I ran into my friend, photographer Anne Li -  who has appeared here before – at the NOTCH (Nordic and Chinese arts) festival that just opened.   Being a gentleman and a sophisticate, I immediately poured her some coca-cola in a champagne flute.

The press gift at NOTCH was the second best I have ever received: the collectible October 2009 Wallpaper* with its provocative Karl Lagerfeld cover.  The best gift from an event I ever received was the full-sized bottles of Vidal Sassoon shampoo and conditioner received at the opening of Izzue in Sanlitun.  I like swag I can use, as opposed to the multitude of passport picture holders and glasses frame liners one gets from the luxury brands.

Reading their comments in this Wallpaper*, Lagerfeld seems pretty arrogant and, despite all his brilliance and eccentricity, hollow in comparison to Philippe Starck.