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" When cultural movements happen, it's so beyond your control. "
Kevin Kwan
Control
Happen
Your
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" I have pictures of my grandmother from the 1920s and '30s in avant-garde dresses that looked like they could have come from the House of Worth or Lucien Lelong. She would never say if they were couture, but I do recall her telling me, 'All my clothes and shoes came from Paris.' "
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" It's human nature when you first make your big fortune to want to show off a bit. I don't begrudge that whatsoever. "
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" There are old-money Asians that would never be caught dead with a Chanel handbag or sporting anything that has a label it. "
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" I moved to New York and went to art school at Parsons School of Design. Became a photographer. Became a creative consultant. "
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Creative
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New York
" As a child, I didn't even realize I was Chinese. I was Singaporean, but my identity was wrapped up in the culture I was experiencing every day. "
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" The idea of Asian ascendancy has entered public culture. "
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" I've always been drawn to the Edwardian period in England. To me, it seems like such a fascinating time, when the British Empire was at the height of its powers and the strict mores of the Victorian age were dissipating into the decadence of King Edward's reign. "
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King
Age
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" My father went to boarding school in Sydney when he was 14. "
Kevin Kwan
He
Sydney
Boarding
" They say truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, but there's such a thing as believability when you're writing a novel. "
Kevin Kwan
Writing
Truth Is
Than
" I came from a family of extremely old money, and so by the time I was born, there was really just a trickle of money left. "
Kevin Kwan
Family
Time
Born
" I love romantic comedies more than anything. "
Kevin Kwan
Anything
Love
More
" I do believe that peoples' natures can be changed, and they have to be changed if we want to live in this modern world and be a part of it. "
Kevin Kwan
Modern
World
Want
" I come from an old establishment family from Singapore. "
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Come
Family
Old
" I sort of wanted to reveal this other side of Asia: Southeast Asia, where the Chinese have been wealthy for generations and have different ways of relating to money. I wanted to sort of reveal this world to readers. "
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World
Reveal
Side
" My father came from old money. There was less of an expectation for the children to earn a living. "
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Father
Children
Old
" The China Rich seem to be spending on a scale that's just beyond anything we've ever seen before. They are building and buying an insane amount of luxury residences around the world, commissioning huge flying palaces from Boeing, and paying ridiculous amounts for art. "
Kevin Kwan
Rich
Art
Building
" I've recently rediscovered Anthony Trollope. I used to read him back in college, and a friend turned me on to a whole new series of his work, 'The Palliser Series.' It's a series of seven or eight books. "
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Back
Work
Me
" At least when it comes to food, there's no snobbery in Singapore. "
Kevin Kwan
Singapore
Snobbery
Food
" Every family is a crazy family. "
Kevin Kwan
Family
Crazy
Every
" I have a photographic memory. "
Kevin Kwan
Photographic
Memory
" I remember I had an aunt that lived in a house that had this beautiful ceramic wall that was entirely a painting of a peacock. "
Kevin Kwan
Painting
House
Beautiful
" A lot of the people who live the lives of 'Crazy Rich Asians' don't see the humour of their lives simply because this is just who they are. Even though I'm from that part of the world, I'm no longer part of that world. "
Kevin Kwan
Crazy
World
See
" There's so much emphasis on the economic might of China, of Southeast Asia, Asian 'Super Tigers' and things like that. But nobody was really looking from the perspective of a family story, of these individuals. "
Kevin Kwan
Story
Perspective
Looking
" I grew up at a time in Singapore - the '70s and '80s - where it was still possible to go riding around the island barefoot. And I was one of these kids that was just climbing trees and running around the neighbourhood. "
Kevin Kwan
Island
Possible
Riding
" All Americans knew was 'The Joy Luck Club' and children of dry cleaners trying to assimilate. The Asia that I was seeing was a world of people who are incredibly sophisticated, and I wanted to represent that side. "
Kevin Kwan
People
Joy
World
" My mother likes to say that I was conceived to shop - not just born to shop. My whole life as a child was following her and her sister and friends around on her shopping trips. "
Kevin Kwan
Child
Life
Mother
" In Singapore, there may be 50 old-money families, but you wouldn't know them to look at them. "
Kevin Kwan
You
Them
Singapore
" I wanted to explore what all this new-found wealth means for the different generations of Chinese who have to live together in this place that is transforming at warp speed into the richest country on the planet. "
Kevin Kwan
Wealth
Together
Speed
" I'm naturally a shy, quiet person. "
Kevin Kwan
Quiet
Shy
Naturally
" I'm not sure if being Chinese really helped, but I do think that if a non-Asian had written a book called 'Crazy Rich Asians,' they might not have been looked upon so kindly. "
Kevin Kwan
Crazy
Think
Rich