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Ataturk/Mao and Napoleon

At Band of Outsiders with Scott Schuman is Jeffrey Ying, an old associate of mine who appeared here in the same Mao suit. Jeffrey was featured on this extremely refined nyc blog. He seems more notable than most others on the blog.

Here is the Band of Outsiders women’s collection at Style.com. I can’t seem to find the men’s, but the reworked preppy classics were the most wearable and least conceptual stuff I have yet seen at fashion week.

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Guangzhou Daily on Stylites

The Guangzhou Daily conducted an interview with me and here is the result. They are still using that dreadful picture that Sanlian took where I am with my cat. However, the piece is quite nice.

<<广州日报>>不久之前采访了我，这是文章的链接。没有想到他们用了以前<<三联生活周刊>>采访我时拍的照片。虽然我女朋友的猫咪比我更上镜，但是这篇报道还是挺不错的。

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NYC Fashion Week

What amazes me is how similar the fashion set here in NYC seems to be to the one in Beijing, both in dress and in personality. The styles are as global as the affectations. I think the surprising thing is less that the NYC people are the way they are, but that the Beijing people have so rapidly studied. I would imagine that just five years ago, Beijing had a much smaller fashion scene.

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An EIC

nick-3

Duan Yanling is Editor-in-Chief of design magazine Case da Abitare and Atcasa.cn, an online design channel in collaboration with sina.com. She was also hosted CCTV 9 (English) program Travelogue. She graduated from Stockholm University and completed advanced study at Pace University in NYC.

段妍玲是《居Case da Abitare》和新浪ATCASA设计频道主编，旅游卫视全球创意发现节目《创意生活》的设计行策划、撰稿兼主持，原CCTV9《旅游指南》英语节目主持人。她毕业于斯德哥尔摩大学，后在纽约佩斯大学深造国际广告研究生课程。

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Beijing Retail Sales up 15.7% in 2009

Was anyone doubting that China would pull the world out of the Recession? In Beijing, retail sales in consumer goods reached 531 billion yuan (USD 77.8 billion) in 2009, up 15.7 percent from the year before, according to China Daily. Judging by this People’s Daily piece, Beijing’s performance was merely average, compared with the rest of the country. Interestingly, Forbes ranked Beijing 15th on its list of global shopping capitals in 2009 – Shanghai did not make the list. This ranking reflects the brisk growth in the number of global retailers present in the city. The number of H&Ms and Zaras in the capital is set to grow further in 2010, with others such as Gap expected.

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NYC Fashion Week 纽约时装周

I will be heading there on Thursday. Taking street style photos will not be a priority since Beijing is the overwhelming focus of my site. Droves of bloggers of my type will be there anyway. I will, however, work to report on the role of Beijingers at this event.

我周四就去。街拍不是我的目的因为我网站的主题是北京。还有，我估计会有很多做节拍网站的人都在。我可能会更想拍一些北京人在纽约时装周。

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Uggly Cuties

cute girls

I have a whole set of rules that make it easier for me to know what not to photograph. Most people can be crossed-off without further thought because they have committed some kind of unpardonable offense. Beyond the obvious sins like large logos and monogram handbags, Ugg boots – generally fake in Beijing – and puffy coats generally guarantee exclusion from these rarefied parts. Still, these two students from the Northeast had cuteness, which tends to get you somewhere in life.

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Stylites’ Items: Dangerous Dandies plus Caroloto

Williams British Handmade may be the most singular luggage I have yet glimpsed.

Inspired by nonconformist fops of London’s Kingsland Road, father-son team Casely-Hayford present a louche by fanciful SS 2010 collection, called “Kings of the Kings Land”, that combines Savile Row tailoring, Turkish handwork, and Afropunk attitude for a result that is ineffably English.

“Smoking Kills” signs strike me as puritanical, tasteless, and far from solution-oriented. The Caroloto is an interesting substitute for cigarettes by Chinese designer Zheng Daizi. While it may not be the final answer, any substitute that recognizes man’s need to hold objects in the hand and place them in his mouth is welcome.

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The Evil Puffy Coat 可恨的羽绒服

I am so anxious for it to end. Winter is my favorite time. In fact, I would choose year-round winter if it meant odious summer would cease to exist. Beijingers, however, are more opposed to the cold than I am. Being unstylish is excusable in such supposedly savage weather and wearing a overstuffed, synthetic coat is seen as justified given the supposedly extreme cold. I was always under the impression that winter was a very stylish time. One can wear all sorts of different scarves, elegant cinched-waist wool coats, and dramatic boots. Heat is more the enemy of style since it reduces the amount that can be worn. I suspect that wool coats are perceived as being a bit oldmanish – or they are too expensive.

Of course, it is usually the heavy hat plus coat combo that keeps me warm. As has been noted by many observers, hats are barely worn at all here, even on the coldest days. Chinese tradition places more importance on the legs and feet; the head is virtually irrelevant.

到处都是我最讨厌的羽绒服。我承认有的羽绒服不难看，但这样的特别少。大部分的北京人真的很怕冷。我自己不会欢迎12个月的冬天如果没有可怕的夏天。我以前一直觉得冬天应该是时尚的一个很好的机会。当然我这个人如果穿羽绒服会出一身的汗不管有多冷。可能我的身体对冷的反应真的不一样。