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Back to Beijing!

I just arrived back in Beijing and regular updates on Stylites will start soon. Sorry for the interruption. I was back in the States for my father’s 90th birthday.

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Gucci, Foreign Models, and Pajamas

Gucci is Chinese consumers’ favorite fashion brand according to a survey summarized in this article. The only Chinese brand that made the list is Minsheng Bank, favored for accounts. In fact, a few of my billions are guarded by Minsheng.

The Washington Post says foreign models are on the rise in China. It is surprising that they are reporting this now when, to me, it seems that the percentage of foreign models on billboards and magazines has been slowly decreasing. Perhaps the number of “professional” foreigners in the trade is increasing.

Also, the Chinese government determined that slavery is slightly worse than wearing pajamas in public.

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A More Sophisticated Luxury Consumer

Here’s a piece from Xinhua on China’s luxury market. As we all know by now, China is the world’s second largest luxury market and it will soon become the first, displacing Japan. Of course, what “luxury” includes is subject to debate.

One distinction made in approaches to consumption is between super-wealthy and new rich, who spend mostly on gifts for business partners and wives or mistresses, and brand-savvy ‘little emperors’ – the generation of only-children born after 1980 – who actually care about the styles they are purchasing. The future does not bode well for LV, since more sophisticated consumers will choose more understated and distinctive products.

The article ends with a quote by Prof. Li. Prof. Li Fei, director of the Department of Marketing at Tsinghua University: “Hopefully, in years to come, the fashion in Paris and Milan will be to wear Chinese silk embroidery, put ancient Chinese furniture at home and sip Chinese Moutai.” The silk and furniture have already made it. Baijiu has an uncertain future – even domestically, I believe. For reasons of status and taste, even China’s young wealthy might move away from premium baijius. I see few people under thirty happily drinking or even gifting Maotai or Wuliangye.

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Cao Difei – 曹涤非

girl

My parents rarely allowed television in the home. I didn’t become accustomed to its presence, so I am rarely bothered that the set in my Beijing hutong home gets no signal. An unfortunate result, however, is that I have not seen Cao Difei hosting on Beijing Television (BTV). I had run into him several times without realizing that he was a bit famous. Cao Difei grew up in a hutong in Beijing and has been at BTV since 2001. More on him later.

我在北京的家里有电视机但没有联络。其实我小时候也没有因为我父母怕电视太容易上瘾的，所以现在没电视也不会觉得很辛苦。但因为没有我的生活就缺乏了一个很重要的主持人。其实我碰到他几次都不知道曹涤非是个名人，只知道他是个比较注重“穿”的男人。中国传媒大学毕业的曹涤非在四合院长大,０１年进入了北京电视台。他是《星夜故事秀》主持人但也主持过我们美国MTV的音乐电视台．他是个很活泼善良的比较喜欢玩笑的人-应该他在电视上做主持人的时候个性差不多，但我到现在还没看到他的电视节目。希望莫格有电视的朋友可以请我来他们家看看。
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Merry Christmas!

Dear Stylites Viewers,

Have a blessed Christmas this year! I am by the beach in Sarasota, Florida, which is lovely, though not terribly Christmas-like. Anyway, it is amazing that I was in Beijing just yesterday.

Best Wishes,

Nels

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Vintage Chic

mandy_-10

From Australia, Tana has been in Beijing over ten years. She started what was probably the first vintage shop in Beijing on Yandai Xiejie, near Houhai. The items she sold were brought in from abroad and included Levi’s and other such items. The shop has not been open for several years, but vintage clothing has become much more popular here lately.

从澳洲来的Tana十多年在北京。因为她喜欢收藏很独特的衣服，丝禁，鞋，袜子，帽子，等，她原来开国第一个卖二手衣服的商店在烟袋斜街。她卖的东西原来主要是从国外进口的，像一些Levi’s牛仔裤，70年代的衣服等，但价格卖的不是很高因为这个她的爱好。 她的11岁的女儿, Lily。女儿受到母亲的影响，也穿得很特别，也喜欢戴大的墨镜。我真羡慕她女儿，能说世界两个最重要的原因说得很流利。

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Jing Daily

Well, here it is, the great Jing Daily!  They will certainly end up being a rival to Stylites in search engines and such. It’s a very good idea though. One can hardly deny that and it is likely to be a good platform to start a consulting company that focuses on luxury and lifestyle in China. Here is a link to the Jing Daily site.  I wonder if one collaborates or how it should be handled. I suppose they will be doing something a bit more rigid and structured than Stylites. Here you get a real glimpse into the gritty every day while Jing Daily appears more of a news site.

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London is the Place for him

mandy_

Artist Andy Mo works in a Spanish art gallery but is something of an Anglophile (check his website). Painting since he was a young boy, he graduated from Hangzhou’s China Academy of Art in 2007. He has now been in Beijing for two years and now works in a 798 gallery called Iberia Center for Contemporary Art. A major hobby for Andy is horseback riding, which he does regularly outside of Beijing. His favorite types of horses are the Spanish “warm-blood horse” and pure breeds from England. Though he hasn’t made it to London, but he really likes the spirit and style of the English capital, though unlike many Beijingers it is not because of punk or rock music.

很少见到我真的很想模仿的穿法。他的风格低调但是很特别，时尚且经典，在传统的基础上又加入了很多他个人的想法。他叫吴建安,小名“竹子”英文名叫Andy Mo（他的个人网站）。2007年毕业于杭州中国美术学院。从小开始学绘画。现在主要是以木炭在纸本上创作。来北京2年多了,现工作于798一家来自西班牙艺术机构”伊比利亚当代艺术中心”。 业余时间经常去骑马，是个恋马狂!他喜欢西班牙的温血马和英国纯血。他没有去过伦敦，但喜欢这个城市的气质。不同与这个时代大部分的年轻人，他不喜欢摇滚或者朋克，喜欢安静和让人沉思的音乐。他喜欢TOP GEAR(ç”±BBC制作的世界顶级汽车节目). 他也喜欢逛stylites.netå’Œwww.lastnightsparty.com等时尚网站。

bag

Andy got this leather bag from a friend by trading for a painting. 这个皮包是拿画和朋友交换的.

I love London

He attended an event called “I love arts London” but later removed the word “arts” from the pin. 参加一个伦敦艺术学院的年对派对他们印的是” I LOVE ARTS LONDON” 然后他把ARTS刮掉了.

Thanks to Andy for helping edit my Chinese.


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At Men’s Bazaar Event

mandy_-6

Recently, Men’s Bazaar presented its awards for the most tasteful/successful men (《芭莎男士》主办的中国品位成功年度人物颁奖盛典) at the National Stadium. It was a great chance to see the water cube and bird’s nest again. They were quite lit up.

The event boasted a huge array of billionaires and celebrities like otherworldly Ali Baba Founder Ma Yun (马云), Yintai Investment CEO Shen Guojun (沈国军), actor Sun Honglei (孙红雷), billionaire entrepreneur and software engineer Shi Yuzhu (史玉柱) – a fellow that looks like he controls several gangs of Jersey-based crooks – and countless others.

This young designer from London, here for a few months, was one of the guests. Sorry for the time lag in my posts. My time has been surprisingly limited recently.

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Another LV Addict

LV Fan

One problem with the LV handbag – as ubiquitous a part of the Chinese urban landscape as Sichuan Restaurants and taxicabs – is how it overshadows the rest of any outfit. Attention is drawn immediately to the handbag rather than to anything else the person is doing fashion-wise. Of course that is the goal. The person wants to be able to announce every time they use the bag – even when it is paired with clothes of some lesser brand – that they are in the elite.

Well, we all know that yelling “I am rich” is not the behavior of people secure in their economic or social standing. There must be more understated ways of showing one’s status and more tasteful ways of sporting the LV print.

mandy_-8

I find the notion of LV print trousers very convincing. The picture is not good, as it was already dark, but note the difference in direction of the print on the two legs – a creative touch.