340)

From left
BeoLab 2 Loud Speaker HK$31,900
BeoLab 9 Speaker in Orange HK$91,000
BeoVision 7-55 HD TV HK$142,000
TV Floor Stand HK$18,000
BeoLab 7-6 Loud Speaker HK$40,700 (all from BANG & OLUFSEN)

Top
VideoWave™ Entertainment System HK$44,000 from BOSE^®
Bottom left
XQ50c KEF 3-way Centre Speaker with Uni-Q HK$7,300 from AV Life
Bottom right
XQ40 KEF 3-way Floor Stand Speaker with Uni-Q HK$21,800 from AV Life

Remember those Christmas days when you were little and dreamed of meeting Santa at the North Pole? How times have changed. Just last year, our very own Winter Wonderland arrived at Oval Atrium. Clouds of floating cubes inscribed with wishes written by the Hong Kong public populated the area, together with a four-metre Santa Claus carrying the collected wishes, skating his way to shower these festive cheers to everyone, blessing them a dream come true. A glittering Winter Wonderland awaited lucky families, couples and children, completed with a one-of-a-kind ice rink and exclusive musical performances.

There was much to see as well: Santa Claus took to the stage alongside Bjorn the Polar Bear, overseas acrobatic skaters and dancers, to brighten the festival with the "A Christmas Wish" musical performance. Audiences were urged to give back as Bjorn also hailed an important message from the North Pole, telling us that the future of the White Christmas was at stake due to the deterioration of the ecosystem. Local choirs joined in on the festivities too, spreading yuletide and cheer all around with their daily caroling. Georg Jensen's Christmas redemption gift was also well-received by shoppers, who fully reveled in the season of giving and receiving.

Lunar New Year brings prosperity, longevity and luck, and this Year of the Dragon was exceptionally special due to its auspicious properties. Shoppers were charmed by the delicate Jiangsu “Garden of Fortune”, which was laid out to recreate the Chinese character for Fortune, offering unparalleled blessings to visitors. Traditional red lanterns glowed from high up across the ceiling, bathing the whole atrium in a bright radiance, where all stores were celebrating the occasion with Lunar New Year themed gifts and paraphernalia. People led their loved elderly relatives and tiny toddlers along the blessed flying bats “Five Fortune” stone overlay, excited that fortune might come to them soon. And of course the celebrations wouldn’t be complete without a ceremonial dance; the crowds were pulled in by the mesmerising dragon and lions, who danced in traditional energetic style to ring in the new year. All these spectacles were shown right inside the heart of the mall. During this period shoppers were also treated to a special OREGON SCIENTIFIC Aroma Diffuser, giving them the opportunity to bring the dragon year fortune home with them from ifc mall.

La Prairie opened a grand exhibition arena showcasing 70 years of La Prairie’s skincare. Spokespeople from the skincare brand as well as socialites were there to celebrate the unveiling of the new ifc store, which included an in-house skin consultation area and a full range of La Prairie products.

Renowned actor Mr. Shawn Yue was the first in Asia to own a pair of the exclusive SPECIAL EDITION Tramazza hand-made shoes- presented by Mr. Ferruccio Ferragamo himself during a six-day extravaganza that included a VIP cocktail reception and a shoe- making exhibition.

What happens when an ultra-versatile lifestyle icon marries a traditional luxury leather fashion house? Michael Wong and Giorgio Fedon brought to you the “MW Michael Wong by Giorgio Fedon 1919” collection - a collaboration of exclusive, highly detailed and performance orientated pieces, designed only for the most adventurous and the bold. The buttery soft leather bags are multi-functional as well as beautiful, capturing the aesthetic and essence of MW Michael Wong by Giorgio Fedon 1919.

Scores of elegant ladies were invited to make like ballerinas in this fanciful display of handmade repetto ballet shoes earlier at the launch. The Oval Atrium- transformed into a ballet performance arena for the night, with polished brass railings and hardwood floors in place - played host to a bevvy of graceful dancers and performers who showed off repetto's latest collection. Gigi Leung, Amanda S. and Mandy Lieu all presented the simple, classic and longlasting designs, which captured the heart and soul of every aspiring ballerina- and lady- that night.

Singer Terence Yin graced BOSS Orange along with musician Jun Kung, to celebrate the first anniversary of the store’s opening. The toast of the town- Chrissie Chau, Daniel Wu, Chet Lam- were all out in full force to watch the spectacular, intimate live performance and to enjoy the orange themed finger food.

With the anticipation of summer comes the arrival of the rainy season. What essential item can tide us through the stormy weather? A humble pair of rain boots, of course. But this is no ordinary boot- AIGLE has been producing the sturdy rubber boots for 160 years and has proved popular with people from all over the world. Following its international debuts, AIGLE landed in ifc mall to present its latest collection “AIGLE: Savoir Faire, Savoir Vivre” with workshop articles shipped all the way from Châtellerault, France. Visitors were inspired by AIGLE’s original boot model designs and were able to explore a giant wooden boot, installed as a cabin feature.