by stylites -

The Homely and the Heavenly

Here at hypervocal.com is an obnoxious piece about the fashion crimes of Beijingers. Perhaps the number of pretty women here has caused the author to have sour grapes. Of course there is a bit of rural dowdiness and sacharine glitz to behold, especially on the subways and near tourist sights. But the bunny ears, overabundant lace, and pop socks are charming in their way. Anyway, she’s evidently more caught up on plebes and provincials than the people appearing here on Stylites or at the Dolce & Gabbana party described here. That dynamic duo are a bit more positive about the local girls, describing them as “the most beautiful women in the world”.

by stylites -

Mr. GQ


Photo: Suzy

GQ Editor Dan Cui is considered by many in the field to be one of the most talented editors of a men’s magazine. We also ran into him at the Burberry event back in April. He is wearing a coat by Dries van Noten.

by suzy -

Xander Zhou and China Fashion Week

Photos: Suzy

One can either compare last week’s Xander Zhou show to those of other Chinese fashion designers at Mercedes Benz China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012. Xander himself would probably prefer to have his show evaluated for its own merits or alongside foreign designers like Rick Owens and Christopher Kane. However, since I am not doing all that much coverage of Fashion Week here, I thought would use Xander’s show as a sort of foil for the other things I saw during this most historic week.

Of course, the first thing to point out is that Xander’s show is not part of the official schedule of Mercedes Benz China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012. He put on his own event in an off-site location, D-Lounge, and the sponsorship and production were not connected to the official Week.

At least one consultant who will be working on upcoming China Fashion Weeks has suggested that there may be an effort to incorporate younger, hipper, more sophisticated, designers like Xander Zhou in the regular program of the Week.

by stylites -

Gao Yiqiang

Beijing-based Gao Yiqiang has created some of the most inspiring shapes in Chinese design. He finds inspiration everywhere from toys to calligraphy and ordinary household objects. He who studied industrial design at the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University, has contributed to several books including Chinese Furniture and its Culture.

Among his missions is reconciling elements of traditional Chinese furniture like belief in spirits and preeminence of social status with Western influences such as dot, line, surface. His Ming Chair (above) is a good example of this type of blend.

 

The 8mm chair, with a shape inspired by randomly folded paper is probably his most iconic piece. He transferred this shape to stainless steel board, challenging the limits of the stainless steel board’s elasticity and toughness. Like most of his work, this one has not gone into production. Of course this won’t be for long. In Gao’s opinion “Individuality is becoming a way of life that guides consumption, and the younger generation is taking the lead.”

by stylites -

Xander Zhou


Photo: Suzy
Xander Zhou. What comes to mind? A young, partying, larger-than-life sort of designer who gets a great deal of publicity. Fashion events and bottles of champagne. The cover photo of the October 2010 “Gay China” issue of Hong Huang’s Ilook Magazine. For me, the main memory is of that time I bumped into him on the streets of Paris.

In short, the hype around the man sometimes overshadows his fashion collections. He may be young and not too many retail points actually carry his brands, but Xander Zhou is already a big name in China fashion – especially for foreigners watching this space. Often, he is the only Mainland fashion designer that people from outside of Beijing have even heard of.

Due to scheduling conflicts, I had not actually been to one of his shows before and had only had the opportunity to see his creations hanging in BNC and on the man himself on one of the countless parties that we both attended. Given how much he seems to be out and the time he must take being interviewed by fashion magazines, I was not sure how he ever had time to design.

We will have more on his show last night later this week.