Photos: Suzy
This strange guy in a mask came up to me with his business card. I felt a bit bewildered at the time, but even more so when he showed up at my house the other day for a party. More on him later.
By the Saffron Stockade
In a saffron dress, before the Blonde Redhead show.
Maximum Volume
Dancing to heavy drumbeats by the electronic stage at Strawberry, these two were both in very voluminous tops – though the picture doesn’t quite show it – and shades.
Incognito Bunny
Photos: Suzy
Bunny ears are quite the thing at Strawberry Festival. There are all sorts of varieties selling on the premises and people come with more elaborate versions of their own. I need to research to find where this tradition started.
Crimson Dyed
What an impressive piece of clothing! And there is a little horse pendant that picks up the purple.
Strawberry Girl
Good Shot
Bewilderingly, Strawberry Festival didn’t allow firearms. One had to make do.
Queenieberry
Strawberry Festival has started and there will be a ton of pics appearing here.
Thanks to Queenie for making it all possible! These days, she is one of the key figures at Modern Sky, China’s leading independent record label. They are behind a range of music events including Strawberry, the largest and most stylish festival of them all.
Saint Paul
^
Photos: Suzy
Belgian fashion designer Saint Paul came to Beijing one three-day trip to check out the city’s fashion scene.
Red Star
“Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead,”
said Lucille Ball.
This music student is not obsessed with fashion trends or such a prosaic notion as good taste.
This is the sort of image that started me on Stylites – in contrast to all the images from fashion parties that I think many of you must find as tiring as I do. I have always sought an element of the unexpected, crazy, or outlandish. People constantly ask me if Beijing style is authentic or original. Do Beijing people have their own voice? They ask me if it is improving or if I think people here are well-dressed. If they don’t have their own style, is Stylites not a waste of time?
Authentically Beijing?
This is the Beijing I love: welcoming, diverse, cutely bohemian, vibrant, international in its own quirky way, and, of course, smoking. Sure, you might say they are poseurs, but then, I am looking for poseurs. Maybe they are a bit pretentious – but people have been leveling the same accusation at me since I was fifteen – but I would say that they just like to keep their world a little magical. I am drinking ginger ale out of a champagne flute at the moment. Even those who constantly lose themselves in escapist fantasies need to stay sober once in a while.
These two young ladies aren’t haughty or cold, but really quite welcoming in a way. Are they authentic or are they just mimicking the way that hipstresses like them dress in other parts of the world?
Wonderwall
Photos: Suzy
PR Executive Wonder Yang is on the terrace of Grace Hotel, a highlight of postindustrial 798 Art District that whisks visitors away to some magical point where playboy collectors hob-nob with bohemian curators and eccentric sculptors.
Leathered Up
Photo: Suzy
Despite the flighty hair style, the proportions seem to be shifting downwards, in an interesting way of course.
Outside Jam Bar
The flea market at Jam Bar has become a regular monthly event that attracts a wide swath of local retro-hipsters. Is there a term that combines those two words?
Up till now, they have been almost entirely girls, but at the next one in May, I will have booth focusing on men’s neckwear, vintage YSL suits, etc. I will keep you updated.
BOF not on Trends
Business of Fashion offers a helpful list of the top 20 figures in Chinese fashion. In addition to a slew of business owners from Hong Kong, several key Mainland media figures like Hong Huang and Angelica Cheung make the list. Even blogger Hong Huang and stylish Lucia Liu are here. Including Melvin Chua also seems to make sense given the huge number of events that are his work.
It was a bit surprising not to see Su Mang, Assistant Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Bazaar, Bazaar Jewelry and other publications and Assistant Publisher for the whole Trends, the largest fashion publishing group in China. Given that the Trends Group is the main voice deciding how the mainstream population of China digests fashion, Liu Jiang, the Founder and President of the group might also have been included. I understand that BOF might have wanted a selection of figures from manufacturing, retail, media, design, and modeling; there might not have been enough room for Su Mang or Liu Jiang. Still, the list does seem a bit Hong Kong tilted.