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Reverse Rustication

Rustic is a big band at the moment. They won the top title in the Global Battle of the Bands for China, just held in Hong Kong.

This is Ricky, the bassist. He is from Shijiazhuang, Hebei. Just before he took this photo, Ricky was pissing on the hutong wall. He was on his way to getting a tattoo of his girlfriend’s face put on his back. He describes her as “rich”. He himself lives with four others in a flat in Tongzhou, where each roommate pays RMB 400.

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Clog Creator

This young lady from Jiangsu is studying shoe design. This is her first trip to Beijing and she really enjoyed it, though she barely left the area around Gulou and Nanluoguxiang. The rest of the city is rather revoltingly modern and homogeneous.

从江苏来的女孩在学鞋设计。这是她第一次来北京。她觉得很好-几乎没有离开南锣鼓巷和鼓楼那块。

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“It’s My Time” Casting Event

For it’s casting campaign It’s My Time (in which Stylites is a partner), Benetton is doing a casting event on Mar 6 and 7 at the named-sans-irony Shanghai Super Brand Mall. If you are in Shanghai at the time, stop by. More information in Chinese on douban.com. Or you can send an email with contact information and picture to this email: castingbenetton@googlemail.com.

BENETTON世界范围的选秀活动“It’s my time”在上海三月6，7号有个活动。更多的信息在douban.com.

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Check out the Latest City Weekend

The current issue of Beijing’s City Weekend has a two page spread on me in their “Fashionista” section. Unfortunately, I am sporting paisley and polka dots of the same scale (on tie and pocket square) in the same outfit, which is something of an offense. Also my overeager smile makes it seem like the can in my hand contains diet coke or red bull rather than sparkling rosé. Anyway, have a look for yourself.

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Ritchie, at Bryant Park

I encountered Ritchie right outside the tents at Bryant Park. Born in Xiamen, he now lives in LA and reports on fashion week for the Chinese website called M.Style. He also has a studio in LA called Triple Major. One project he has worked on recently is called Project White Tshirt, which brought 31 designers from 13 countries together to transform the basic white t-shirt. This is now on exhibition tour and will land in Beijing this fall and be at UCCA. The pieces will be auctioned to support Designers Against Aids.

Interestingly, Ritchie was profiled by the site Stylelikeu that just interviewed Jeffrey and me. I interviewed Ritchie in Chinese:

在纽约时装周采访了Ritchie。他是创意机构Triple-Major的创办人，也在M世代杂志写专栏。他在厦门出生，香港长大，现在在洛杉矶居住。我问了他一些问题。

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Blogging for Benetton

I’m blogging now for the Benetton It’s My Time Campaign, which seems in line with what I do on Stylites. Like them, my focus may begin with fashion, but the broader goal is always about telling stories of people here in Beijing.

My blogging with them over the next month or so will give some of the people appearing on Stylites a new place to express their styles, viewpoints and aspirations. However, my first entry is on something a bit different. I decided to discuss the top ten trends for 2010 and beyond. Everyone has to try their hand at the whole forecasting thing once in a while. Among my trends are “hip holidays” and “iconoclastic simplicity” but please check out the rest here.

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Advertising and Consulting

For the last year, I have been getting contacted by parties looking to advertise nearly every week. I rejected these requests every time, responding that this was a non-commercial site or that their products didn’t match the image of Stylites. Now, I have decided to allow advertising. There are costs involved with running the site; the biggest one is, of course, my time.

Please click here or on the panel above to find out more about advertising on Stylites. Consulting services are also available.

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Yank Brands Landing in the Celestial Empire

Calvin Klein plans to whip up its presence on the Mainland.

Ralph Lauren is also slated to bring all its major lines here, perhaps even opening a Madison Ave-style Mansion somewhere in the French Concession. I hope the brand has not become too diluted already on the Mainland. It will be interesting to see how locals respond to the Purple and Black labels.

Apparently, the evil Abercrombie and Bitch is also expected, after their antics received only a lukewarm reception in Tokyo. Hopefully the government will force them to tone it down a bit for China. It was quite a travesty when they opened a shop on Savile Row.

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Jeffrey Ying – Class Among the Crass

Jeffrey Ying, who – as you might be gathering – was my companion during New York Fashion Week, masterfully brings the monsters to life on his blog, leisure class.

After reading his entry, you will see the NYC fashion elite as a bunch of ahistorical red necks. Choice venom is saved for luminaries Tim Blanks and Hamish Bowles, men who seem to have narrowly escaped working as mechanics or farm hands.

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Beijing Girls

So pretty, they could easily be as attractive as the NYC ones if they only dressed a little better, but the looks that hit me the moment I exit the plane run the gambit from mediocre to heinous.

北京女孩这么漂亮。如果穿的稍微好点肯定会跟纽约的女孩子一样有吸引力。