Stylites

By Sally

An inspiring article about the new generation of Chinese garment designers. Graduates from western design schools, they incorporate traditional Chinese elements such as fire, wind and dragon into their couture, creating a futuristic and flattering result. China’s high fashion industry has definitely grown at an unprecedented speed. But is it really to become China’s next biggest export? Can it penetrate more into its motherland? These are all future questions faced by Chinese designers.

Congratulations to The Armoury opening a new location in Tribeca, Manhattan. I think Tribeca is quite good from an aesthetic perspective. Beyond the specific products, The Armoury represents a lifestyle and a philosophy. They are traditionalist but also very on target in terms of the tastes of this moment. Their type of the classics is where the mainstream market is headed. The big spending bankers and such are definitely moving in a handcrafted more sartorial direction. Everyone is tired of the flashy logo brands – even people that styleforumers might like to think lack the taste. Most customers in HK have been foreigners based there working in investment banks or corporations, but there is also an increasing flow of Mainland clientele who are mostly interested in buying shoes. Though more spoiled for choice than their HK counterparts, New York men will find brands not available so far in the city and better value for the very top quality than anything else in the market. Mark has scoured the world for products that offer the very highest quality without the silly prices that go with brands like Lobb, Hermes, etc.

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The Independent Fashion Bloggers website has a list of the top fifteen China fashion bloggers that includes Stylites. Most of these blogs are probably best left untouched unless you really enjoy the voyeurism of seeing what some fashionable young girls in Hong Kong are wearing every day. Beyond my site, the only other one that really merits being included in your bookmarks is Black Renaissance. The author writes about issues like eco-fashion and the history of retail in China. It is doubtless one of the top blogs for learning about this area, and will be included when Stylites comes out with its own list of the top Chinese fashion blogs, which we should be releasing soon.

Stylites intern Justine Schepers gives us her reactions to the blogs on the list, which she found mostly to be more useful for understanding the tastes of the authors and current fashion trends than for getting a look into the China fashion and style sphere.

I’m not sure if many of you know, but this is my twitter. I do update it every so often with various brief pearls of silliness. Follow me if you dare.

My magazine LifeStyle finally has a decent website. Have a look when you have a chance!