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Rarefied

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Probably best known by foreigners at least for its appearance in 希望（xiwang – to wish/hope for), the character 希 means “rare” or “infrequent”.

看到这个字外国人肯定会马上想到“希望”。

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Stylites’ Items: Hirst Blanket, The Shell, Victor Boa, Toast Printer

Following are some of the latest that I am hoping will make their way into my home and wardrobe. 这些是我最近比较想要的新东西：

Made in Scotland on a Jacquard loom and finished by hand, this 100% cashmere blanket adorned with images from Damien Hirst’s New Religion series will be more heart (and body) warming than sharks in formaldehyde or jewel-encrusted skulls. It is big enough to fit a double bed and should encourage more production of new life than ruminations on the end.

The Victor Boa from Mr. Hare bring tassel loafers seem suitable for all ages in 2010.

Meanwhile, for my growing shoe collection, I am hoping to pick up The Shell by Maarten Baas.

For my NPR listening, the world’s smallest radio seems perfect.

Design cross-pollination – this time between office and kitchen – can produce charming results like this toast printer by Othmar Muhlebach.

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In a Sea of Gray

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She rather humbly described this combination as “mix and match”, but I am always happy to see bright colors in the see of black and gray puffer coats.

她很谦虚地把自己风格形容为“混搭”但冬天每次看到这么多颜色我就很开心-还是比我最讨厌的黑色羽绒服好。

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Hermès to Start Chinese Brand

Hermès is one of the few luxury brands one thinks of as being relatively China-free. Those complex and delicate prints actually come from a factory in France. Buying into the legacy really means something in the case of Hermès. That is why the following article suggesting that they are about to start a brand designed and made in China seems surprising and meaningful. If this is true, the boldness and honesty of the gesture stands in contrast to the somewhat underhanded way in which other brands produce their stuff here and then slap on the “made in Italy” label. I wonder if there is any more information.

Hermès真的会在中国创造一个中国设计的中国制造品牌吗？


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Crimson Taiwanese

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I wonder how many red-haired artists China has. Maybe it is more common than I think. At the very least, there is a writer, also from Taiwan, who had red hair. Victoria (Yung-Chih) Lu was born in Taipei and studied painting at age six. At nine, she enrolled in night classes at University and was described by newspapers as the “youngest college student”. At 19, she went to study in Belgium and in ’73 she went to the United States where she became involved in the Women’s Liberation Movement. Concurrently, she moved away from traditional painting and became a more radical figure in the art world. This month, she had a show at the Today Art Museum in Beijing.

中国有几个著名艺术家把自己头发染成比较亮的颜色？可能不少。当代著名的”动漫美学策展人”陆蓉之在中国台湾出生但带的时间在美国很长。她从6岁开始学绘画；9岁进大学夜间部修课，被报纸称作当时年纪最小的大学生；19岁到比利时皇家学院深造。1973年到了美国，参与了女权主义运动，同时她一下子抛掉已经学习了17年的传统绘画，成为观念艺术的急先锋。一月份在北京今日美术馆有她动漫展叫”生化–虚实之间”。

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Internships 实习机会

Want to meet the quirkiest Beijingers? Looking for an inroad into China’s publishing world?

Internships are now available at both Stylites (Beijing) and LifeStyle Magazine (Beijing and Shanghai). Contact me for more details (nels (at) stylites (dot) net).

Please note that internships are generally unpaid.

现在在Stylites（北京）和品味生活杂志（在北京和上海）有实习机会。这一般是没有报酬的。感兴趣的话，请联系我(nels (at) stylites (dot) net)。

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The Blues

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The shades lighter than navy should appear more, especially in coats. It brightens the mood in a winter landscape, too often dominated by black and gray, especially in horrible puffer coats.

Blue coats always make me think of Julien Sorel, the protagonist in the Red and the Black. He was given one by his patron, the marquis, and this enabled him to feel on a level with the aristocrats whom he was attempting to impress. Of course, I would think that the coat in that case was a dress garment and not an outdoor coat.

我希望大家会穿更多这各蓝色的外套。北京冬天超难看的黑色羽绒服太多了。

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Only the Lonely

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Milk@Coffee lead singer Kiki, last mentioned here for designing a dress, is very accomplished. She has come out with several albums and now even a book about herself. Her style of music is rather cheerful and poppy, but seems to deal with the subjects of loneliness and being by herself – one of her biggest hits is called “Accustomed to Loneliness”. Something about her that doesn’t meet the eye must be repelling everyone.

牛奶咖啡组合的主唱 KiKi(富妍) 是个活泼漂亮，多才多艺，自信而且有品位的女孩。她不仅出过好几张专辑，而且最近还出了一本关于自己的书。我想问她为什么她的第二张专辑要叫《越长大，越孤单》，还有她最流行的一个作品要叫《习惯了寂寞》。是不是所有的中国pop都必须有这样浪漫的名字？

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Skirted Man Texting

mandy_

Not the sort of person one would expect to see checking sending a text message in a traditional hutong. Is this garment referred to as a dhoti?

很少在胡同里见到这样的人在发短信。

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Cartier, Armani top Hurun List

Armani continues its reign at the top of the Hurun list of brands favored by China’s richest, while Hermès and Gucci are rated star players over the past year. Jingdaily.com gives its analysis of the results. Apparently, the rich are becoming more discerning and worldly. Hermès being the top luxury accessories brand instead of LV seems to back this up. This piece from Luxurysociety.com, compared to their Japanese counterparts suggests that the cult of LV bags will never take old here in China the way it did in Japan. Chinese luxury consumers are apparently individualists. Some surprise showings on the Hurun list are Air China as the favored first and business class airline and Shangri-La as the best luxury hotel brand. This seems like a bit of nationalism (Shangri-La is not a mainland company but was started by overseas Chinese, I believe).


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JNBY in Soho, Mouse Ji, and Mr Gay China

Hangzhou fashion brand JNBY, short for “just naturally be yourself”, opens its first US boutique in Soho, NYC, after hosting a successful pop-up shop nearby.

China Daily reports that Chinese fashion designers are about to start competing with established international fashion royalty. One such designer known as Mouse Ji supposedly has 600 retail points across Europe, which seems dubious.

Newsweek has this useful overview on growing consumption in China, which will be the world’s second largest consumer market within five years.

The boys over at Gayographic threw a Mr Gay China pageant. The fashion show component included rags by German fashion designer David Uble.