Hair Stylist in Tuxedo Shirt at Dongsi

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He was just about ready to go back inside after finishing a smoke. He does a pretty good job of not appearing chilly. This hair stylist on Dongsi avenue seems more sophisticated than his unruly peers at Xidan. Dongsi is famous throughout Beijing for its hair stylists, many of whom are said to have trained in Korea. The street is lined with both tiny establishments and larger and higher end ones like this. In modern Beijing, the Eastern part of the city with the Central Business District and embassies is generally more developed, though the West is coming up as well. The Southern part of the city is the more backward part, in the opinion of locals.

They always say that it takes a certain type of man to wear a tuxedo shirt without a tie and links without a suit. I think this guy is doing it even though I suspect that he doesn’t ever this shirt with a bow tie. I also like the bell bottoms, or perhaps wide leg trousers since I’m not sure if they flare or not. This type of trousers is definitely out of fashion, even in China, so this look takes confidence. These particular trousers were actually custom-made. The very slim ankle is the rage here, just as it has been for a while in the West and in Japan. Fuller cuts, though not the flared trousers of a few years ago, are coming back into style though. The slim, tapered pants do not look good on everyone.

Christmas Eve

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When you’re 16, you don’t have to be subtle about getting into the spirit of the season. She’s a student at a foreign language high school. Deliberately dressing this way for the occasion, she plans to attend the Christmas Eve mass at Wangfujing church, the largest and probably oldest in Beijing. Though not Christian, she says that young people in China today are very interested in Western culture, which is why she’s attending church and is dressed this way. As far as polka-dot on polka-dot ensembles go, I think the boot and stocking match works…fairly well. Revealing bare leg between the stockings and coat is pretty naughty.

Edit: I just realized I had spelled the word “stocking” as “stalking” in above. It’s a funny mistake to make on Christmas.

Paul Smith at Oriental Plaza Closes

Apparently the Paul Smith at Oriental Plaza – the only Paul Smith in Beijing – has closed. I’m trying to get to the bottom of this, but I wonder if it is in any way connected to the proliferation of Paul Smith fakes in China. The number of Paul Smith items listed on Taobao.com has now surpassed 20,000. I’m not sure if there is a single authentic item.

Kenzo is now the only bastion of upscale quirkiness in Beijing’s most popular mall. It is far from rivaling Paul Smith.

IKEA – A Fashion Design Student

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The other day, I visited IKEA for the first time – I had never been in the States or Europe. The deep pink coat and wool polka scarf of this fashion design student had a sixties flair, distinguishing her from the numberless hoards of identical members of the new middle class who crowd IKEA and made me feel very claustrophobic.

There may have been a place with a better light situation to photograph her, but I wanted to include the message that is behind her. IKEA asks customers to bus their own trays, a novel concept in China – even McDonald’s has given up on this. The sign explains that this is to save on costs so that they can keep prices low. In general, IKEA impressed me with the efforts they make to educate customers on European modes of shopping and attitudes toward consumption. They are the only retailer I have seen in China that charges for plastic bags and, everywhere, they highlight the use of recycled materials. In the self-packing area, they ask customers to leave any unused cardboard for others to use. I’ve never been to Walmart, but I suspect they do not go to these lengths, and they probably don’t sell such ingeniously designed knick-knacks.

The IKEA in Beijing is the second largest in the world after the one in Stockholm. Being half Swedish, I was quite proud to see how crowded it was and the cleverness of everything. It was also nice to have Swedish meatballs, layer cakes, and sparkling water in the cafeteria. Of course, IKEA is no longer Swedish, and in fact IKEA doesn’t even seem to be a company, as this economist article explains. The store does maintain its Swedish feel though, and it is great to see it in China.

Europeans might have an easier time exporting their eco-friendly mentality to China than to America. A recent survey revealed that around 60% of Americans see global warming as a serious problem while nearly 80% of Chinese do. The number must be 100% in the Bay Area, but it’s not surprising Americans are less worried when you consider that most of them live in places where pollution is barely noticeable. Also, we tend to export our dirtiest industries to other countries. Global warming and pollution are not the same, but when you live in a smaller environment that is visibly deteriorating and warming due to human activity, year after year, it is easier to accept the warnings of scientists regarding the worldwide situation.

Xidan: Simple is Rare

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Ms. Chen must seem fairly “normal” compared to most of the people I find. She caught my eye mainly because she was the most simply dressed person in a huge field of bubble-gum pink, leopard boots, and sequins at Xidan. In that cacophony of fluorescent, overblown make-up and synthetics, someone can really stand out through not trying too hard and being gentle on the eye. She said she doesn’t care much about fashion.

Xidan Hair Stylists

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These hair stylists stand outside the malls of Xidan all winter long, waylaying unsuspecting passersby, attempting to drag them in for a cut. They insist that the potential victim’s hair looks terrible and that they can do a better job – or perhaps it is just my hairdo that is particularly dreadful. Even if it is, I’m not sure that I would trust them to make it alright.

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These guys are particularly aggressive with females. They will corner unattached girls, getting really close to them, and talk to them for as long as possible, even following them. I don’t think it is mean-spirited or with definite ill-intent, but it certainly would make me uncomfortable if I were one of the targets.

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I like the rock and roll look of this guy. I think it is important to realize that Stylites is a record. Much of the time this is an anthropological exercise rather than an aesthetic one. I’m not deliberately attempting to provide style inspirations or examples of refined taste. The attempt is to document the development of style and fashion on the of Beijingers – to show the style landscape, as it were. So if the people photographed are rookies in the world of style or global fashion, then that is what will be here. I’m going to be putting up a full mission statement soon, that will pick up on these ideas.

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This guy was trying to help me find other people to photograph, though that might have been yet another ploy to talk to girls.

A Teacher at Nanluoguxiang

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After all of these pics of young bohemians and foreigners promenading down Nanluoguxiang, Beijing’s hippest traditional hutong, I decided to photograph one of the real residents. Mr. Li Shuming is a painting teacher and he has lived on the street for several decades.

I liked the hat and the nice fit of his Mao jacket, actually called a Zhongshan jacket in China after Sun Yatsen. The jacket is made out of a thick wool, unlike most of the Mao jackets I see which are made from a ratty poly-blend. This is great outerwear and I suggest that viewers consider having modernized versions tailor-made.

Ethically Produced and Ecologically Sound?

H&M is offering organic cotton, but it seems people are dubious regarding the ethical standards of factories that produce for H&M. Wouldn’t it be funny if you could walk into a store and see detailed production data for each rag right on the tag?

“This cashmere sweater was produced with prison labor in Jiangxi province, but the dyes are all natural.”

“This silk/rayon blend scarf was handmade, by a locally owned factory, in a Yunnanese village, but the chemical dyes run off into the nearby Xi brook. Birth defects are common downstream in Wu county.”

“This organic cotton wife beater was produced by workers treated fairly and ethically. The owner of the factory was just shot for bribing the local magistrate.”

But I don’t want to scare people away with my dark, and not very amusing, humor. I do have solutions. With the level of education of the average consumer, we deserve the maximum amount of transparency possible. I propose the following online trading site for handmade goods.

I’m sure you’ve heard of it, but it is a very interesting and strangely retro concept. One of the more interesting aspects of it is that you can see detailed information about the creators and even links to their sites. It is a much friendlier community than ebay. More on this later.

HK Yogurt Bearer

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Some visiting HK girls walking down Nanluoguxiang. My eye was actually caught by the yogurt bottle in the hand of one. This sweetened yogurt, in a reusable bottle, sells at every street corner here in Beijing. I try to drink this rather than other sweetened beverages, because it saves packaging. This yogurt costs about one US quarter and has been on offer here for over a decade. Consumption of yogurt and other dairy products in China has skyrocketed, with support from government, because many experts have pointed to the advantages of consuming calcium. The amount of sweetened yogurt selling in grocery stores is astounding, though non-sweetened plain yogurt is impossible to find outside of stores catering to foreigners. Chinese find the flavor of our Middle Eastern yogurt to be too sour.

Massive Green Scarf

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I saw this scarf from two hundreds meters away, even though I am near-sighted. Getting closer, I saw that it was quite a fabulous piece with a big herringbone and a woolly but soft-looking texture. This is perfect for the windy winters of Beijing. I wasn’t surprised to hear that the wearer is a Londoner – they often have a quirky but confident kind of style. She is here studying for a year.

Men in Boots, II

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From Chengdu, T. P. is an interpreter, fluent in English, Spanish, French and Mandarin. He was here to visit Daniel, a sportswear designer I photographed on another day.

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The leather vest adds a somewhat Bavarian flavor to the ensemble. I don’t know that I’ve seen such a vest in Beijing. He seems ready for hiking in the alps, but the boots in jeans look also seems very appropriate for harsh climate of Beijing.

Girl in Boots

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She’s lovely, but that’s almost boring for a girl here in Beijing. The modesty of her outfit, the sensitive fit of the garments, is what allures. In a city where 95% of females opt for flash and sequins combined with tight pants, this is refreshing; viewers might notice that eye-grabbing but gentle and natural styles tend to characterize the women and men appearing on stylites.net.

This clip reminded me of a pocket watch. If anything is played out, it’s jeans tucked into boots for women, but the loose jeans in more relaxed boots was something a little different.

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Valery – I seemed to have misplaced his business card – runs a gallery nearby Dawang Road. It specializes in art by Europeans. I hope to make it out there some time. He is French himself. His scarf is dyed fur, but I’m not sure from which animal.

Wu Xiangdong is a model and designer – the coat is his own creation. He is also “artistic inspector” for www.bjfsgh.cn.

This trend is far bigger than dhoti pants. Every other fashionable man I see seems to have the jeans tucked into shortish boots thing going this winter. Somehow, I feel that the look must seem edgier in the US. There “pretentious” would be on the lips of every conservative, Brooks Brothersite. Traditionally, people in the States have always worried about appearing pretentious.