Jean Pierre Braganza at Nanluoguxiang

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Jean Pierre Braganza is a London designer whose fashion creations are sold throughout the world and soon in Beijing. In Beijing to teach local designers to inject sophistication and cool into their brands, he was strolling down Nanluoguxiang, enjoying the street festival and drinks at Salud.

Jean Pierre describes 27 as the best age. A man finally has some experience but is not yet overburdened with the worries and responsibilities of life. The possibilities can still be endless, but can be explored armed with a bit of wisdom and experience. In the early and mid twenties, a man is a boy, naïve and ignorant in the ways of the world. At 28 and 29, he frets about the impending thirties with the first sappings of physical strength, the restrictions on freedom imposed by society, career and a young family, and growing distance from dreams as well as old friends. In the late twenties, the pressures of a girlfriend to marry or a young wife to produce children become louder and louder. Jean Pierre has succumbed to both of these pressures, but he still enjoys nights out with friends, as long as they don’t involve surprise encounters with Karl Lagerfeld and the inevitable catfights.

Raspy from Anhui

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The Beijingers appearing on Stylites usually hail from the self-described “creative elite” or the white collar world of foreign multinationals, but it was clear from Daphne’s rough accent and manner that she claims neither of these two backgrounds. Unlike most girls from the provinces or others without foreign exposure, she has some natural grace. Maybe she also knows that adding a tincture of raspiness to a sweet appearance can have a special appeal. All items are from the zoo market. The flats are a kind of plastic webbing material perfect for rainy days – they seem a good alternative to crocs, though I guess rain isn’t the only justifications for crocs.

From Anqing, she has been in Beijing for two years, working in events organizing. Anhui is quite the trendy place these days since it is offers a great location, in the Yangzi River Delta, but without the high costs of Shanghai, Jiangsu, or Zhejiang. Suddenly, it seems like everyone is from Anhui – whether it is young tailors, cleaning ladies, owners of refrigerator factories or Hu Jintao. According to some, Anhuiers are still willing to work up from the bottom rung, whereas young people from more affluent provinces have a new sense of entitlement and expect to start out as managers or owners. All this is to say that Daphne can definitely make it in Beijing. And let’s face it, all Anhui girls like this can probably make it anywhere.

Spring Freecycle Fling

This is your chance to exchange, sell, or give away clothing and accessories, media related objects (no pirated goods, but if you have any DVDs from Sanlitun you can bring them), white goods, black goods, bicycles, and any other objects. You can bring your stuff, your friend’s stuff, or your ayi’s stuff – just remember to take whatever you brought that doesn’t get claimed – aside from booze. Please RSVP (nels@stylites.net or 13910092410 – texts please), so we know how many people to warn our neighbors. Also, alcohol is always a welcome article of exchange.

Date:
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Time:
2:00pm – 6:30pm
Location:
Our Courtyard
Street:
5 Xinghua Hutong

Photo Shoot by 1626

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Beijing-based fashion and lifestyle magazine 1626, targeting 16 to 26 readers whether in body or spirit, is featuring me and stylites.net in their next issue. Hopefully I won’t be so vain as to post the photos here.

Xiaoyang, a freelance photographer, came to shoot at my home. A 25 year old from Guangxi province, he has been in Beijing for nearly three years. He studied graphic design at University but later switched to photography. A rock fan, his favorite Western bands are Joy Division, New Order, and others in that category. Luckily, I had Joy Division on hand to listen to during the two-hour shoot.

He purchased his Dior Homme pea coat on Taobao, China’s leading online auction site, for RMB 330 (USD 45) after some bargaining. Not sure whether it was genuine or not, Xiaoyang pointed out that it might be for export to Japan. Xiaoyang shops only on Taobao because of the convenience, low price, and superior selection. Generally, Xiaoyang only buys from Beijing based sellers since that allows for transactions to be completed the same day. Unlike Ebay, Taobao has a system whereby buyers don’t have to complete payment until the item is delivered and deemed satisfactory and genuine. The payment is initially held in a kind of middle compartment from which the buyer can still recover it.

Online buyers in China are concentrated in the developed parts of the country, mainly Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou province, so shipments do not normally have to go to especially distant regions. Shipping is usually RMB 10 to 25 (USD 1 to 3) for clothing.