Another Week, Another Boutique

I first passed Chloe Chen at night, and it was the sparkling lights in the front window that caught my attention. Chloe Chen is another Taiwanese designer who has set up shop in Shanghai, and she stocks her own line of shoes and clothing plus other pieces from overseas. I didn't fall head over heels with everything in the store, but there were some t-shirts, clutches and costume jewelry that I loved, and the store layout really sets CC apart from a lot of other boutiques in Shanghai. There's room to twirl without knocking over the displays, and the racks aren't so jammed with clothes that an attempt to extract an item causes a clothing avalanche.

Chloe Chen is at 174 XianYang Road, right next to the awfully named Awfully Chocolate (although their cupcakes looked pretty good from where I was standing).

Miss G.

A Day in the Life

Paraphrasing Mme. Coco, fashion is everywhere. So it goes without saying that the streets are part of the fashion fabric of Shanghai. Here's what captured my attention during a stroll around the French Concession:

I love this scooter. So many of them are kind of ... grey and dirty. Unlike this lovely specimen.

Mr Postman

Anya makes the novel decision to sell her bags at ...

SHOWTIME!

My favourite traffic warden, Danger Man: after yelling at a pedestrian for standing 1 inch from the sidewalk, he then waved a crowd of people into the path of oncoming traffic.

Washing day ...

Meat drying day ...

Only the fourth traffic accident I've seen in 3 months. Not what I expected given the kamikaze style of driving that is so popular in Shanghai.

Chinese Red

More Chinese Red

Is it the strange proportions? The chopped legs? Whatever it is, these ladies freaked me out.

Candy pink building ...

right next to mint green.

I love these kids booties ...

if only they came in my size.

Miss G.

Hand of the day

I have an obsession with hands...
I attach more importance to this part of the body than any other. Not only for aesthetic or hygienic reasons, even if the later REALLY matters to me *quick glance at hand sanitizer bottle on desk* I am fascinated by their expressive power: from love to anxiety, suffering and relationship status or...profession... Indeed, why have a business card when you have hands like Bobby's ?  They really do speak for themselves...


Running down Nanjing Road, I bumped into "Bobby West".

A native of Los Angeles, California who landed in Shanghai a few months ago and took up residence in the prestigious Ritz-Carlton.
The delicacy and softness of his hand-shake made it obvious to me he was a pianist, which he later acknowledged. In addition to being a gifted musician, Mr West is also a composer and a producer. His collaborations list includes such names as Billy Higgins and R.Kelly. He also performed with a great variety of singers and musicians, such as Smokey Robinson, Helen Reddy, Wilson Pickett and the Ray Charles Orchestra.

Bobby West @ The Ritz Jazz Bar

The Portman Ritz-Carlton 1376, Nanjing Xi Lu from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Monday to Saturday

Photo: Courtesy of Ritz- Carlton

Honey Bee

Take a different route, and some days you get lucky. Running late one morning, I forked right instead of left and stumbled upon the whimsical William the Beekeeper. Pots of honey, stacks of books and some glorious dresses were all vying for my attention in the window front, but I had to take a raincheck and dash off to class.

I finally made it back earlier this week to meet up with Cairn Wu, the owner of this lovely store, and her gorgeous puppy, Curry. Cairn’s story is pretty inspirational: she started learning how to sew when she was 15, and dreamed of launching her own label ever since. She studied Economics at UCLA and became a stockbroker to raise capital, founding the Kaileeni label in 2007. Inspired by vintage pieces, her designs are timeless and a little bit quirky. Alongside her own label, she also stocks hand-selected pieces from around the world and, of course, honey, which is sourced from her husband's farm in Honolulu.

William the Beekeeper seems to be a (depressingly) rare thing in Shanghai. Cairn acknowledged that there is a general reluctance on the part of Chinese to buy home-grown brands, and vintage clothing doesn't attract the same following as it does in the US and Europe. Most of her clientele are either foreigners, or local Chinese who travel internationally.

I fell in love with so many pieces, but as I’m meant to be on a sartorial diet at the moment, I think I’m going to have to limit myself to just one piece!

William the Beekeeper is at 84 Fenyang Road, Former French Concession.

A Bee

A bee

staggers out

of the peony.

Matsuo Basho

Miss G.

Cabs and maps : Lost in translation

What do french, spanish and italian have in common...?

Latin roots ! For a Parisian-ista traveling to Barcelona or Milan, language is not really a barrier. When in China, she frowns when realizing her survival chinese phrase book is not that useful...

Side note: Careful the things you say here...by using a different tone for one word, its meaning can be dramatically changed !

The independent adventurous traveler (she thought she was) is quite frustrated: the most simple thing is difficult to ask... Indeed, what do you do when :

• no one around speaks english ?
• sign language is ineffective ?
• the only map you have is written in characters ?
• you can't find your hotel business card ?
• you forgot your subway stop name ?
• your one and only chinese friend's phone is off and the taxi driver wants to throw you out of the window ?

YES, you freak out ! > This is what you get for laughing at tourists back home... (insert evil laugh and karma definition here)

A week in beautiful Shanghai and 6 hours of chinese class later, our frenchie has a little bit more confidence: she can pronounce her address correctly and even knows how to introduce herself. Can't wait for her next cab ride to show off !!! She gets in the car and proudly tells the driver where she wants to go and where she is from blah blah blah... when condescendingly and in a perfect english he replies : "Don't sweat it, I am not Chinese, I am Japanese, where are you going again ? "

Any crazy abroad experience ? Please share, I am sure it will make her feel better...

Gargantuan

During some recent after-dark meanderings, I wandered into a bag store called Yamado, which led to a little bit of bag-lusting and a request for a business card on my way out. Rather than being handed the usual 2 1/8 inch x 3.37 inch slip of cardboard, I received something that might just as easily pass for a commemorative plaque. It’s an interesting marketing concept: it’s too big to fit in my purse, so there’s no chance of filing it out of sight and then (inevitably) throwing it out once my purse becomes distended with my magpie-like pickings. It has some weight to it and is probably equivalent to about 16 standard business cards, so the carbon footprint alone causes me to rethink tossing it. I can’t crumple it up: I simply don’t have the hand strength (nor will you, unless you’ve been putting in the hard yards with a gripmaster). Practicalities aside, there’s also a rather fetching photo of a woman on the front, with hair that defies gravity and a lovely hatbox to boot. So now it’s propped up on my bookshelf, a little advertising beacon that I’ve carried home with me. Shelf life: TBA.

I visited the store at 252 Tai Kang Road however my plaque also informs me that there’s another store at 139 Changle Road.

Miss G

Bonjour Shanghai

Hello fellow shanghaistas!

There’s no denying that Shanghai is a vibrant fashion-forward city, but in this age of globalisation, sometimes it feels as though home-grown fashion is in danger of extinction. Zooming down Huaihai Lu in the back of a taxi (without a seatbelt!), it seems as though western labels have staked out a pretty significant territory in this town. But we can buy Zara, Mango, Diesel and Chloé at home. Shanghaista is all about hitting the street and taking a peek behind mass-marketed labels to find out what sets Shanghai fashion apart from the rest.