by stylites -

Stylites One of World’s 5 Best Street Blogs

Just as I received the hard copy of Der Spiegel in the mailbox of my courtyard, I also got word that H&M Magazine’s issue that features Stylites on page 18 was available in H&M shops around the world. H&M Magazine included Stylites in its list of the “World’s 5 Best Street Blogs” along with the Sartorialist and the Facehunter, the two most well-known blogs of this type. In thanks, I should mention that H&M will be making Beijing perfect, to paraphrase one of their slogans, within a month by opening its first shop at Joy City in Xidan.

H&M says its magazine has a global circulation of three-million. The top three US dailies are USA Today (2.3 million), The Wall Street (2.1 million), The New York Times (1.1 million), according to Wikipedia. Der Spiegel is a magazine with a circulation of 1.1 million.

The article includes a picture I took last summer of Edie Bao, who also appeared last week.

Also, I just saw that another blog Double King: Online Magazine for Fashion and Marketing did a post on Stylites.

by stylites -

Translation of Der Spiegel Article

What is chic in Tokyo or Helsinki? Style conscious people discuss on the internet what is worn on the streets of this world, and they thereby change elite models worldwide.

The man whom Nels Frye spotlighted did not look especially good, but he was worth a second glance. Frye met him on Changan Avenue in Beijing, a type with an unusually long beard [NF Note: I described him as “Jesus-like”], Adidas-like shoes and checkered coat and a cane. In no way a model, but that man had style, an unusual sort of boho, so typical of China in a state of explosion, the birth of a new creative class, said Frye. [NF Note: Collecting bottles definitely demands resourcefulness but I’m not sure about creativity. He addressed the man, asked permission to take a photo and put it on his blog. A little later came the first comments. On Frye’s website a small debate erupted. This photo inspired Nels so much that from then on he travelled all over Beijing with his camera. He photographed girls, ones who have cut their hair like Manga figures, young men with beards, pea jackets, pants with piped jeans and zebra stripes, and he put their photos on the internet.

For him street-style blogging was a hobby

So the American businessman, Nels Frye, 27, on the side, became a street style blogger. Every young person who allowed him to document the style of their city entered his blog which then was sent to the entire world. And in consequence he turned the established world model on its head.

What is important is not trends but style. Street-style bloggers show what real persons in their daily lives wear on the street and convey this to an audience of millions. Instead of showing over stylized mode-lines with skinny models, they show in their internet diaries how real people interpret a couture-circus. Not trendy but determinedly style. Everyone can comment on every picture. English is the universal language. There is no competition: it is a democratic forum for young people who express themselves and make the internet a common medium of style.

For Frye it led to this suddenly people from Chicago, Berlin or Helsinki comment on his blog with suggestions that a coat should be lengthened a bit, or that a particular outfit is well thought out. Other blogs, who do the same as Frye in Beijing, link to his site “Stylites” and from day to day the number of hits increases. Publishers of style magazibnes ask if they may use his pictures, and designers invite him to their exhibitions.

Worldwide, there are hundreds of these street-style blogs, etc……….

by stylites -

Shengzhou: The World’s Tie Capital

Shengzhou, Zhejiang, produces well over 200 million ties annually – almost all of China’s total production and at least three-quarters of the global total. Almost every major Western retailer, from H&M and Next to Ted Baker and Sean John, Walmart to Primark, sources almost the entirety of their ties from this city. Read more in my article from the February issue of China International Business. Here are some more photos that I was lucky to get during my visits to the factories.

_mg_4608

Babei, the largest tie producer in Shengzhou and most likely the world, is also the only factory with an exterior that vaguely suggests the colors of ties. Over 70% of the 20 million ties Babei makes every year are exported.

img_4616

Raw silk comes from Sichuan, Jiangsu and other provinces. It comes in a few basic colors. Dyeing – the only part of tie production that has a serious negative impact on the environment – usually occurs on the outskirts of Shengzhou.

_mg_4614

The largest factories in Shengzhou have spinning machines that rotate at high speed 24 hours a day.

img_4597

The computer-controlled looms create the fabric that are used to make ties. Just over a decade ago, there were only about ten of these machines in Shengzhou and now there are over a thousand. Babei’s factory has over a hundred – more than entire city of Como, Italy’s tie center. James Kynge, tells the story of Como’s fall and Shengzhou’s rise in his book, China Shakes the World.

_mg_4599

Working conditions seemed quite good in the tie factories I saw. On this Babei’s factory floor, I saw ties from the following brands: Donald Trump, Sean John, Chaps, Austin Reed, Counta Mara, Tasso Elba, C&A, Zara, H&M, Marks and Spencer and Target. There were many other brands that I had not seen before.

_mg_46281

This a large order for a children’s hospital in the United States. Most ties made in Shengzhou use polyester interlinings of the type seen here. Wool is much more expensive, but is better for the best ties.

_mg_4604

Here is a just completed order for China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers, with 415 million customers. With 111,998 staff in China, one can see why this is a good client.

The producers of Shengzhou only want to do volume. There is little profit to be had from small orders that demand high quality. Thus, my mission to Shengzhou was not highly successful. The goal had been to find a factory willing to produce ties for Senli and Frye. Strangly enough we have chosen to sell ties that are made in the United States, the Hickey Style line.

by stylites -

Which Cities are Most Interested in Beijing Street Style?

Stylites attempts to profile the most distinctive and/or stylish pedestrians on the streets of Beijing. Google Analytics (it’s such a blast) shows which cities are most interested in this subject. The largest source of hits is Beijing. Next is Shanghai and not too far behind is New York. After that, there is a big gap before Singapore and San Francisco, which are about equal.

1. Beijing

2. Shanghai

3. New York

4. Singapore

5. San Francisco

Just behind are Hong Kong, Chicago, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, London, Hangzhou, and Sydney. Despite great interest from New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, no other US cities produce serious traffic. After China and the United States, the country sending the most viewers is the United Kingdom.

by stylites -

Nice Puffy Coat

img_48351

Several of my posts and articles rail against the shapeless puffy coats that too many women resort to during Beijing’s winters, which are really neither cold nor long these years. Though they may not provide as much warmth, my preference is always for wool coats. This is not to say that a puffy coat cannot look good, as this young lady proves.

by stylites -

Men’s Style Column Moves to China International Business

Trouser Press, my men’s style column that appeared for nearly two years in The Beijinger (formerly known as That’s BJ), has migrated to China International Business (CIB). The column, now a centerpiece of the “executive living” section of CIB, will focus on the style needs of businessmen who work and live in China. My column for the January issue covers color matching in formal ensembles. The February column tells which ties it behooves every businessman to have in his collection.

Also in the February issue is my overview of the tie industry in Shengzhou, Zhejiang, which I visited last month. Though few Westerners have heard of it, Shengzhou produces well over 200 million ties annually, at least three-quarters of the global total. Most of these are for export. My mission was to find a factory that could produce limited runs of ties for sale at Senli and Frye, here in Beijing.

workers-at-babei

These workers are at Babei, the largest tie producer in Shengzhou and probably the world. Working conditions seemed pretty good in all of the factories I visited. Later this month, I will post the article with additional analysis and pictures.

CIB is available in Beijing at Chaterhouse Booktraders at the Place, the Bookworm and Cuckoo Bookshop in the China World Trade Center and in Shanghai at Chaterhouse Booktraders in Super Brand Mall, Shanghai Centre, and Shanghai Times Square.

by stylites -

Black, Navy, and Brown

22

You may not believe it after seeing this chic fellow, but various schools of thought assert that no two of these colors work together. This fellow is looking quite good with all three. Some believe black trousers cannot be worn with brown shoes and others say black can never be combined with navy except for navy trousers with black shoes. The contrast between these neutral colors is seen as too minimal. This finance student, back in Beijing from attending university in Australia, makes it work very well though. Perhaps those rules only apply to more formal attire. The navy trench coat is real Burberry and the suede monkstraps are apparently made in Italy. Most of his items are purchased abroad, where the price of quality is lower.

by stylites -

Intern Uniform

_mg_38951

People everywhere tend to dress in ways similar to their peers. In downtown Chicago, suburban soccer moms having a night out all wear high-waist baggy jeans and manly black leather jackets. Williamsburg hipsters
all wear tight but low-riding jeans and Converses (their counterparts in Beijing wear that too). In first-tier cities, white collar girls all have brand name handbags and an air of sophistication. Chengdu girls on internships
in Beijing go for colorful puffer vests, blues and greens, and plastic bows. All the bright colors and they still look quite harmonious.

by stylites -

Stylites in Beijing at Harvard

_10

Recognize these guys? They probably didn’t expect to be on posters all over Harvard. This photo along with around fifty others from Stylites are part of an exhibition called “Pop! Contemporary Street Fashion in Asia” opening this Friday, November 21. The opening will be from 7 to 10pm in the Piper Auditorium at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and will include wine, beer and images and garments representing street fashion from major cities of Asia, including Bangkok, Beijing, Hanoi, Manila, Seoul and Tokyo. If you are in the Northeast, please charter a jet to go up to Cambridge. If you need accomodations in one of my homes in the Boston area or directions, please email nels@stylites.net.