About #Legend

#Legend

Overview

#Legend, also written Hashtag Legend, is a Hong Kong monthly luxury lifestyle magazine published by Legend Publishing, a member of the Rock Media Group. It was created for affluent, well-educated readers in Hong Kong and Macau, and it launched with a circulation of 30,000 copies across those two markets. Its subject matter covers the full spectrum of luxury, from art to travel, fashion and wellness, and over time its editorial scope has widened to take in culture, watches and jewellery, beauty, music, art and design, dining, travel, technology, motors and wellness. The magazine describes its guiding philosophy as "Luxury Fast Forward". From the start it was conceived not only as a print title but as a digital-first media brand, with a website, hashtaglegend.com, updated daily with commentary, news and multimedia content alongside the monthly print edition. In the decade since its launch it has grown from a Hong Kong print magazine into a multimedia platform that also runs events, an artist-management arm and an in-house creative agency, and it has expanded beyond Hong Kong with a second venture in Bangkok, Thailand.

Founding by the Prestige Team and Rock Media

#Legend was launched by Anne Lim-Chaplain together with Bruce Rockowitz and his Rock Media Group. Lim-Chaplain had been publisher of the luxury magazine Prestige Hong Kong and managing director of Hubert Burda Media Hong Kong. In a later interview with Telum Media, she explained that #legend was launched in 2015 by Bruce Rockowitz, Steve Rockowitz, Gordon Lam and herself. Lim-Chaplain and creative director Gordon Lam had both just left Prestige, which they had co-founded in 2005, and they felt that Hong Kong needed a more creative, contemporary, conscious and cutting-edge luxury lifestyle publication. The new title was therefore built by a team with a decade of experience in Hong Kong luxury publishing, working inside Bruce Rockowitz's Rock Media Group. The magazine's own tenth-anniversary coverage counts its life from 2016, when Hashtag Legend first hit the shelves, and it celebrated its fifth-anniversary issue in March 2021. Bruce Rockowitz serves as chairman of #legend and of Legend Publishing, while Steve Rockowitz has been presented in the brand's more recent announcements as its CEO and publisher.

The Launch Issue and First Editorial Team

The launch was a substantial one. The first issue of #legend was a bumper 320-page special, a statement of intent for a monthly title entering a competitive Hong Kong luxury market with a launch circulation of 30,000 copies in Hong Kong and Macau. The founding editorial appointments mixed luxury and lifestyle experience. Vivienne Tang, the former editor-in-chief of AsiaSpa Magazine, signed up as editor of #legend, and Gordon Lam served as creative director. Digital was built into the venture from the beginning rather than added later: Reno Ong, a former international homepage and audience-engagement editor at Time, joined Rock Media as its director of digital strategy. The title was aimed at well-educated and well-heeled influencers, and although print was monthly, the publisher placed a major focus on its digital operations for ongoing commentary, news and multimedia content. That combination — a large-format print launch, an experienced luxury editorial team and a dedicated digital strategy — explains much of the brand's later development into a platform rather than a magazine alone.

Content: Fashion, Watches, Culture and Wellness

The editorial promise of #legend is luxury understood broadly. At launch it covered art, travel, fashion and wellness, and its current platform organises coverage around culture, watches and jewellery, fashion, travel, wellness, design and beauty, with additional reporting on music, art and design, dining, technology and motors. In practice that means long interviews and profiles of influential figures sit alongside watch and jewellery reporting, fashion shoots, beauty coverage and travel and dining features. Lim-Chaplain has said the team set out to offer unique and thought-provoking features alongside creative, edgy and daring shoots, and that the magazine hunts for new, meaningful and purposeful stories that put a new spin on a subject. The watch coverage alone shows the range: the site publishes detailed reports from the Watches and Wonders salon and guides to classic timepieces from makers such as Omega, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Cartier. Wellness, treated at launch as one of the four founding pillars, has remained part of the mix as luxury coverage has increasingly connected watches, jewellery and wearable technology with health and longevity themes.

Cover Stars and Luxury Brand Campaigns

Celebrity covers are central to the identity of #legend. Reflecting on its first five years, Lim-Chaplain listed cover stars including the singer John Legend, footballer David Beckham, singer Coco Lee, singer and actor Jaejoong, actress Gemma Chan, designer Marc Jacobs, singer Demi Lovato, influencer Chiara Ferragni, actor Donnie Yen, singer CL, singer Joe Jonas, and Lionel Richie and Nicole Richie. A round-up of favourite cover interviews from 2018 adds singers Yuri Kwon and Liam Payne, models Josephine Skriver and Du Juan, cellist and actress Nana Ou-Yang, social-media star Cameron Dallas, model Amanda Strang, influencer Kiwi Lee Han and actress Grace Chan. By its tenth anniversary the publication counted more than 100 cover stories. The same access has made the title attractive to advertisers: the team has created print and digital campaigns for clients including Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Montblanc, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels, Audemars Piguet, Rimowa and Samsung, and its more recent announcements put its total number of brand partners at more than 150.

Awards and Industry Recognition

Within its first five years, #legend won two awards from SOPA, the Society of Publishers in Asia, recognising its in-depth features and its innovative magazine design layouts. Lim-Chaplain cited those awards as evidence that the title had established itself as one of Asia's most creative luxury lifestyle publications, and as a publication that top international brands seek out for campaigns. The Thai launch coverage in 2024 likewise described the magazine as an award-winning title celebrated for its "Luxury Fast Forward" philosophy. That recognition matters to the magazine's positioning because #legend competes in a Hong Kong market long served by established international luxury titles and by Prestige, the magazine its founders had previously built. Awards for both editorial features and design supported the founders' original claim that Hong Kong had room for a more creative and contemporary luxury publication of its own.

The #legend100 Influencer Index

The magazine's best-known franchise is #legend100, its annual list of leading influencers and talents. Lim-Chaplain says the list was first pioneered in 2017; a later announcement notes that it was inaugurated in 2016 and that the 2020 edition was the first to receive its own dedicated minisite, with a searchable directory linking to individual influencer profiles and their social-media channels. The premier list presented Asia's top digital voices in fashion, beauty and lifestyle, and a Hong Kong edition, #legend100hk, followed, drawing on data gathered by the analytics company Social Power from Instagram posts made between 1 January and 30 April. That Hong Kong ranking expanded the scope beyond fashion, beauty and lifestyle to include fitness, photography, food, drink and travel. The 2019 Hong Kong list was produced with Goxip's RewardSnap influencer platform, whose network then covered more than 300 pre-screened influencers with a combined follower reach of over 30 million, and it ranked figures across fashion, beauty, travel, food, fitness and photography. Announcing the 2020 list, which ranged from artists, filmmakers, designers, entrepreneurs, musicians, models and make-up artists to athletes and dentists, and included actress Elva Ni, dancer Pony Pong, Muay Thai world champion Alain Ngalani and DJ Arthur Bray, Lim-Chaplain called it the most comprehensive edition yet and a resource widely used as a reference by brands and influencers.

A Digital-First Multimedia Platform

Although #legend began as a print magazine, its publisher insists it has always been digital-first and digital-savvy. Readers can read the print magazine on digital platforms as well as through the website and social-media channels, and the website is updated daily. Over time the brand has added two businesses around the magazine: #legend entertainment, an artist-management operation, and #legend studio, an in-house creative agency launched to build digital campaigns for consumer brands, with early work for Rimowa and Montblanc. Events are the third pillar, bringing together the community of celebrities, industry leaders, influencers and clients around projects such as #legend100. In 2026 the company announced an AI-first transformation strategy across its editorial, commercial and audience-development operations; Bruce Rockowitz, as chairman of Legend Publishing, presented the change with the line that AI is not replacing creativity but enhancing it. A further digital-growth announcement that year reported that the platform had passed 500,000 monthly readers, with more than 100 cover stories published and more than 150 brand partners.

Expansion to Thailand

After eight years in Hong Kong, #legend opened its second venture, #legend_th, in Bangkok in September 2024. The launch party was held at the Chai Patanasin building on Charoenkrung Road, a building more than a century old, and was attended by Thai celebrities including Krissanapoom "JJ" Pibulsonggram, Kanyawee "Thanaerng" Songmuang, Suppasit "Mew" Jongcheveevat, Pakorn "Tul" Thanasrivanitchai, Khemupsorn "Cherry" Sirisukha, Arachaporn "Goy" Pokinpakorn, Paris "Ice" Intarakomalyasut, Thitiya "Baipor" Jirapornsilp, Plearnpichaya "Junei" Komalarajun and singer Ink Waruntorn. The venue was arranged in seven zones, including a staircase wrapped in Hong Kong #legend covers to symbolise the journey from Hong Kong to Bangkok and a dedicated space for the 2024 #legend100 figures, with motion mapping projected onto the building's facade and DJ performances in the evening. The Thai debut issue, published that September, featured actors Metawin "Win" Opas-iamkajorn and Davika "Mai" Hoorne on the cover and introduced the #legend100 session to Thailand. The Thai edition appears in monthly print editions and across digital platforms, with a bilingual edition planned, and it introduced #legendChat, a talk session in which industry leaders share their experience. Bruce Rockowitz, as chairman of Rock Media, said the Bangkok office would build relationships with Thai readers, partners and media professionals, while CEO Steve Rockowitz said the Thai content would maintain the standards set by the Hong Kong headquarters.

Place in Hong Kong Luxury Publishing

#Legend occupies a particular niche in Hong Kong media. It is a locally created luxury title, founded by the publishers behind Prestige Hong Kong but designed to be more contemporary and digitally led than a traditional society magazine. Its name, built around a hashtag, signalled from the outset that social media and influencer culture would be part of its editorial territory, and the #legend100 index turned that signal into a durable annual franchise used by brands to identify Hong Kong's leading digital voices. Its history also shows the direction of luxury publishing in the region: a monthly print magazine launched at 30,000 copies with a 320-page first issue has become a platform combining print, a daily website, social channels, events, artist management and a creative agency, passing 500,000 monthly digital readers in its tenth-anniversary period and opening a second home in Bangkok. For readers of this directory, the essential facts are its Hong Kong base, its Legend Publishing and Rock Media ownership roots, its monthly frequency, and its coverage of fashion, watches and jewellery, beauty, culture, travel and wellness for an affluent audience.