The 13th album from Phil Collins-fronted band Genesis, “Invisible Touch” (1986), marked the final stage of the formerly progressive rock act’s transition to a more accessible, pop-oriented sound.
Tania Mohan, founder and creative director of Indian-influenced Hong Kong fashion label Tabla, tells Richard Lord how it changed her life.
It was summer; I was 15 going on 16. Invisible Touch came out and I just loved it from the moment I heard it. I had such a wonderful summer, and this album reflected it.
That was the summer I went to school in England; it was a wonderful boarding school, and I played this album all the time I was there. Until today, it brings me the happiest memories of my life.
It’s an album that never gets old – I was listening to it this morning, and I still love it.
It started me loving Phil Collins in particular. When I finished studying in Hong Kong, Phil Collins was due to come here (in 1990), with the …But Seriously album.
He ended up cancelling and (the record company) WEA organised a competition where they’d send two people to Australia to present him with a Best Male of the Year Award on behalf of the people of Hong Kong.
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They organised a cocktail party at the Holiday Inn Harbour View, and they said that people who went had a chance of going to Australia and meeting Phil Collins.
I went to the party, which was lovely, and then at the end the MC put his hand into the lucky draw and picked out two names – neither of which was mine. But I left saying, “I’m going to go to Sydney and giving him that award.”
My friends said I was crazy, but I just knew, even though they’d picked out the names.
Two weeks later, I got a call from Commercial Radio, saying, “We heard you were at the party – is it OK if we put you on air and ask you about it?”
We talked about it, and then the DJ said, “What would you do if I told you that one of the people they picked was underage – and we’re going to take you instead?”
I was the happiest girl in the world. I remember when I met Phil Collins, he was really engaging, and asked me all about Hong Kong.
It led me to trusting my gut instinct. A few years later, I was at a crossroads in my life; I was 28 and I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I’d been a fashion editor and I’d studied law. Then I got offered the opportunity to open a shop in Prince’s Building.
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I had no experience of being a designer and no experience of opening shops. But I went with my gut. Without even consulting my parents, I said I would open the shop in three months. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
I do believe so much in the gut. I believe we have six senses: the gut is the sixth. And when the album talks about an invisible touch, that sounds like the gut, too.