A Native Beijinger Designing Menswear

Born in Beijing’s Xicheng district, Zhang Chi is not afraid to be noticed. He went to Europe in his teens to study fashion design and is now back in Beijing with a studio in Jianwai and a menswear brand. I recently chatted with him.

服装设计师张驰在西城区出生，工作室在建外SOHO。他很小去了欧洲为了学服装设计，现在回到了北京开自己男装品牌。

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热死了

It is just too unbearably hot to continue the work of photographing the stylish of Beijing’s streets. I don’t imagine that anyone who can afford a shirt goes out in this weather anyway. Most of the people I see on the streets are, understandably, shirtless.

这几天太热了，我没心情去外面拍照。觉得时间都停了，脑子也停了。搞得我只想在坐在院子里不动身体。

L-M-C

From Hong Kong, Cindy Ma now lives in Beijing with her family. Cindy and her two partners (also fashion designers) just opened a boutique, L-M-C, in the Lido area. The store carries selections of clothing, jewelry, and accessories for women from Asian, Canadian, Belgian, and British designers. Stylites’ Liang Cheng recently interviewed Cindy.

Cindy Ma 是来自香港，但现在住在北京与她的家人。Cindy和她的两个合伙人（也设计师）最近开了一家精品店叫“L-M-C”在丽都。这家店的选择有许多风格的服装，和进口首饰。与亚洲元素和融合的设计.

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Managing not to Conform

Think “Hotel General Manager” and the image of Joe Ho probably won’t come to mind. In Beijing, most general managers of international brand five star hotels are plump European men invariably wearing a boring black suit and sometimes even square toed loafers. The more stylish ones might don an Hermès tie, gifted by the wife. Most surprisingly, Joe is the GM of the Grand Millennium Fortune Plaza Apartments rather than the chicest boutique hotel in town.

Joe Ho，日文名须古家航，中文名何家航，现任北京财富中心千禧公寓总经理，中日混血，早年在美国成长，从事酒店业工作30多年，非常喜好时尚，有设计师般敏锐的流行感知。

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China – A Chance for European Designers?

Finally, I have a spare moment to mention my experience on the “China – A Chance for Young European Designers” panel in Berlin.

A growing number of foreign fashion designers are landing in China. History’s greatest economic miracle now might provide both markets for foreign brands and employment for foreign talent. This latest generation of foreigners focused on China is young, based here rather than overseas, and sees its future with Chinese companies as this market continues to expand.

我终于有空来写在柏林参加的以“中国–年轻欧洲设计师的舞台”为主题的研讨会了。

越来越多的外国设计师开始在中国落脚了。中国，这样一个历史上经济的奇迹，向外国品牌提供市场也为外国设计师们的天赋提供舞台。最新的一批年轻的外国设计师选择在中国拓宽市场，展望他们的未来。

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For Poor Bums who can’t Afford a Real Panda

Wondering what on earth these creatures are? Originally dogs, they were displayed to the public by pet beauty salons recently in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

It might not be incredible that in China pursuit of fashion could be transfered to pets in such an amusing way. When the UK’s Dailymail found these pictures they were startled and comments from readers connected this to China’s record for animal cruelty. How could one not mention that Chinese like eating dogs?

看得出来这些小动物们是什么么？嗯，他们是狗，6月份时在河南郑州被某家宠物美容院对外展出。好像任何怪异的事在大陆总是能迅速流行。

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At Martell Artist of The Year Party

Martell has been presenting an Artist of The Year Award for several years. Like 2009, the 2010 party was held at the Today Art Museum. Find out more information about the artists at this Chinese language site.

马爹利非凡艺术人物获奖作品巡展已经举办了很多年了。和09年一样，今年的展在今日美术馆举办，更多信息，请看这里。

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A Kazakh Design Student

Astana, Kazakhstan, now has the world’s biggest tent, a city-within-a-city called Khan Shatyr. To celebrate the completion of this monumental edifice and the new global prominence of Kazakhstan’s frigid, futuristic capital, Stylites’ Liang Cheng interviewed Siko, a fashion student from Astana. In Beijing for six years, he is currently finishing his first year at Raffles Design Institute, majoring in fashion design.

Siko 来自哈萨克斯坦, 在北京已经6年，能讲一口流利的普通话。Siko在莱佛士设计学院学时装设计, 刚上完第一年的课程。

LC: What attracts you most about Beijing? And why did you choose to come here?

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Appallingly Busy

Upon arrival in Beijing I found a seemingly infinite number of things requiring handling. My magazine is having a big party tonight, the August issue has to be wrapped up in the next few days and I haven’t even started writing, tomorrow there’s a photo shoot for my “Stylish Traveler” column in National Geographic Traveler 《时尚旅游》, and my column for China International Business is due.

一回北京我好像又开始被各种各样的事务缠身了。

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After Panel in Berlin

It turns out that Nicole Chen, founder of NC STYLE, was in Berlin at the same time as me. I asked if she was interested in participating in the panel on Western designers organized by ESMOD and – despite the short notice – she graciously agreed. NC STYLE advises on China market entry for foreign fashion labels. They represent a range of fashion forward brands, including Y-3.

More on the panel in the next post, which I will write upon arrival in Beijing. Right now I am racing to catch my flight out of Paris.

NC.STYLE 是中国第一家为国外品牌进入中国市场提供建议的时尚顾问公司。