Stylites

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Peter Caplowe of the HUB talks about the style in China, the recent trade fair in Hong Kong, and plans for the future including collaboration with Beijing’s Chic Young Blood in this interview with City Weekend.

While trends in fashion and related arenas are fleeting, changing by the season, fashion show, or trend set by some celebrity, some fashion items never go out of style and basically remain the same. Watches belong to this class of item that doesn’t change much, but never really goes out of style either. Besides their practical functions, they are an all-round accessory; different watches can be matched to fit any outfit, event, or style. Watch are the most versatile accessory.

A good number of stylites photos were just featured in a Seattle show called Fashiony, organized by Erika Dalya Massaquoi. Here is more info on that from the Stranger.

Please have a look at my overview of the successes of The Hub as well as the challenges it faces here on the Jing Daily. The event is bound to become the focal point for fashion in Asia, but it will take a couple years.

It was hard to avoid those thoughts of envy and “grass must be greener” as I entered one of the most eccentric, fabulous spaces I’ve yet seen, the House of Siren. Hong Kong seemed the hippest city on earth. Of the numerous parties surrounding The Hub, this must have been the most singular.

Nothing matters more for fashion brands big and small than Chinese consumers. Now niche brands are flocking to these realms, many of them choosing Hong Kong’s the Hub (August 28-30) as a point to launch their Eastern adventures. The delicately curated list of brands from the West, Japan and other parts of Asia come to this event seeking partnerships with influential retailers and major investors in the Mainland and beyond. The Hub both catalyzes and embodies many major changes in the global fashion industry and overall style zeitgeist.

Boticca offers that rush of excitement that online shopping promised. Tired of the succession of websites with the same generic products from the old hyper-labels under PPR, LVMH, etc. all at similar high prices or even discount, we want to past all the flashy propaganda of the last two decades telling us the only route to status was a logoed bag or scent. The post-megabrand era is here for the style elite, which needs unique items that reflect their own eclectic, creative identity. Intelligent consumers won’t pay the needless markup for an item owned by thousands across the world. They expect expert work, unique design available in limited volumes and an products that have an appealing, fully articulated story.

A liberating joy of the internet is that we can stop buying only the brands with the scale and financing to set up on Main Street. Sites like Boticca, plus the efficiency and reliability of modern shipping, should let consumers from Moosejaw, Saskatchewan, to Xining, Qinghai, dress as stylishly and uniquely as those in Manhattan. If your search can find it, it can be yours. A creative designer and artisan like Japan-born, Florence-based Arata Fuchi who uses South Korean Kum-bo crafting techniques themselves might have lacked the scale needed for marketing and retailing. A platform like Boticca provides the platform for the type of unique eclectic brand or individual that might have once only been available from a little store in some alleyway in Naples or Marakesh.

Exoticism and rarity are not enough, of course. The curators from Boticca have the right eye too. Their selection – now over 10,000 unique pieces from 345 designers based in 42 countries worldwide – focuses on items that are modern and traditional, both in their construction and in their conception. Many items do not shun their roots but instead find innovative, clever ways to explore their contemporary cultures. The mix of bright colors and a metal grill of the Red Quilted Crystal Shoulder bag by Dubai’s Poupée Couture parodies the uncomfortable balance of social restraint and desire to express inherent to womanhood in the Arab world. Concurrently, it employs motifs and materials that emerge from the tradition of the region. Regardless of its meaning, the end result is a piece that makes a very memorable statement. This, like many items on the site, is available only in very limited numbers. There are only a few left.

The Hub represents a transition of fashion’s focal point to Asia and the increasing interest of Chinese consumers in more niche brands as well as the rising importance of menswear in this area. This rather curated list of brands from the West and the region come seeking partnerships with influential retailers and major investors in the Mainland and beyond. In the categories of “Heritage”, “Contemporary”, “Street” and “Indigo”, they include Sunspel, Henri Lloyd, Barbour, Y-3 and 70 other brands from the UK, US, Japan, and other European countries. Here is an article from Menswear Insight on the event.

By Suzy

The size of the shoes and top suggest that this girl is challenging proportions to a debate.