Style Edit: Chanel’s Hong Kong fireside chat to discuss all things time – and the J12

Understanding time, as all three unanimously agreed at the fireside chat hosted jointly by Chanel and lifestyle magazine Monocle on April 30, is another story entirely. Though Mak, Ng and Haughey each described personal challenges unique to their journeys – from time spent pondering purpose and persistence while battling a bout of writer’s block, to time that races by during long hours doing laps in the pool – the trio shared similar sentiments about how precious, finite and underestimated time as a resource really is. “Time changes what you create,” Mak mused. Though we do our best to measure it by the minute, time continues to fascinate, confound and even elude us. “When I wrote at night, my stories were darker. Now I write in the day and the light changes everything.”

Exploring this idea of softness as strength and vice versa, Haughey discussed how going with the flow, embracing that flexibility, and simply doing her best when it comes to making the most of her time, have been key to her evolution as an athlete. “When I swim my best, I’m not thinking,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m completely calm – everything feels natural, like the water and I are moving together.”

Balancing the many competing forces at play in making a satisfying movie has been an overarching theme defining Mak’s career – not too different from the alchemy that goes into making the perfect timepiece. Describing time as both an enemy and muse of his creative process, the filmmaker deftly illustrated how using one’s time wisely is purely subjective; Sons of the Neon Night took him over 13 years to bring to life. “[Creativity is] a long conversation with yourself,” he said, adding that the perfect take feels like “time itself holding its breath”, making all the long hours spent worth it.