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Erdos Prints

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Erdos – usually quite a dowdy sort of label the one sees in those older luxury malls that appeal to an older, less sophisticated demographic and in second-tier cities –  has really changed its image quite a bit.  They have been using foreign designers and hypermodel Liu Wen as a brand face, so things are coming along quite a bit.  The prints for this Spring’s collection were especially compelling as you can see in these images.

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Harrod & Ji Pop-up

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Harrod & Ji (instagram here), the newest multi-brand boutique to open in Beijing specializing in heels and bags, is now presenting a pop-up shop at the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing. Designers featured include Ruthie Davis, Chrissie Morris, Crisian M London, Thale Blanc, Andrea Mabiani, Oscar Tiye, Maison Duposh and Henri Lepore Dezert. Check out more pictures of the pop-up and the special sales event that they did in the tea garden of the hotel.

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Mark Werts on Showroom Shanghai

Mark Werts

Mark Werts, the founder of American Rag Cie, one of the most interesting multi-brand retailers in the world, founded in Los Angeles in 1984, visited Shanghai recently and attended Showroom Shanghai (时堂）, a rising trade fair in that city. Stylites works quite a bit with The HUB, a Hong Kong-based trade fair, but there are several events somewhat like this rising in the region to try to capture the boom in local designers, the rise of multi-brand stores, and the increasing appetite of local customers for small and medium sized foreign brands. Another interesting fair in Shanghai that is also gaining in strength is On Time, organized by Thomas Thompson and others.

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On Pop-ups at the Four Seasons

Sanjiv Hulugalle has done more than most hotel general managers to make sure the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing stands out in a crowded luxury landscape, as this Jing Daily article reports. “I’ve been across the globe. In reality, there is a consistency based on people wanting great service and experiences. In China you are seeing a surge of travelers and at a scale that’s unique to the rest of the world; you have people who want to experience things for the first time, but you also have people who have traveled a lot globally and want a luxury experience in their own country.” Discussing the pop-up shops, Sanjiv continues: “The idea for pop-ups started small. Now people are lining up to get a slot. It’s not a huge revenue generator. It creates a buzz. This place is packed compared to six to eight months ago.” When asked to comment on whether a pop-up shop concept would be considered off-brand for a luxury property the General Manger believes, “When you talk from a brand positioning perspective, we as a hotel are very much based around creating experiences for our guests, not only personalized, but unique, that the guest may not have the opportunity to experience anywhere else in the world.”

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Juma Studio @ FSBJ

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‘Journey’ by Juma Studio opens at the Four Seasons Hotel Beijing next week.

For the last few months we have been working on a program of pop-up shops at the hotel that I believe has the potential to remake the retail landscape here in China.

With space at shopping centers in China’s top cities difficult to come by for multi-brand stores and smaller designers and traffic far too low on streets, luxury hotels are an interesting alternative for independent players. A regular flow of high-end customers, premium locations, a tendency on the Mainland toward very large lobbies and the need of these hotels for fresh content all combine to offer a very attractive environment for independent players in fashion. These types of shopping experiences have been seen at hotels in the West but they are more important in China, given the size and speed of development of the market. Niche retailers like Wuhao or a small, start-up, brand like Juma can get their foothold in this market via this kind of event.

Here’s an interesting article from the Jing Daily on the subject.

Click below to see some of the rudimentary mood boards that I created.

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Zhang Chi Masks

Zhang Chi

9/11 aside, it’s funny that apocalypse-type movies are always set in New York when in Beijing the Four Horsemen always seem to be around the corner. Three more days of this and evacuation plans should be activated, but before that I need to start wearing a gas mask from Zhang Chi.

Beijing is back to hazardous 400 Pm 2.5 levels after around a half year of being at merely unhealthy levels.

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Imagination Takes Wingtip

O'Quirey Patrick Jiang Jiang Ming Beijing Koen Naber

Dutch shoemaker O’Quirey is no stranger to striking brogues. Red, light blue, the orange from the national flag and tartan are just some of the unexpected colors and patterns of their most popular styles. But it’s only in Beijing that there footwear has truly become a canvas. Country Manager Koen Naber asked well-known interior decorator and owner of design store Dara, Patrick Jiang, to take his brush to a pair of pale blue wingtip brogues. Jiang is something of a local celebrity and his taste and style are well-respected by local elites and the fashion set, so there couldn’t have been a better choice. This most traditional style of Western shoe gains from the spirit and energy of China’s artistic capital with this one-of-a-kind piece that can be customized in other unique styles on request.