Vivian Ying (应翠剑）is the designer for Cocoon, which was my favorite of the shows I’ve seen so far at China Fashion Week.  Here she is right before entering the Qi Gang show.  From lovely Hangzhou, she also designs several other labels.  Here she is wearing not one of her own designs; the sport coat is from Balmain, as can be seen from the shoulders.

See her whole SS10 collection at Yoka.com.

Elisabeth Koch was interviewed in A Small Magazine.  I didn’t realize that Hu Jintao’s niece was one of her clients.  That sounds like a story.

She had her first big fashion show last weekend at Lan Club.  I was there but one of my friends fainted and I had to carry her out, so I missed the show.

On my second trip to No. 46, I noticed a spacious new coffee shop just to the left of the main gate.  Cola is proprieter of just opened Charity Share (益飨), which specializes in fair trade coffee and includes a fashion boutique in its loft.

She says Charity Share is the first bar or coffee shop in China to make promoting the public good its main theme.  Her coffee shop is also the first in Beijing to receive a Certification Mark from the Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International.  A portion of all profits will go to charities and the high-ceiled, roomy space will host numerous NGO fundraising events, auctions, etc.

Initially, she expects foreigners will be the main clients as they are both more picky about the quality of coffee and familiar with the concept of free trade products. Amusingly, she says the hard seats are another reason why foreigners will be more attracted to Charity Share than Chinese, who prefer softer seating.

Originally from Xinjiang, Cola came to Beijing in 1999 and studied Chinese at Beijing Normal University.  In 2006, she received her Master’s in marketing from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.  She quit her media job in May to focus all of her energy on the new coffee shop.   Her recent interest in being more civic-minded has improved her mindset a great deal.  She is now more able to be contented with her situation and less aggressive.  Interestingly, one cup of coffee a day is her maximum.  Any more and her heart beats too fast.

Based in Shanghai, Edison is a visual merchandiser.  Edison is a native of Nanjing, where he studied fashion design as an undergraduate.  He lives in Shanghai and has previously visited New York.

Dior released its fall collections here in Beijing today at Nanxincang.  This young Hunanese lady was wearing a cute Dior dress from the current spring collection.  She was determined that I must not mention her name or position.

I never know who I might run into at a shirting shop.  Xander Zhou (also here) shouldn’t need much introduction to viewers of Stylites.  Among the most well-known Beijing-based menswear designers, Xander studied in the Netherlands and his brand sells internationally.  For more information about him check out JC Report, an interview with him at Dazed Digital, and a Time Out London piece on “Beijing Heroes” where Xander ranks with Ai Weiwei and Gia (also been on stylites).

Quite a range of colors, patterns, and styles on Li Lu, a Beijing native, has taught for three years in the Beijing branch of the China Recovery Center for Hard-of-Hearing Children (don’t know the formal English name, but the website is www.chinadeaf.com).   This look might pull in bit much, but I think it is an adorable and singular blend of East and West.

The jacket comes from a boutique on Nanluoguxiang.

Beijing brit-rock band Super VC is a fan of Burberry and enthusiastically welcomes the new store.  Burberry Creative Director Christopher Bailey came to Beijing for a single day to attend the opening and I gave him a Stylites pocket square, which he found a bit surprising.  In the Jinbao Place Shopping Mall, also home to Gucci, Buttega Veneta, Vertu, and the Swank, mentioned in the post before, this new outlet on Jinbao Street is Burberry’s sixth and largest store in Beijing.  Someone evidently has a plan to make Jinbao street into Beijing’s answer to Madison Avenue or Via Spiaggia.  Jinbao street also has the Peninsula hotel, and its shopping mall, the Beijing Hong Kong Jockey Club Clubhouse, dealers for Maserati, Ferarri, and Bugatti, as well as the subtly designed Legendale hotel, which could have been the brain-child of Harrod’s owner Mohamed al-Fayed.

On both sides of the roped-off entry to the shop were standing some spectators from the neighboring hutong.  As it turns out, the lady in red crocs worked as a seamstress until retiring in her forties.  She doesn’t expect to ever enter the Burberry shop, despite its proximity to her home, but maybe she could get a helping with alterations?  I wonder what she thinks of the Legendale.

CNN reports on H&M’s arrival here. Hopefully for my Swedish brethren (my father is Swedish), the crowds will keep coming. Beijingers remain in dire need of the inexpensive basics H&M provides, so prospects look good. The product mix looked quite complete.

Success will not be a result of location. Around 300 meters down the vacant lots of the main walking street at recently refurbished Qianmen and a good ten minutes from the subway exit, one can only conclude that H&M received an incredible deal on rent. There are no similar fashion boutiques in the area and most pre-H&M foot traffic was domestic tourists. Either H&M realized these people have an even more dire need for their goods or the landlords gave free rent for the year.

Eva is a jewelery designer from Guangdong province, who focuses on designs in silver.  She was up in Beijing on business, but she was also enjoying some sightseeing in the old town.  Designing for a range of major brands, she recently made the decision to discontinue the website she used to maintain for showing her designs.  She explained that too many of her designers were being copied.  This experienced designer is obviously no novice when it comes to dressing with a careful, coordinated and personalized style.  Others should take note.

In their article on the beautiful Quebec wedding of Karim Morcos and Dominique Bergeron, Cosmopolitan Bride noted that Karim’s attire was made by Senli and Frye.  For pictures of the article, please visit our press clippings section.

There’s more to be scared of here than just the red trousers.  I know there is an indie band here called Hedgehog, but this young rocker must be part of Porcupine.

I hope that bag is real.  Clearly her boyfriend is investing all of his fashion renminbi in her.  Aside from the tedious sack, I do rather like her look and it’s a nice shade of red.

Slim red jeans can be a good alternative to the usual blue.  Anyway, this was a small fraction of the people wearing red pants on Nanluoguxiang this past weekend.  It is a good color to wear.  It symbolizes good luck and happiness and is thought to ward off evil.

This is an interesting use of color that seems concurrently dowdy and fresh, which is in some ways what I always like to find.  Who wears a plaid vest over an oversized hoodie – with a cut-off denim skirt underneath and in bright colors like this?  She seems like she is from a very avant-garde village.  Her field of study, business management, could force her in the direction of somberness in dress before long.

Looted cultural relics aside, Stylites is proud to offer pieces a unique collection of vintage Yves Saint Laurent Suits and sport coats for men.  This is the only collection of its type in Beijing and it is available only at Senli and Frye.

Ali Nosrati just got a new dog that he named Ikea.  Ali is from Sweden, so the name is appropriate.  I met Ali at the opening party for a new Guess party last year.  I was very interested in the high quality bags and wallets that his brand, dowdy fourhundred, is offering.

This particularly dowdy fourhundred bag – is it a backpack or a messenger bag? – has apparently captured the imagination of Japanese buyers.  At the moment, Senli and Frye is the exclusive distributor for the brand in China.  Contact me if you would like further information.

Ali and his partner, Jesper, have also started a brand focused on canvas bags called TD. Immortali, focused on the needs of the modern man.  I hope that Senli and Frye will be able to offer this line in the near future as well.

Also, check out Ali’s new bag blog, the Dowdy Story.

Shengzhou, Zhejiang, produces well over 200 million ties annually – almost all of China’s total production and at least three-quarters of the global total.  Almost every major Western retailer, from H&M and Next to Ted Baker and Sean John, Walmart to Primark, sources almost the entirety of their ties from this city.  Read more in my article from the February issue of China International Business.  Here are some more photos that I was lucky to get during my visits to the factories.

Babei, the largest tie producer in Shengzhou and most likely the world, is also the only factory with an exterior that vaguely suggests the colors of ties.   Over 70% of the 20 million ties Babei makes every year are exported.

Raw silk comes from Sichuan, Jiangsu and other provinces.  It comes in a few basic colors.  Dyeing – the only part of tie production that has a serious negative impact on the environment – usually occurs on the outskirts of Shengzhou.

The largest factories in Shengzhou have spinning machines that rotate at high speed 24 hours a day.

The computer-controlled looms create the fabric that are used to make ties.  Just over a decade ago, there were only about ten of these machines in Shengzhou and now there are over a thousand.  Babei’s factory has over a hundred – more than entire city of Como, Italy’s tie center.  James Kynge, tells the story of Como’s fall and Shengzhou’s rise in his book, China Shakes the World.

Working conditions seemed quite good in the tie factories I saw.  On this Babei’s factory floor, I saw ties from the following brands: Donald Trump, Sean John, Chaps, Austin Reed, Counta Mara, Tasso Elba, C&A, Zara, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Target. There were many other brands that I had not seen before.

This a large order for a children’s hospital in the United States.  Most ties made in Shengzhou use polyester interlinings of the type seen here.  Wool is much more expensive, but is better for the best ties.

Here is a just completed order for China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers, with 415 million customers.  With 111,998 staff in China, one can see why this is a good client.

The producers of Shengzhou only want to do volume.  There is little profit to be had from small orders that demand high quality.  Thus, my mission to Shengzhou was not highly successful.  The goal had been to find a factory willing to produce ties for Senli and Frye.  Strangly enough we have chosen to sell ties that are made in the United States, the Hickey Style line.

Still no Valentine’s Day gift for that special guy?  We have two great ideas, both of which can be purchased at Senli and Frye.

Dowdy fourhundred leather bags are what every stylish white collar fellow requires.  They are durable, made of the best calf leather, and stylish in a very understated way.  Check their site for more information.  At present, Senli and Frye is the exclusive distributor for this Swedish line here in China.

This one is by far the most deviant and naughty of the Hickey Style ties now available at Senli and Frye.  Straight from Soho and woven of silk or wool in the United States or Italy, this is the freshest tie line I have seen for a while.  These are in the slim style we all love now.  I guarantee that you will not find these anywhere else in Beijing.

Please go to Senli and Frye for more information or email nels@stylites.net.

Stylites attempts to profile the most distinctive and/or stylish pedestrians on the streets of Beijing.  Google Analytics (it’s such a blast) shows which cities are most interested in this subject.  The largest source of hits is Beijing.  Next is Shanghai and not too far behind is New York.  After that, there is a big gap before Singapore and San Francisco, which are about equal.

1. Beijing

2. Shanghai

3. New York

4. Singapore

5. San Francisco

Just behind are Hong Kong, Chicago, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, London, Hangzhou, and Sydney.  Despite great interest from New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, no other US cities produce serious traffic.  After China and the United States, the country sending the most viewers is the United Kingdom.

I often envy the Chinese their right to christen themselves according to their own taste.  Hendrix named himself after his favorite guitarist.  I’ve always hoped to meet a Nero or Elagabalus.  Anyone who gave himself the name Elagabalus would be a perfect friend for me.

While the overall combination is slightly busy, the snappy tan cap toes are lovely in a city interested in fashion but famed for loafers adorned with a metal alligator.  One just never sees them on young men here in Beijing,  though they have been the rage for a while in Tokyo and Seoul.

This past weekend there were several parties thrown by fashion labels and stores.  At the parties, I spent most of the time talking to friends, but I did take a couple pictures.  Here are Fu Yuanyuan, creator of Marzipan, and Andrea Jacomelli, of Nestlé.  Andrea is wearing a three-piece suit from Senli and Frye.  The waistcoat is single-breasted with notch lapels.  Andrea is heading to Singapore next week, after spending two years in Beijing.  The suit is in a light-weight fabric, but I suspect he will be shedding the coat frequently.  While she was a PR executive, Yuanyuan worked for two years on the Nestlé account, though this was the first time she met Andrea.

Hervé is the Head of the Visa section of the Embassy of Switzerland.  His family left Catholic Bavaria for Switzerland during the Thirty Years War  (1618–1648) since they were Lutherans.  Hervé retains a fondness for his family’s ancestral home and he picked up this lovely wool jacket there.  Several of the guests at the party complemented him on his “Chinese style” jacket.  There is a resemblance but it is difficult to find wool of this type in China.

This young lady from Reims was surprised that an American like me would not only have heard of her town but also know that it has a nice church.

Here is Tomasz wearing a jacket from Le Divan Studio, which just moved to a new home in Caochangdi.  This was initially bad news for me.  Aurelien and Tony, the creative directors, used to be my favorite neighbors when their studio was near my courtyard in the Deshengmen area of Central Beijing.  The move was a good idea for them though.  The new space is much bigger, providing much needed room for workshops and living quarters for their team. 

In addition to several appearances on Stylites, Tony and Aurelian have been in more obscure street fashion blogs like the Sartorialist.

Slim black ties paired with a suit jacket and jeans as party wear are pretty tedious.  Clearly many men believing donning such ties automatically moves them up several notches in hipness.  This casual use of the tie seemed more interesting.