Bamboo glasses!!!

My fellow and I went to an AMAZING glasses market today in Beijing and went nuts, both leaving with two pairs of glasses each. Come on, it is less than $20 for a pair of PRESCRIPTION GLASSES. And even better…three out of four of our glasses are partially made of BAMBOO. BAMBOO GLASSES FOR LESS THAN $20! Yes, life is amazing in China. Behold.

Add comment March 15th, 2009

Chinese Vogue

Now my boyfriend dresses more “Jay Chou” than Karl Lagerfeld, but I secretly wish he was into this kind of clean tailoring..I *think* I saw this in an edition of Chinese Vogue…

Add comment February 14th, 2009

Native American Houseshoes

These shoes were 20 yuan (about 3 bucks) and look like Native American-inspired house shoes! This is why I love China. These were purchased at Xiushui Market. Warning: the salesgirls are mean as snakes, but in their defense, I am sure their bosses are nasty, conniving slave-drivers.

1 comment January 18th, 2009

P1.Cn

So I’ve been shot three times by P1.cn, and I have no idea who they are…Once they sent me the image they took, but I am still not sure why they are taking these images (is it to recruit people to their website?). Anyone out there have any information? And how does my outfit look? ;-P

Add comment January 12th, 2009

Why Chinese Vivi Sucks

Compare. Below, an image of the Chinese layout inserted into my beloved Japanese Vivi Magazine:

Below, the far better Japanese Vivi:

And a side-by-side comparison (Japan Vivi left, China Vivi right):

Chinese Vivi, get your act together! Or just import the magazine as it is.

Add comment January 8th, 2009

Hats…WITH EARS

Too brilliant for words. I am attributing this to all of Asia.

2 comments March 18th, 2008

Chinese Tailors Part 1: Tuxedo Jacket

In China, if you either can speak Chinese or if you have a Chinese friend who wants to go with you to help you bargain, you can get an awesome suit tailored for less than $30. Here is a white tuxedo 80s clubbing jacket I had made in Beijing for about $15 out of “bu tou” (left over fabric) and silk trimming detail:

The secret is to buy your fabric at Muxiyuan in the southern part of Beijing, or for you Shanghai-based peeps to get really friendly with tailors in Shanghai. Fabric should cost you less than $1 -2 per meter for regular stuff, a bit more for high thread count fabrics, high quality silk or nice tweed or leather. For labor costs, a suit costs about 100-150 RMB for the jacket, 30-50 RMB or less for the pants. Dresses are 100-150 for labor costs, depending on how demanding you are. My tailor in Beijing is called Gu Shifu, but I call him Pierre, which he loves. Don’t make button down shirts, they tend to suck royally. Coats and suits are the way to go with tailors.

2 comments March 18th, 2008

Who rocks hip hop style the best?

So here we have China/Taiwan’s three versions of Justin Timberlake. (Actually, their music is even lighter than that. Asia loves the ballads, and artists can’t really succeed musically there without some soft singin’ for the ladies…).

So! Who rocks the Asian hip hop style the best?

1. Chinese-American Wang Lihom

2. Taiwanese rapper Huang Lixing

3. Taiwanese superstar Jay Chou

(I’ll give you a hint–it’s Huang. He’s the only one who consistently features bitches in his music videos, an essential component for any self-respecting hip hop artist. Here he is ripping the skirt off of some girl and then showing off his t-shirt. Classy).

1 comment February 27th, 2008

The Copper Mullet

During my time in Nanjing a few years back, the popular haircut among the club-going Chinese ladies was a hairstyle we called, “The Copper Mullet.” Sort of punk meets alien hick. Not the most attractive haircut, but a valid style experiment. Props for trying.

I could only find the male equivalent to the hairstyle on-line. Imagine slightly orange-er and on a girl, and you have it. The Copper Mullet. Pictures courtesy of I Spy Shanghai, another fantastic blog on China.

Add comment February 23rd, 2008