by stylites -

Speech at Pecha Kucha

Last Saturday, I spoke about Stylites at the 14th Pecha Kucha Beijing Night, held at Lan Club. The event featured an impressive line-up of designers, including such rising stars as designer Vega Wang, stylist Emma Cheung and milliner Elisabeth Koch. The Global Times has more, though I should note that I was not a “Chinese history major”and I don’t think I said “nationalism is the new style”. I focused on Eastern Roman/Byzantine history and I believe nationalism is one of many current trends. Anyway, this is quibbling. One thing about which I am most adamant is that Lan Club is a most dreadful space, fit only for thugs, arrivistes and their concubines.

by stylites -

如洗 Suede Captoes

Mo Lian is one of the owners of Ruxi, a cute little shop on Xiao Ju’er Hutong, just off of Nanluoguxiang. Here is their taobao store.

如洗是个可爱的店在小菊儿胡同，墨莲是老板之一。店的特点是亚麻的衣服和这样的翻皮鞋。你可以参观一下他们淘宝上的店。

On the whole, I favor more feminine styles on women. However, I also like touches of classic menswear and am particularly fond of women wearing classic captoes like these suede ones. Anyway, this type of shoe is one of the specialty’s of Ruxi. At the moment they only have up to size 39, so the most likely clients are indeed those who were born female.

by stylites -

“It’s My Time” Finalists

Just announced are the twenty finalists in Benetton’s “It’s My Time” campaign, for which I have been blogging. These twenty will be flown to NYC to participate in the photo shoot. China’s billions are not well-represented. There is no one from the PRC and just one girl from Hong Kong. Interesting to note is that there is a young lady from the Islamic Republic of Iran. She reminds me of many of the beauties I saw while walking around the streets of Tehran. The prettiest, in my opinion, is this girl from France. I was very encouraged to see that there was someone who is older than me and also a bit similar to me in appearance. Sumit Patwari would seem like a handsome local in Rio De Janeiro, Beirut, maybe even Valencia. His sense of style is a bit more Bollywood than mine though.

by stylites -

Match the Shoes

On the Benetton It’s My Time blog, I have created a hopefully amusing little game that asks you to match the shoes of people who have been on stylites with their profession. Though I’m not sure what the meaning of it all is, I do believe you can make character judgements on the basis of footwear.

by stylites -

A Man for Our Eclectic Times

Over on the Benetton “It’s My Time” blog, I posted a photo of a man who represents the next generation of the self-made global cognitive elite. Anatole has such a mixture of ethnicities, homes, thoughts, and skills that he is in a great position to guide the multinationals and international organizations of tomorrow. Concurrently, he shows a curious conservatism that either is a warning that change for good will not be achieved easily or a reassurance that the things worth preserving will remain.

by stylites -

Adorable Owner, Aggressive Canine 可爱的老板娘，可怕的宠物狗

She owns a clothing shop on Gulou, but I didn’t get to chat with her in any more detail because her little friend had taken such a disliking to me. He probably doesn’t like cameras, or foreigners, or men, or people in tweed jackets.

这一位可爱的姑娘是鼓楼一个服装店的老板娘，本来是想要跟她好好聊聊的，但是我跟她的宠物狗并没有一见如故， 所以也就没有机会了解更多关于她跟她店的详情。 我说句实话也不知道为什么她的狗那么不喜欢我，也许是因为照相机，又或者是因为我是个外国人，也有可能它不喜欢男人，但是我觉得最有可能的应该是它对粗花呢大衣的厌恶。

by stylites -

Smoking on Gulou

Mustard is not a color that I usually regard as suited to Asians, but this voluminous scarf caught my eye. The voluminousness of the shirt seems to work also. It’s odd: I think smoking is more and more common among the hip youth.

我一般觉得亚洲人不应该穿这个芥末的颜色,但这个围巾还是吸引了我. 我感觉最近”é…·”年轻人抽烟越来越多.


by stylites -

Grazia’s Cosmopolitan Editor

Worldly, genteel, and creative, Maggie Mao is the adorable fashion editor for Chinese Grazia, a fashion magazine for “everyday stylish women”. It focuses less on portraying the unattainable world of the runways and fashion aristocracy and more on fun, approachable, content. Still, Grazia here in China is more fashion-oriented than its Western European cousins, which have something of a showbiz flair.

The March issue of the Chinese edition of Grazia recently came off the press with some street style images shot by me

毛婕是《GRAZIA红秀》的资深时装编辑。三月份的杂志有我拍的四个街拍照片。毛婕是个很可爱的上海女孩。她以前在周末画报的Lifestyle工作了几年。

by stylites -

Now You’re in Beijing

These hutongs are making her feel brand new. And being somebody in the China City is almost as good as being somebody in the World City. Sylvia is just in from Nanchang, capital of Jiangxi province, and is planning to live here permanently perhaps working in a magazine.

从江西省省会南昌来的Sylvia觉的到了北京以后让她感觉焕然一新，这个新的城市给她朝气，可以给她站在世界舞台上的机会。她准备在这个新的城市里面做出自己的一番事业，她的目标？杂志社～


by stylites -

Cool Crimsons

Continuing to blog for Benetton’s “It’s My Time” campaign, I just wrote about the trend toward China retro and Bye Bye Disco, the shop on Nanluoguxiang started by the New Pants keyboardist Pang Kuan (庞宽) and girlfriend Pei Pei (孙配配), who was on Stylites earlier.