Soneva Fushi resort in Baa atoll celebrated their twentieth anniversary with a beach reception attended by a number of famous international celebrities including journalists, actors, models and designers. One of the attendees was Justine Picadie, the editor-in-chief of American women’s fashion magazine “Harper’s Bazaar”, which was first published in the 19th century. Picadie had posed for a photo with students of Baa atoll, who had performed a traditional dance item at the event. She had also published 23 photographs taken at the Soneva Fushi event in Harper’s Bazaar as a photo feature on Wednesday. The reception was also graced by British model Jodie Kidd. Now a famous race car driver, Jodie Kidd, 37, had begun her modelling career at the age of 15. Kidd is also a popular face on TV and had presented Channel 5’s “The Classic Car Show”. She had also participated and was the runner up in the Celebrity MasterChef show last year. French jewellery designer Palma Picasso and her husband Eric Thevenet had also been spotted at the reception. Other famous faces at Soneva Fushi’s twentieth anniversary included the American all-girls music band The Pussycat Doll’s former vocalist Nicole Scherzinger, American engineer and former astronaut Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin who is known as the second man to walk on the moon, and UK’s BBC, ITV and Channel 5’s presenter Ben Fogle with his wife Marina. A picture shared by Buzz Aldrin on his Facebook page also revealed that singer Nicole Scherzinger had arrived with her sibling Kay and friend Katie. Aldrin was also pictured reading from his new book to children at Soneva Fushi’s playground for children. Harper Bazaar’s photo feature depicted celebrities participating in activities such as volleyball held at Soneva Fushi, and Soneva Group’s founder and CEO Sonu Shivdasani and his wife Eva attending the anniversary events. The long line of international celebrities at Soneva was capped off by British actress Naomie Harris, who rose to fame with roles in high profile movies such as the second and third “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, two Bond films “Skyfall” and “Spectre”, and the 2013 movie based on Nelson Mandela’s life, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”. Naomie Harris was pictured in Harper’s Bazaar’s photo feature, one of which depicted her learning how to prepare Maldivian cuisine from Baa atoll Eydhafushi-born, international award winning Sous Chef at Soneva Fushi, Abdulla Sobah, who had also received the national award this year. Another picture featured on the magazine revealed that Harris had arrived in the Maldives with her mother Carmen and brother Max. Harris had also posed with Baa atoll students participating in Soneva Fushi’s “Learn to Swim” programme, which aims to boost instilling of swimming skills in local children and inspire them to protect coral reefs. The programme had been documented by National Geographic Expeditions Council’s grantee and filmmaker Jon Bowermaster this year, which has been subsequently nominated for several awards. The aerial drone views of capital Malé, and Eydhafushi and Soneva Fushi as well as the underwater scenery filmed for the documentary had brought this initiative of Soneva Fushi to the world’s attention. Sink or Swim, Learning the Crawl in the Maldives - BLUE 2015 - Feature Documentary Film Finalist The celebrities at Soneva Fushi had shared their personal photographs and video clips of these events on social media to audiences comprising of millions, thousands of whom have commented on the imagery of Maldives as seen in their pictures. While the popularity of the Maldives’ luxury tourism among international celebrities is skyrocketing, some scenes of a possible Hollywood blockbuster have also been set to shoot in Laamu atoll.