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Song Tao and Zi Zao Studio

With China’s design school churning out graduates and droves returning from the top schools abroad, the number of designers plying their trade has been increasing rapidly. Designer, curator, and entrepreneur Song Tao – a true mover and shaper – champions a fresh, but distinctly Chinese, aesthetic. Known for his product and interior design, Song is perhaps even more famous for the work he has done on promoting his peers.

Armed with a master’s degree in plastic arts from the Sorbonne, Song returned home to found Tao Gallery, a design space, in 1994. In 2002, he started ZI ZAO SHE, a brand that promotes his designs alongside those of other rising stars. This brand is known for its re-interpretations of classic Chinese shapes in contemporary materials like lucite. Subsequently in 2009, he spearheaded the China Furnishing Designer Brand Alliance and founded O Gallery in Beijing’s 798, a one-stop destination for viewing the work of China’s top designers as well as that of top international stars.

Song has curated shows from the Ullens Center to Art Beijing with a participant list that reads like a who’s who of contemporary Chinese design: Shao Fan, Sun Wentao, Liu Feng, Jia Li, Chen Darui, Ma Xiaowei, Wang Zhenfei, Fei Ruo, Xie Dong, Wen Miao, Xiao Tianyu, Gu Qigao, Wang Ke, Shi Jianmin, Gao Yiqiang, Huang Ying, and others. Many of these same designers have work that is available at O Gallery.

The future is bright for design, says Song. “The success of luxury brands like LV here in China taught us that people buy the real thing once they have the money” he comments. “Now plenty of people have the money. If they appreciate design, they will definitely pay for the original.”

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Reindeer Babes at V*tamin

Ready for the upcoming season, Nancy Lou will be working at the second Fragrance Library, which is going to be opening in Sanlitun North Village (there is already one in the south). This is an American novelty perfume brand with scents such as dirt, tootsie roll, and tomato paste.

Here is Wing, also wearing the same reindeer print from Japanese brand Mercibeaucoup. They were at the V*tamin fashion show which showed off the wares of over 40 retailers, including Liu Jo, Eldi, and others with shops in Sanlitun Village. This giant mall development occupying much of Sanlitun is the most fashionable shopping center in Beijing and a key promenade for stylish youth.

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Golden Delicious: Candy Lin

California-bred Candy Lin, designer of Candy and Caviar, dishes on the inspirations behind her newest line, and her ambitions for reaching the world through fashion design — starting with bases in L.A. and Beijing. Stylites contributors Marilyn Mai Ong (English) and Renee Liu (Chinese) wrote this profile of Candy.

加州长大的Candy Lin不加客套的与我们聊起她新一季设计的灵感，这个女孩有关用时装征服世界的梦想，开始于洛杉矶和北京这两个城市。

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Hutong Cutey/Chic Winter

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Sometimes the key to style is appropriateness; not elegance or fashion. This look is perfect for walking through winter in the hutongs. At the same time, Alice Liu looks like she just walked out of a Salvation Army with the most unique items she could dig up: a suede toggle coat and pleated jeans. A Beijinger, she has spent much of her life in London and has now returned to her hometown to make her fortune as a writer and cat breeder. In order to achieve the former, she has just taken a position at Danwei, the top English site covering Chinese media and urban life. For the latter, she is now allowing her non-spade female cat roam free in the environs of Nanluoguxiang. Interestingly, this cat herself is the product of a hutong romance between stray cats.

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Sailor Shirts

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These two are students at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing (对外经济贸易大学). In a few months, they are both going to Rheims, France, where they will study for a total of three years.

Military influenced items and actual items from the military are quite popular with Beijing youth. Though originally intended for men, these shirts are worn by both sexes. Wearers tend to be young artistic types in rock bands, creative industries, etc. Stripy shirts, in the sailor style, other than these authentic naval ones do not seem to be overly popular. People want the real thing or nothing, it seems.

These shirts are available in several outlets in Beijing, though the biggest size, 1, is equivalent to an American small.

naval-rocker

Liu Jian only wears Chinese navy shirts – he owns 25 in total. Since they only come with long sleeves, his had several of them altered a few for summer wear. These shirts are actually a pretty appropriate choice for Liu Jian since he served in the Chinese military for six years. He is an author and folk musician and a member of East District Power, a Shanghai-based folk rock collective.

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JWT: Top 80 Trends – Which are China-related?

JWT, the largest advertising agency brand in the US, just released a list of the 80 trends to watch in 2008. It is not always clear what the terms they use mean. While the whole list is a must-read, I picked a few of their trends that are most relevant to Stylites and fashion in China:

4. Beijing 2008 – Requires no analysis. Stylites will be on the scene to record the styles of 2008 in Beijing.

9. Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang – Considerably better looking than Yao Ming, Liu’s picture is in every ad already. How does he dress when he’s not competing?

13. Cooperative consumption – JWT might mean (1) groups like Yahoo Freecycle that aim to reduce consumption through trading used products, (2) coordinated and planned purchasing based on the needs of small communities, to economize and reduce ecological impact or, though this is unlikely, (3) less coercive forms of marketing, advertising and sales in which the seller forms more of a partnership with the consumer. In any case, Stylites aims to track all three of these trends in China.

16. Designer Phillip Lim – The fashion designer of Chinese-origin JWT singled out, Lim relies on a gentle palette to create wearable-looking and fun pieces. He just introduced a men’s line which looks fresh but totally approachable, which is a notable accomplishment. Stylites will track perceptions of overseas Chinese designers in the Mainland.

37. Intellectual luxury – This seems to be a derogatory term denoting intellectualism for it’s own sake, though I’m not certain. I prefer to think of intellectualism as a luxury product that the elites everywhere engage in when they have the leisure and wealth needed to do so. In keeping with their country’s traditions, the elites in China are already starting to engage in intellectualism for fun rather than profit. It will be interesting to track the intellectual products they consume and the spread of “intellectualism as fun” to the general population.

39. Japanese designs (Tsumori Chisato, Uniqlo, Muji, etc.) – This hardly seems like a new trend. Nonetheless, the spread of Japanese style beyond the avant-garde to the mainstream is notable in the States, and of course in China. Everyone is wearing overproduction from Japanese brands. Anyway, why did Uniqlo close in Beijing?

41. Lifestyle curators – In China, this will be huge. The nouveau riche will demand it. More on this to come here at stylites.net.

57. Recycling into fashion (Nau, Gary Harvey, etc.) – This is going to intensify. There have already been dresses made from condoms, not to mention sportswear brands that use old bottles. Being so fashion-obsessed, what will the Chinese do with all this cheap apparel that is being created once it turns to rags or goes out of fashion? This is a special focus of stylites.net.

75. Vicarious consumption – Perhaps the most fascinating trend here, this Thornstein Veblen term is highly relevant to the current experience in China. Most older people will only achieve joy through the consumption that their progeny can engage in. They didn’t have the money and now they don’t have the youth to wear the Dior jacket but they can be gratified by seeing their kid in one.

I would like to thank JWT for coming up with this list. Stylites will be looking into many of these trends and others as they relate to fashion in China.

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