Mrs Hanis Hussey met the man of her dreams in the air, on a first-class Cathay Pacific flight.

"Back then, we models never really cared for anything else except spending every cent we got on luxuries such as first-class air tickets and designer togs," says Mrs Hussey, 48. She was the first Singapore model to break into the world of high fashion in Paris when she closed the Yves Saint Laurent show in 1983.

It was on one of those flights that she met Mr Steve Hussey, an American businessman who would later become her husband. Now 56, he is the international senior director in an American company that distributes aviation parts, while she runs a shopping events company called International Expat Affairs.

Mrs Hussey, born Hanis Saini, was only 16 when she won a contest called Catwalk Model Of The Year Singapore in 1982. She moved to Paris the following year and clinched a two-year Yves Saint Laurent contract at her first casting. Hubert de Givenchy also began asking for her.

While on a flight from Singapore to Tokyo for a modelling assignment in 1988, she was seated beside Mr Hussey and noticed his shoes.

She says: "I can't remember what they were, but I can usually tell what kind of guy the person is from his shoes and I felt Steve was a nice guy."

While he was interested in chatting her up, she was in no mood to socialise and wanted to sleep. But she relented and the two started talking about their jobs and travels.

There was a stopover in Hong Kong - his destination - and before he disembarked, he asked for her number. "He actually wanted me to join him in Hong Kong but I had a fashion show to go to."

Mrs Hussey told him to call her a month later when she would be back in Singapore, where he was based.

He did and six months after their first date in 1988 at a French restaurant in Le Meridien Singapore (now the Concorde Hotel Singapore), they were engaged.

Read the full story here.

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(Photos: ST, TNP, Hanis Hussey, Time magazine, Today's Parents)