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Constantine Comenos teaches music, plays base, and has designed his entire wardrobe, having it produced by Beijing tailors. He loves the process of sketching his outfits and selecting fabric, best found in Southern cities. It always perplexes him that more men fail to take advantage of the inexpensive tailoring to exercise their creativity. The key to staying cool in summer is moving slowly and infrequently, according to Constantine.
Comme des Garçons had a photography exhibit at the I.T. Gallery. There were numerous fashionistas whose photos I could have taken, but my flash was being uncooperative again and there was also much distracting champagne. Edie Bao is a reporter for Milk Magazine, and she did name herself after the beauty of Warhol’s Factory. Like all the other galleries at 798, I.T. is in a former factory. Was Warhol’s Factory ever a real factory or was it just a large studio?
Rather appropriately, Charley Kan, National Creative Director and Managing Director for MEC China, is wearing a Comme des Garçons hat. He is in charge of a fashion PR company that is going to be especially busy in the run-up to the Olympics.
Sorry for the lack of females recently. I just haven’t been finding them. From Los Angeles, Ryan Horne is a manager at the new China Doll, on the entire fifth floor of 3.3. A lover of cashmere sweaters and fitted blazers, Ryan explains that China Doll gives Beijingers the “reason to dress up†they have been seeking. More than a club or bar, it is a cultural megaplex, and most importantly an arena for dandies and fashionistas alike to promenade.
Norwegian students like André Holthe always look pretty interesting. Unfortunately, he says, there is no real source of good fashion for anyone who has experienced the multitude of hip and innovative smaller brands on offer in Oslo.
From Changsha, Wind Lee is a freelance stylish and merchandizer seeking new assignments. He used to work for Jack and Jones, but he doesn’t wear their clothes, which he thinks are too boring, preferring pieces from more avant-garde labels like the Dries Van Noten casual jacket purchased in New Zealand that he is wearing in the picture.
You may have noticed that recently the number of men appearing on the blog has been growing. Beijing men are not known for their refined taste or genius in replicating the latest trends from Milan and Paris. Though men’s style is governed by a million little rules of taste, cut, and fit, most men here are ignorant of these guidelines or choose to ignore them. Foreigners arriving in Beijing happily adopt a laid-back or lazy style of dress since most of their local colleagues could care less. This means there is ample aesthetic trash on the landscape, which in the case of men is usually not even entertaining.
The positive side of this is a sort of freedom to experiment for those who are interested in style and wish to be creative. The need to look good remains for women in Beijing, while men face little pressure. Money and status tend to be the main attractions a man can offer to the opposite sex, here even more than in the West. For men, dressing well is more of a hobby; the men who dress interestingly sometimes look like they are having more fun than the women, since society requires that women have some sort of style. The well-dressed or quirky men also stand-out a great deal more from the gray and navy blue crowd than the women do.
Allen said he chose Harry Potter as his stylistic muse for the day and I think he did a good job bringing his own personality to the look. The specs were definitely also channelling David Hockney though some primary colors would need to be added to complete the look. A freelance writer who tracks fashion and culture, his main assignments have recently been for internal publications for circulation within organizations under the Ministry of Culture.
From a while back, this is a photo of a young lady who photographed me for P1.cn. This is the titan of the street fashion world here in China, though it has a very different look and feel from Stylites.
She was a very shy girl actually.
Waistcoats were embraced by fashionistas of both sexes this spring and into the summer in Beijing. They were mostly low buttoning and black, in a style similar to what is worn with black tie ensembles. This pairing with a peacoat was the nattiest ensemble on the ‘xiang. A documentary-maker for CCTV, he loves his style as “Britishâ€. He advises Beijing men to eschew brandnames, though sometimes there is no choice but to choose fake Dior when completing his outifts.
Wielding this interesting bag purchased here in Beijing, Halla is the shopping and travel editor for The Beijinger. The July issue of “The Beijinger” just came out and it includes the full results of the 2008 Reader Bar and Club Awards. The Beijinger is That’s Beijing’s new name. In this Beijinger, as always, you can find the latest Stylites as well as my column on men’s style, Trouser Press.
From Hong Kong, Oz is a graphic designer who studied in the Midlands of England. He arrived in Beijing a week ago and already prefers it to his home town. Things will be better after the Olympics when tourists are fewer and the place is less “messyâ€. He does say that it’s impossible to find decent fashion items in Beijing. Perhaps the sleeves on jackets selling here are too long.
Aurelien and Tony have made much interesting use of the best local silks in both their fall/winter and spring/summer collections. The silks they use are not what one usually encounters in the fabric markets. Many are sourced in Shandong instead of Zhejiang, the province we usually think of as the source of all good silks. In the previous photo of Aurelien he wore a silk tweed coat; here he is in a very light silk charmeuse turtle neck shirt. The fabric is a satin weave with the expected shimmery quality, and the cut is both slim and drapey. This vertical striped shirt will enhance the height and slenderness of wearers who are already tall and thin. Silks of this type have always struck me as particularly risky when compared with linens or cotton poplins for people who have even an ounce of extraneous body mass, since there tends to be little give.
I have concerns about wearing silk directly on the body. It seems less breathable than other summer fabrics, though it is clearly more dramatic and special. Tony and Aurelien assured me that the silks they use are relatively breathable, so perhaps I will look into this. We are still waiting now to hear the final word on the opening of the Le Divan boutique in Sanlitun.
The earthquake period really did alter the mood of the country, with the effects discernible in every aspect of life. Liu Lu says that her store’s business was going well until last month. Customers have clearly adopted austerity measures, since spending on fashion during such a period seems a bit frivolous. Many people she knows are sending the money that would have gone to dresses and shoes to Sichuan, which she stresses is as it should be.
The hot weather should make sales pick up a little though as people start to beef up their summer wardrobes. Griping about the heat and noting that the average fellow does not look so good in a sleeveless shirts and short shorts, I asked her what men should do in the summer since we are forced to cover ourselves more than women. She commented that in Beijing, “wifebeaters” are not as big of a fashion crime as they would be in New York or London. Certainly, in the hutongs of Beijing, it is far from uncommon to see men with their arms and even their stomachs revealed.
On a more fashionable set – or at least this is how they perceived themselves – in Hangzhou a few years back, the sleeveless blazer was actually a major style. It was different from a vest because it tended to be the same length as a traditional blazer or suit coat and often featured the button position, vents, and shoulder pads of a suit coat. It could just as well be a suit with the sleeves hacked off. These were usually made in low-quality polyester and worn sans shirt. They were purchased by those who felt comfortable revealing their chests. Perhaps we should be glad that I can’t locate a photo of this look.
Still, I am earnestly attempting to find comfortable suit alternatives for summer. Can a light waistcoat or vest be a substitute for a suit jacket or blazer in the summer? It could be a backless vest in a very light cotton. Here in Beijing, I have been seeing a lot of these vests on both sexes; they are usually paired with tee shirts. If it were a suit, the bottom piece could be longish shorts. This is probably pushing things too far beyond the bounds of good taste.
I’m not sure how well it goes with the whig, but it’s an interesting whimsical print in a silk chiffon. Left over from a high-end order meant for export, Lu got hold of around 15 meters, which means she was able to make five pieces – truly a limited edition.
Some people actually consider mixing black and brown to be a no-no, but Niklas is proving them wrong. A teacher from Sweden, he believes that fake items are underrated, describing his “Converses†as just as comfortable as the real thing. However he still prefers Swedish brands since they are cut to fit slim people.
Yes, a lot of people smoke in Beijing. Poor workers smoke, but so do cool creative types. Smoking appears to have the same subversive appeal that it does in the West, but the habit is aided by the very cheap price of cigarettes. On the way to practice, she had no time for chit-chat, but she did say that she wouldn’t pose if I was from City Weekend. I said I wasn’t, but I think she probably didn’t want to be in any of the English language magazines. Of course, my photos appear in That’s Beijing, soon to be called The Beijinger.
His photographs make Beijing cranes seem tranquil and connected to China’s heritage of ink painting. His motion pictures capture the trauma and apparent injustice of interrogations. Zhao Liang, an artist whose style projects beyond his masterpieces, also likes to give Beijingers a fun night out with the outdoor concerts he organizes at the Three Shadows Art Centre.