Most 22-year-olds are busy wondering which club to hit this Friday night or whether their online purchases are going to arrive on time. Not Serene Tan, the Executive Director of Dazzling Café Singapore, the cosy new spot at Capitol Piazza. Since its opening in April, the finance and accountancy graduate has more important things on her mind. “My day starts with checking messages from my staff and suppliers, meetings all afternoon and I end the day at the office with paperwork and e-mails,” she says. With a schedule that mirrors that of someone decades older, you would think she has given up on malls.

She arrives at the photo shoot clutching a Givenchy shopping bag. “My brother is a devil. He convinced me that I have to buy this,” she says, pulling out a black studded Pandora bag, and in the same breath thanking him for a wardrobe any woman her age would envy. “He has great style. I hardly have a life outside the cafe, so he sends me pictures and brings them from London for me.” Of those, Kenzo espadrilles and Brian Lichtenberg parody T-shirts are her favourites. She cringes at the term “shopaholic”. “Yes, I shop—a lot. I never used to look at price tags, but I’m smarter about the value of my purchases now.” It must be true then: You can take the girl out of finance, but you can’t take the finance out of the girl.