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Red Star

“Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead,”
said Lucille Ball.

This music student is not obsessed with fashion trends or such a prosaic notion as good taste.

This is the sort of image that started me on Stylites – in contrast to all the images from fashion parties that I think many of you must find as tiring as I do. I have always sought an element of the unexpected, crazy, or outlandish. People constantly ask me if Beijing style is authentic or original. Do Beijing people have their own voice? They ask me if it is improving or if I think people here are well-dressed. If they don’t have their own style, is Stylites not a waste of time?

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Authentically Beijing?

This is the Beijing I love: welcoming, diverse, cutely bohemian, vibrant, international in its own quirky way, and, of course, smoking. Sure, you might say they are poseurs, but then, I am looking for poseurs. Maybe they are a bit pretentious – but people have been leveling the same accusation at me since I was fifteen – but I would say that they just like to keep their world a little magical. I am drinking ginger ale out of a champagne flute at the moment. Even those who constantly lose themselves in escapist fantasies need to stay sober once in a while.

These two young ladies aren’t haughty or cold, but really quite welcoming in a way. Are they authentic or are they just mimicking the way that hipstresses like them dress in other parts of the world?

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More from Initial Fashion

Cola first appeared on Stylites four years ago – in fact he was one of the earliest people to appear on this blog. At that time he was working in a little shop in 3.3 that sold some rather interesting menswear. Now, he is one of the owners of the first Initial Fashion boutique that just opened on Nanluoguxiang.

I commented that it was a surprising location for a fashion brand like Initial given the somewhat down-market or touristy nature of much of the other retail on this famous lane. Cola responded that they wanted to be in a place redolent of Beijing’s traditional culture in keeping with the design of this specific shop. The theme of the next Beijing shop, which will be at Joy City mall in Xidan, will reflect that location. Aside from the Beijing outlet, the brand has five shops in Shanghai, each with a different theme.

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A Darling Designer

Photographed two years ago on Stylites, Cecaa’s brand, Mon Cheri, has recently grown into something more major. He was at the Initial Fashion opening party. The first shop of this Hong Kong brand in Beijing is on tourist-overrun Nanluoguxiang, a somewhat unexpected location for such a hip shop.

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Tourists from Jinan从济南来的游客

This couple that runs a fashion boutique in Jinan, Shandong Province, were in Beijing for Chinese New Year Holiday. Despite warmer weather, the last week has not been terribly stylish in Beijing as the streets have been dominated by tourists.

这对儿山东济南的服装商店老板春节来北京旅游。这个星期潮人特少－到处都是游客。

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Professorial Hutongs教授在胡同里

Though I wouldn’t even notice a guy like this in a Western city, he really stood out in the hutongs. More bicyclists like this visiting professor would be nice.

在西方的城市遇到这样穿衣的人并不会太让人在意，但在北京的胡同里他变得还挺特别的。希望会有更多骑自行车的人如此着装。

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A Negative Nainai悲观的奶奶

This old lady has lived at Nanluoguxiang #12 for 60 years since arriving in her twenties. She thinks things have been going down hill rapidly on the street over the last two to three years. She doesn’t like the crowds. “The number of people is great, but the amount they spend is not,” she says. People born after 1980 are not favorites either. They are rude when asking for directions, omitting “excuse me”, and always walk around the street eating. None of this happened at the time of Mao.

这个奶奶在南锣鼓巷12号住已经有60年。她的观点有点悲观，觉得近几年中这条街在快速地恶化。我问她商业化是否促进了经济发展，她反而觉得人“来的多，买的少”。还有，她对八九十后的人特有意见，说他们问路的时候不会说“请问”或者“谢谢”，并且总是边走边吃。她还说了，毛主席的时候大家更有素质。

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Ferarri Shoot for《中国汽车画报》

China Auto Pictorial had me find a few stylish people around Nanluoguxiang and take pictures of them with this Ferarri Enzo. Check out their August issue!

Unsurprisingly, I not only do not own a car, but also actively oppose the auto culture which so perverted the landscape of the United States and is now making life in Beijing more and more unbearable. My thoughts are similar to the editor who assisted me on this. Of course the issue is more complicated than just saying “I oppose cars”. I also thought it would be proper to acknowledge here China’s status as the world’s newest and potentially greatest Automobile Kingdom.

This hipster above is one who did not actually appear in the magazine. Below are the ones who did.