By Suzy
After what seemed like an eternity, summer is here at last. This year’s Modern Sky Strawberry Festival was one of the first occasions to enjoy the sunshine. We will soon post more pictures of beautiful ladies and cool boys.
Category: Beijing Street Style
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More from Vintage Ride
Here are a few more images from the Beijing Vintage Ride. My images and those of Wang Peng also appear in this post on S Magazine.
Cardinal Moments at Dior
Photos: Penn
It was almost as if he was there to exorcise the demons that were raised during the Dior show, with its occult and militaristic references. I did not get to find out why this young man decided on an outfit that suggested the scarlet cassocks cardinals of the Roman Catholic church though he skipped the hat.
Style.com’s Beijing Man: Jeffrey Ying
Photos: Penn
Jeffrey Ying is now the main man covering events for Style.com here in Beijing. Here is his piece on the Dior Homme show.
Dior at CAFA
Photos: Penn
Dior Homme staged its first-ever fashion show outside of France on Thursday at the Central Academy of Fine Art (CAFA) in Northeastern Beijing. Long-loved by local fashionisatas, this was the most eagerly-awaited event of the year, up till now. Purportedly, other brands even changed the timing for their events to avoid being lost in the media excitement surrounding this event. Etro was supposedly to be staging a major fashion show at CAFA this year, which now not going to be on until 2014.
Designer Kris van Assche gave adoring audiences a line-up of black, midnight blue and white that was well-received, as expected, though some commented that Prada had done this years ago. My own critique, if you can call it that, was more related to the sinister, dystopian feeling of the show. My immediate feeling at the end was that I just seen an army of futuristic stormtroopers from a conformist perfect society in a controlled by technocrats well-versed in the occult. The triangles within a circle made me think of the all-seeing eye on the US dollar, and van Assche said it was a reference to men’s societies at institutions like Harvard. Others spectators seemed to agree that there was a certain feeling of the National Socialists.
Tweedy Beijing
They probably debated about whether to just call it the Beijing Tweed Run and then decided that tweed was too British or too obscure for local tastes. For the participants, however, the look was most definitely tweedy. I had no idea that there was quite this much check, argyle and houndstooth in wardrobes around the city.
From the 700bike site, here are pics of just about all the attendees. Also, for comparison, their site has some very nice photos of tweed runs in London, Tokyo, and Moscow, which is oddly one of the most stylish assemblies of men I have ever seen.
Wang Peng
At first, I was aghast that photographer Wang Peng was on a scooter during the Vintage Ride, but of course to take all those great photos he had to move a bit faster than the rest of us. I took this one from my bike. Thanks for all the great images, Wang Peng!
“Retro” is Better
Photos: Penn
Sometimes I think what people like to call “retro” – which often means “formal” or “proper” – is a code word for “more attractive”. The styles that are supposedly of a bygone era are just the ones that make most men look more attractive. As it has frenetically become a hyper-modern society, China has tended to opt for casual, rather mediocre, types of styles. We saw at the Tweed Run how much better men can look if they dress in a slightly more formal, but at the same time, more fun style. All body types are benefited by a bit more formality. In an excessively casual world, only those with perfect bodies still manage to be attractive.
Beijing’s Bike Lanes, From Above
Photos: Penn
Where did Wang Peng perch to take these photos?
The flatness and brevity of the ride made it perfect for preening. The weather was also perfect for neither working up a sweat nor getting chilly while wearing tweed sport coat and vest. In fact, at 10km – a fairly standard Beijing commute – this ride proved that it is quite possible to look good every day while riding down Beijing wide bike paths.
The Beijing Vintage Ride
Photos: Penn
Wang Peng captured some great images of all the tweedy people that came out yesterday for the first ever Beijing Vintage Ride, mostly inspired by similar events in London, Tokyo and elsewhere.
The event was startlingly successful in terms of number of participants, their level of style preparedness and the fanciness of their bikes. There was general level of enthusiasm for a stylish sort of bicycling culture, but more of my thoughts on this in future posts.
Girls of Winter
Photos and Interviews by Suzy
Summer is the season in Beijing that I especially loath, but cold weather has really endured this year. I keep having to turn the heat back on in my hutong. In offices and most high-rises, the heat has been off since mid March. The frigid temperatures indoors mean the tweed sport coats have had ample play recently. Supposedly, there is yet another colf front coming in tomorrow. All of this probably means that it will be an even more sweltering summer than normal. Temperatures above 30 degrees will probably start next Monday.
I kept thinking that these images from over the winter would not really fit given that it was already late in the year. Perhaps this most violent and eternal of winters warrants this reprisal that includes all the photos from the last winter that were not posted here. So below are some profiles and photos from the snowiest, longest winter in all of my years in Beijing. Suzy talked to some of the hip young ladies that give Beijing its character and bohemian charm.
17
Photos by Suzy
Another one from Suzy’s feature for Aritzia, 17 is a young artist from Hebei who chose the name – perhaps with a hint of irony – in the hopes of staying forever young.
A Vintage Princess
Photos by Suzy
I will be posting some of the outtakes from the Aritzia feature that Suzy photographed a while back.
You can read more about Karen, a vintage shop owner, on their site.
Beijing Vintage Bike Run
I will be joining and photographing the first annual Beijing Vintage Bike Run on April 20. Organized by Serk and 700bike, inspiration comes from the now famous London Tweed Run, an event clearly more about clothes than bikes. This ride will take 100 hip biking enthusiasts from Sanlitun, through a not terribly picturesque collection of ring-roads and high-rises, to the 798 Art District. Tweed is welcome but the specific style recommendation for the event is 70s and 80s China retro chic, meaning Mao suits and such. It is perfect tweed weather in Beijing at the moment, but I fear it will suddenly be completely summery in three weeks time.
You can sign up here, but be fast since spots are limited.