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He shows how to wear those eye-grabbing streetwear pieces. Also a lover of hip-hop music, this fellow must be one of those fans that actually understands the culture behind it, mainly because his pants aren’t too baggy or worn below his thighs. He shops at Bustout, profiled below, the newest and largest streetwear shop in Beijing.
There’s a military vibe here, and the Saudi style head-dress used as a scarf doesn’t take away from that. Wearing these as scarves was very popular in London and elsewhere a while back, but I haven’t seen too many here in China. He was well aware of the associations of the piece and wears it with pride.
Academics from France are scarce on Dongsi Dajie, but when they appear, they do not disappoint with their shoe choices nor do they fail to don bright scarves, insignia of Gallic-ness.
Mu Zi, the totally cute nineteen year old boss of Vol De Nuit, the newest elegant little shop on the otherwise trashy stretch of Longfusi, believes fashion should be romantic and expressive. She stocks Korean brands but loves a French aesthetic.
In “creative work†and tourism respectively, Mr. Yu and Ms. Sun refuse to wear Chinese brands before they turn 30, explaining that local desingers have not been able to capture how to design stylish clothes suited for young people. For this, they must rely on foreign brands. They prefer include Adidas, Mango and Vero Moda (I must observe that Vero Moda seems to have localized its designs quite a bit – seeing their products its hard to believe the brand is Western European). She would only wear a Qipao at Chunjie.
It seems not all PR execs are slaves of the Man; Weber Shandwick, an American firm, must be a funky place to convince Ian to work there. He describes his style as a sort of sophisticated “punk†with the requisite real Doc Martins, purchased in Hong and Kong, and plaid.
Harry has the real Paul Smith Mini Satchel, bought in the UK – the plastic version is available on taobao.com. After all the shining black, it’s nice to see brown boots made of supple leather from Herbal Heaven on Dongsi. He works at Juicy Couture as a brand development manager, but never wears that brand and, in general, for his own fashion consumption tends to avoid big names.
In the congested Oriental Plaza, a knit sweater-coat seemed to look relaxing and Scandinavian. She was sort of milling about with no particular direction. I like the patent red shoes too.
The jacket is from Kuhle, a frustrating shop in Oriental Plaza, one of Beijing’s most popular malls. Kuhle is like H&M in that it offers some cool styles at low prices and quality levels. He wears the piece well though.
Adorable Ma Lina buys Korean brands, says that Korea is the world’s most stylish and beautiful country, and if she could pick one place in the world to visit, it would be Jeju Island, in Korea. She also thinks that Japan is pretty stylish. France is alright, she guesses. I suspect her style is not what most Westerners would consider typically Korean or Japanese. However, the brands she wears are mostly Korean, made in China and intended for export.
The love of all things Korean is not unusual for Chinese of Ma Lina’s generation, but her take on the style seems a bit different. Still, I probably don’t watch enough Korean citcoms to truly understand this cultural phenonena.
On this guy a frilly shirt and super-tight pants might be a welcome addition. In the eighties, millions of girls had crushes on King Jareth (and he is my hero), and here is his Chinese brother. His outfit could have been more interesting but the wicked hairstyle alone can get you into Stylites.
Only black guys can pull off those huge capacious fur coats, only Asian guys can wear fitted faux-fur jackets, and white guys are left with thinsulate ear muffs. Fur is one of those thing where if a guy has to first ask his friends whether or not he should be wearing it, he probably just shouldn’t bother. Fur (or faux-fur) wearers already know that they should be wearing fur. This record producer is one those guys who can pull it off and look good.
The choice by this student of black and white with a dash of red is actually quite common for fashionable people in China but the studs on the trousers make the scarf seem like a reference to prison, while the shrunken pea coat seems militaristic and the hat a bit threatening – all together an interesting effect. This was at Oriental Plaza.
Combats and trench coat can be a good combo, especially when you have a model’s physique. Add in the profession of creative director for a major design company, and there’s no bold and chic look that you can’t pull off.