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Classic Beijing: Rockers in Skinnies

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I should start a “classic Beijing” category. It would include young rockers like this and old men in Mao jackets, which is the sort of funny combination that makes this an interesting place to live. Thinking of the city and its denizens, I immediately think of an image like these two. I was going to add “post 2000” but in images and movies of youth in the city from the late 1980s, I’ve noticed some of these types. Is the current breed as tough, as genuine, as their spiritual forebears?

It’s a much more pleasant image than that of a chubby businessmen with alligator loafers holding a pleather murse or a kept woman in pink fur carrying LV, which are what I think of for several other prosperous towns. Beijing is China’s bohemia. You noticed, I’m sure.

The city never feels bereft of boy rockers in their skinny jeans. They have appeared on stylites many times: last year and more recently. Plenty of girls too: Norwegian, Gia, and rather pretty.

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Black, White and Gray

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Eva is a jewelery designer from Guangdong province, who focuses on designs in silver. She was up in Beijing on business, but she was also enjoying some sightseeing in the old town. Designing for a range of major brands, she recently made the decision to discontinue the website she used to maintain for showing her designs. She explained that too many of her designers were being copied. This experienced designer is obviously no novice when it comes to dressing with a careful, coordinated and personalized style. Others should take note.

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Hardly Dowdy

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Swede Jesper Lindquist is the co-Creative Director and co-founder of the Dowdy fourhundred, a leather bag maker. Ali Nosrati, his partner, has been on Stylites before. The model in his hand is the Edith, named after the singer. “Dowdy” refers to unfashionable and unattractive people, while “the fourhundred” is society’s elite and the production run for each of their models.
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Clubtime Photographers and Rockers

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These two fun street style photographers took a picture of me for clubtime, another site that features Beijing street style photos. They are also rockers and the one in the green trousers is rather pretty and good-looking. It seems websites about clubbing are the thing these days in Beijing. There is also a clubzone, with design and content as busy and stimulating as clubtime. My lips aren’t nearly so pink as that picture suggests, though I do tend to wear too many colors and boldy and foolishly disobey the edict that elegance comes from removing the first item that catches the eye.

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From Hubei to the Rive Gauche?

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From Hubei, Liu Yiwen (刘伊雯) is a French language major at People’s University of China. She hopes to go into the hotel management business and visit Europe at some point. Interestingly, a designer friend has just mentioned to me that Parisians love wearing black and green.

Her outfit may not seem particularly startling, but is notable in both use of proportion and color. Also, college students hardly ever wear outfits that are simple and attractive. The goal is usually to throw as many odd pieces together as possible.

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“China’s Françoise Sagan”

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From Heilongjiang Province, Niu Mingyu (牛明昱), 27, has been described by French friends as China’s Françoise Sagan. His life is far more adventurous and debaucherous than hers was, he says. In addition to novellas, he writes regularly about beauty, culture, and lifestyle for Trends’ L’Officiel, Rayli, New Weekly, and a range of other publications. Last month, he wrote eighty-thousand characters.

Mr. Niu also works full-time as an editor at China Cosmetics (中国美容时尚画报), a recently founded bimonthly magazine that is an offshoot of ten year old China Beauty (中国美容时尚报) magazine and claims a circulation of 170,000. These are part of the media group founded by one Zhang Xiaomei, who is also a CPPCC National Committee member and keeps a blog.

His jacket is from Croquis, the male line that is part of Hangzhou-based JNBY, one of China’s most successful brands that was formed completely locally.

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Lady High Schooler

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Korean youngsters are fond of this type of ladylike style. I approve. In Beijing for six months so far, Korean Choi Ahrang attends international high school. Recently, we have seen more high schoolers: one from Austria and others from Beijing. Beijing boasts a wide selection of shops offering style from Korea, both of this more “youth elegance” type and of the more streetwear variety. Last year, I profiled a young lady who owns a boutique specializing in this type of Korean fashion as well as her employee. Prior to this, there has only been one actual Korean on Stylites.

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Except on the weekend, it’s pretty hard to find Chinese high school students outside of those horrible nylon uniforms that look like something that might be favored by Jersey mafiosas. Still, they do find ways to be a bit rebellious, usually with shoes. Until very recently, if a Chinese student dressed and made-up like the Korean one above and had her hair permed, they would probably be told off by the teacher and grounded by their parents. It would be taken as indisputable proof that they were pursuing relations the opposite sex.

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The Redcoats are Taking Beijing

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But they aren’t British this time and I think Poland could do with a conquest or two. Tomasz Sajewic is the Beijing correspondent for Polish National Radio. Here he is wearing the same coat that Le Divan designer Aurelien was wearing three posts back. The only difference is that Tomasz’s coat has buttons and in this light Tomasz’s looks more orange. Most of Tomasz’s scarves are custom-made of silk that he orders from Thailand. As it turns out, everyone I know seems to be in Thailand this week.

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The Value of Chinese Art

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Outside of the Beijing Center for the Arts in Qianmen’s Legation Quarter (read more at the IHT), I met Lu Wei (陆薇）, the “Responsible Editor” at Art Value, a new art magazine established in cooperation with the Art Research Analysis Center of Central Academy of Fine Art. We had both just seen the opening of avant-garde artist Gu Dexin works that included a three story high transparent pillar filled with thousands of pig hearts, which, incidentally, had leaked small amounts of blood on the basement of the gallery.

So what is the value of Chinese art these days? Brian Wallace of Red Gate Gallery tells NPR that values have dropped by over fifty percent, on average. It could be a great time to stock up. Chinese art might be going back to being for its own sake.

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Again, Tiny Beijing

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As I just mentioned, Beijing is huge and tiny. There are hordes, but the people that matter are a tiny minority. In other cities like New York, people say the same thing, but I don’t think it is nearly as true there. New Yorkers have an attitude and a very evident life-force and they often use it to wallop passersby. They want you to know how special and incredible they are. The vast majority of New Yorkers are economic, social, cultural, and even political actors. They buy lattes and crave Prada, have love affairs, go to see bands perform, and vote or at least have impassioned stances on the issues of the day. They have discretionary income; on them, advertising dollars are not wasted. Their parents probably already own a house somewhere.

The recession may have changed this a bit and clearly there are many in New York who do not fit into this happy meritocratic elite. A huge number of the faces one sees remain still bold and distinctive. In Beijing, this group is small, as it is in other US cities. Most people remain part of the support crew. The people actually drinking the wine (and not just to seal a business relationship) are a small percentage of the population.

All this to say that I constantly run into familiar faces within this small group. Yesterday, I ran into journalist and editor, Edward, first on Nanluoguxiang and then at Mesh, in Sanlitun, around nine. He was looking cute in his fancy the bow-tie.

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Le Divan: For Beijing’s Happy Few

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Here are Aurelien and Tony, the badboys of Le Divan studio in red and black. Their pieces, crafted right at their studio in Caochangdi, comes both prêt à porter and made-to-measure. The prêt à porter is in extremely limited quantities and would only fit a very blessed portion of the population. Contact them directly to schedule a viewing as their brand is not available at any shop.

Tony had been wearing a thick winter hat immediately before the shot. Also, considering Aurelien’s hair, I’m worried that there may not be a hairdresser out in Caochangdi. That would be a good excuse for any hair condition, since Caochangdi is about ten-thousand li from the center of the city. I didn’t hear the explanation for Tony’s shoes.

Aurelien has appeared on Stylites several times, wearing black and white and silk tweed. Tony has been here, too. Both also were on the Sartorialist.

Their work will be on display at next Thursday’s Uniform X party at Punk.

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From Hefei to Shibuya

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From Anhui, Rinko is a writer of pop music who is based here in Beijing. She is a lover of all things Japanese, from style to the language. She spent a half-year in Tokyo studying composition. Rinko is also the girlfriend of Ali Nosrati, founder and owner of the dowdy fourhundred. Next Thursday at Punk Bar in the basement of Opposite House, the dowdy fourhundred leather bags will be on display during a pretentious and decadent party that I am helping host.