At first glance fairly uneventful though, definitely cool, hipsters, the shoes on both are nice. He didn’t want to show his face, let alone mention his name.
Photo: Weina Zhao
Author: stylites
Nels Frye is a freelance writer, photographer, consultant and stylist, based in Beijing. Focuses are on street style, other consumer trends, and broader social issues.
Top Stylites Viewing Cities and Countries
Cities:
1. Beijing
2. Hong Kong
3. Shanghai
4. New York
5. London
Countries:
1. China
2. USA
3. Germany
4. Canada
5. UK
P1 Photographer: Stevie
Stevie is a photographer for P1.cn, a major social networking site with a major street fashion component. He was nice enough to lend me his P1 card at their last event so that I could get a complimentary lychee martini.
Jeffrey Ying’s Favorites: Tsingtao and Chunghwa
Here’s Jeffrey Ying again – this time showing his appreciation for some of China’s most famous brands. I’m sure most of you know that it is no accident that he is wearing a custom Mao Suit and smoking Chung Hwa, the favorite cigarette brand of the Chairman. Jeffrey also only smokes this premium, but extremely heavy, brand. Mao was apparently not a particularly big drinker and Zhou Enlai was known for being able to put down more shots than his boss.
A Landscape Dress
The dress is from a Spanish designer but seems so Chinese. She is a magazine editor.
Lover of Dandies
A direct descendant of Tang Dynasty General Cheng Yaojin (程咬金), Liaoning-born Nina (程宛å®) immigrated to the US at age four and she grew up in the region of New York. Now she lives in Williamsburg, though she frequently visits China. After majoring in English in university, she was an investment banker until that career became a bit less stylish. Her major project currently is a men’s accessories brand, Oriens & Grey. She describes the best menswear as of a higher quality level than anything for women and generally of more classic design. Nina asked Li Bosheng (æŽåšç”Ÿ) a famous Beijing-based jade worker to craft the money clips, tie bars, cuff links and other precious goodies of Oriens and Grey.
SOHO Stylists
These two are assistants at SOHO New Town, one of the older SOHOs, for International Star Entertainment Group, a fashion photography company with offices in Beijing and Hong Kong.
Tribal Chief: Kevin Tallon
An instructor at Central Saint Martins College, London, Kevin Tallon now designs for a very fashion-forward sportswear label with Italian roots, now here in China. He is spearheading efforts to make this brand the most stylish one in its category for the Chinese market. The first collection will be in stores this fall.
He makes the long flight out to Beijing almost every month, so he is now considering whether it might not be better to settle his two daughters and wife here in Beijing. It would be a fabulous chance for them learn the most important language of the 21st Century and experience its most important economy. He’s just a little bit worried about the pollution here.
Kevin, who also appeared last year on Stylites, just came out with a book on fashion trends among Chinese youth that relies heavily on my photos. The book, Fashion Tribes: China, is now available on Amazon, and looks in depth at the rapidly changing fashion landscape here.
At Hermès, in The Opposite House
Mickey is a senior fashion editor at the Chinese edition of a well-known magazine that is part of a still better-known American publishing group. I met her at the Hermès fall trunk show held at the Presidential Suite of The Opposite House. Much of the collection was aviation inspired.
Blue Maruko
Meng Yue (åŸçŽ¥)adores all things Japanese, and her foreign name is Maruko. From Beijing, she is attending university in Nanjing. She was with two friends who have the exact same hair color as she does, but her style and feel was a bit sweeter than theirs.
A Sartorial Model for Beijing Men
Born in Beijing, George headed to the States at 13, but still believes the East is the best. He is back in Beijing to bring his family business to new heights after serving at an investment bank in Hong Kong for around four years. Like many, he prefers Beijing to Hong Kong, believing that the southern city has little of interest happening beyond money-making. The northern capital offers a more diversified lifestyle. We hope that George’s dress sense will be frequently imitated by his fellow Beijing men.
Hong Kong does have one advantage over Beijing for George. It is has more outlets offering fine menswear and accessories. George is fond of the Neapolitan silhouette and construction methods and here he wears a cotton, unlined, Borelli suit and Canali silk knit tie.
Beida Ogilvy Intern
Majoring in International Relations at mighty Beijing University, third-year Emmie would prefer to be studying something related to media. The main problem, she says, is that international realtions is too politicized a field and one rarely learns anything with real substance. As is the case with so many others who are unhappily wedded to their courses of study, Emmie ended up in International Relations as a result of her Gaokao score. Otherwise, she has no major complaints about life at Beida. She gets along with her three roommates and feels lucky that she doesn’t live with five or even seven.
Her two-month summer internship at the PR company Ogilvy will hopefully set her on a more favorable path, which should allow her to work in foreign companies after graduation. Often, majoring in something like international relations would only lead one to a government job or, at best, work in a state-run company. Emmie points out that foreign companies in China and state-run companies operate in completely different systems. Advancement in the latter depends almost completely on relationships, whereas the situation is somewhat more standardized with the foreigners. Of course, she acknowledges, foreign companies must operate effectively in the guanxi system if they are to succeed in this country and degrees of localization vary a great deal from one company to the next.
Sartorialist Working with Milk China
The Sartorialist has teamed up with MiLK China and Adidas to release a series of street style photos that will appear in the August issue of MiLK. More here.
Chaoyangmen Subway Station Blues
I just encountered Adam, a rather remarkable fellow who will be blessing Xicheng district with his gentle but quirky charm for the next two weeks. He is a Wushu practitioner who is, rather amazingly, just back from teaching this Chinese martial art in Shanxi. Fluent in Persian, French and English, this LA-born half-Iranian has become quite good at Chinese after just a month in this country.
The all blue, all linen (besides the gator shoes) ensemble includes a sport coat from Armani and trousers from Comme des Garçons.
Von Furstenberg Dress on Wangfujing
A Marketing Director at Van Cleef’s & Arpels, Ms. Aude Bousser has worked for fashion brands for quite a few years though she returns to her home in Paris nearly every month. She thinks that opportunities are much more in the Asia market, especially China, both because of the growth and because women are more inclined to make decisions on purchases like jewelry by themselves and then spend their own money. Further, she says that Chinese women with careers tend to be more independent minded than their sisters in the West.
After opening a new shop at Wangfujing, the next big task will be this fall in Hangzhou, where she believes Van Cleef’s & Arpels is less known but the people of the city love to spend on luxury goods.
Her dress is from Diane Von Furstenberg.