Hong Kong Chinese Consumer Tech Report (Advertising, Retail & Leisure)

QR codes, touch screens to the rise of the ‘low head clan’ - here's the latest on how technology is embedded into the everyday lives of Chinese consumers in Hong Kong.

The Great Time Out Takeover − The I.T crowd

It's not every day you get to write for one of London's best loved and unbelievably free magazines. So sounding like an unapologetic cliché, when Time Out announced its reader takeover issue, I jumped at the chance.

I was in Canada last Tuesday when my father emailed me a scan of my Hong Kong fashion feature on the I.T pop-up at Selfridges in the latest printed mag. 

A number of expletives followed, conveying my excitement to my befuddled cousins.

I hope you'll like it. Let me know what you think!

7 Reasons Why You Should Read Chinese Fashion Magazines

Why now's a fashionable time to start learning Chinese 

Shu Pei is the stunning cover model for Elle HK September 2012 issue

Two nights ago, 2.30am, ridiculously bored on Twitter and desperate for self-amusement before bed, I was rummaging the mountains of plastic bags that are a permanent fixture in my room – where I found something that didn’t belong.

An unopened, sealed September 2012 issue of Elle HK. I’d picked it up for a measly HK$10 (about £1.50 for two inches, plus you get Elle Health & Beauty for free) at Chep Lap Kok airport on my way back to the UK last August. Turns out I’d taken it back home and completely forgotten about it.

It’s interesting because I’m not one for conscious delayed-gratification. Patience is not my forte and I’ve never withheld the urge to rip off crisp polythene bags off anything for more than five seconds. In a strange way, it was like opening a time capsule of my own culture (I was studiously raised on a bilingual diet of local and foreign magazines). Yes, I know it’s a year old, but had the content, tone and reader in fashion magazines changed since I left Kowloon for Kent?

1. The ads

Image source:  http://awake-smile.blogspot.co.uk

Advertising in fashion magazines fascinates me – both the model and brand reflect capitalist aspirations of readers. I have never met a Chinese woman in my life who would think twice on splurging on the latest It-bag or skincare, even if it meant living off stale bread crusts for the next month to pay rent. Chinese women are far more likely to be working high-flying workers than pram-pushing housewives, so owning the right brands is essential in portraying an ever competitive social image of success.

Timeless French and Italian houses like Dior, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Versace and Armani are popular, as is the chic elegant European aristocrat look – Nicole Kidman, Sophie Marceau considered classic beauties in luxury ads.

I’ve picked my two favourite ads from the issue. The postcard perfect scene of Bally’s FW12 ad depicts Verbier’s famous Chalet d’Adrie in Switzerland, starring Hilary Rhoda and Caroline Trentini. I love the irony of selling winter ski coats to a subtropical region that will never snow. It taps into the customer’s wishful fantasy and I think it’s brilliant.

The second ad I loved was for Paul Smith featuring subsequent portraits of Suzie Bird, her eyes open in one and closed in the other. I’ve seen Kate Moss in similar versions of the ad but I think this one encapsulates British quirkiness and wit more – with a whiff of Magritte.

2. We’re starting to talk about SEX(and other taboos)

The liberal conversations and serious debates the western world take for granted, like sex, exploitation and body image are a relatively young phenomenon in conservative Asian cultures. I particularly enjoyed the frankness of Marky Lo’s discussion on the ethics of sexual images in fashion advertising. To quote, “I remember being shocked the first time I saw an American Apparel ad on Portobello Rd during a London visit.  I went in, left with a new windbreaker and realised that’s how some companies make money these days”.

3. Our real-life office dramas

No, this isn’t a piece on the newest anti-stress boxing trend, but it’s office tensions caused by the increasing generation gap. It’s common for baby boomers, generation X and Y (which it fondly labels ‘The Evil Generation’) to misunderstand and be at each other’s necks – they’ve been raised in very different eras. Cue stories of horrified line managers fed up of insubordinate, spoilt ‘little children’ with ‘no manners’.  It all sounds quite familiar but highlights the importance of keeping lines of communication open in the workplace rather than resort to bathroom bitching. Especially when we all use the same ladies’ room.

4. Chinese models working it

image source: models.com 

With names like Shu Pei, Fei-Fei Sun having walked for every major designer in the last six years (Supermodel Liu Wen made history just daysago as the first Asian Victoria’s Secret angel), the rising prominence of Chinese models is hardly news.

Yet I’m pleased that after a good 20 years of idolising a specific Western look (especially in fashion, less so in beauty)- big eyes, fluttery lashes, delicate noses and impossible cheekbones, fashion brands are finally using women that look remotely like the customers unzipping their Miu Miu wallets. Fashion is embracing diversity more than ever and the world’s a better place because of it. 

Check out 21 yr old Xiao Wen Ju in this striking neon club-inspired Kenzo ad and winter coat shoot. Known for her wide-spaced, tiny seed eyes on her porcelain doll face - Xiao is the epitome of the unconventional beauty that is new even to the Chinese.

5. We’ve finally embraced high fashion

This Maison Martin Margiela jewelled mask and jacket ensemble is an acquired taste (Read my comments on Leigh Browery’s dance costumes for MichaelClark & Company’s ‘Because We Must’). It’s unlikely to catch on anytime soon, but the mere publication of the image is mini breakthrough in its own right. The Chinese are finally acknowledging the avant-garde creativity of high-fashion, even though we still prefer to wear the rocks on our fingers.

6. We bloody love the Brits

16 years after the 1997 handover, the emotional remnants of Hong Kong’s British colonial heritage linger; there is still great fondness (perhaps 'fetish' is a more accurate term)for all things British – whether it’s their fashion, education or culture. I’d argue the word in itself represents quality, freedom and taste there (of course they haven’t watched an episode of ‘Shameless’). 

This issue was published just after the London 2012 Olympics and features a lot of interviews with British designers like Vivienne Westwood. Like the Brits, the Chinese love a Dame - her orb logo as ubiquitous and has enjoyed a cult-like status for what feels like eternity. The article also previews her then newly launched Queen’s jubilee-inspired Red Capsule Collection, which still leaves a certain type of girl (and boy) dewy eyed. 

Viv should watch her back though, as new talents like Christopher Kane and Gareth Pugh are gaining momentum with the younger market who don’t want to dress in head-to-toe Moschino like their mums.

7. We really, really bloody love the Brits (especially the ones we lost too soon)

Shu Pei Image source: http://www.huayibrothersfashion.com

Extract from interview with 23 year old Beijing cover model Shu Pei:

Elle: You mentioned being moved by something Alexander McQueen said?

Shu Pei: It was the last show before his death. We were wearing these extremely high and painful heels and models kept falling over during rehearsal.  Moments before the show, McQueen looked at every single girl and told us to walk very slowly. “You must take care and not rush. If the girl in front of you falls, don’t walk over her, stop and help her up.” I was so touched; he was a really kind man.

All translation and scans have been done by myself unless specified otherwise.

The Art of Hong Kong Eye, Saatchi Gallery

Inside Amy Cheung's 'Toy Tank' at 'Hong Kong Eye'

Saatchi’s 'Hong Kong Eye' is an 18-course amuse-bouche of the region's brewing contemporary art scene. If there was any doubt, just look at renowned Swiss fair Art Basel's debut in Hong Kong last month – which attracted plenty of customers  (including Kate Moss and Roman Abramovich apparently) eager for a slice of the massively lucrative market.  

Sponsored by Prudential, Asia's leading corporate UK owned insurance company (the hint is in it's name), I was keen to discover how the show would, as its official introduction claims, “draw on (artists) specific cultural backgrounds to expose the city’s nuances” convincingly to new audiences.

Known as " The Pearl of the Orient", it’s easy to be seduced by the city's glossy patina: a teeming hyper-networked metropolis, breathtaking skyline boasting most Rolls-Royces per capita. But at what social/psychological price? This is unadulterated HK in the eyes of its own artists; where unspoken anxiety simmers headily throughout the exhibition. 

Amy Cheung's life-sized wooden 'Toy Tank' 

Standing in the first room is Amy Cheung's full-size wooden ‘Toy Tank’, a loaded choice of material for a symbol so potent. Visitors are invited play combat; crawling inside the vehicle, submerged in darkness. Video screens and joysticks let one navigate and unleash gunfire within a simulated Saatchi Gallery. Complete with realistic sound effects, the haunting atmosphere and unmistakable echoes of Tiananmen are inescapable. Curiously lying in its path is Adrian Wong's five-foot animatronic peanut soft toy, convulsing like dying road-kill. Novel child's play aside, these examples show how local artists are incorporating the cutting-edge technology in their work. Compared to the west, its apparent lack of established arts infrastructure and rules appears to work in its favour. 

Justin Wong’s 'Difficult Life Decision' encompasses two works. The first is a giant periodic table of stickered symbols across an entire wall. Parodying a typical gruelling cycle of work, stress and digitally-prompted demands, the day starts with "Email” and ends in “Blank”, contrasting with signs of human woes like “Why Me”, “Mortgage” and “Day Off”. It’s the blueprint of the kind of living mode Londoners are frighteningly catching up with.

Justin Wong 's 'Difficult Life Decision''

The second part is a kiosk that asks rhetorically “How Are U Today?” Conceived, explains the helpful touch screen, to “help overworked white-collar employees contemplate life or even create a new one”, by anonymously sharing their secrets, worries and pent-up frustrations. If Wong’s works visually encapsulate HK’s insanely-paced work ethic, the definitive soundtrack belongs to Joao Vasco Paiva's installation of MTR (HK’s underground) turnstiles. A clanging-metal racket so ingrained as a Hong Konger; I barely noticed how irritatingly loud it was it until now. 

On more contentious ground, questions about China’s cultural identity are painted in Chow Chun Fai's iconic movie scenes of Chinese capitalist dreams. Everyone wants a piece of China now, but there is less concern for its own people, let alone those who speak openly about it. Issues like corruption seem to be subtly implied in subtitled actors' quotes − “China is not ruled by Chinese anyway”. Unlike the 'Korean Eye' or 'Indonesian Eye', unsurprisingly this is as controversial as it gets. 

Chow Chun Fai, 'Legend of the Fist: China is not Ruled by Chinese Anyway'

That being said, I don’t think 'Hong Kong Eye' was ever intended to expose its dark side. Intensity has always been the way of life; China didn't prosper by luck. 

The most unique aspect shown is HK’s mongrel culture, owed to its rich history as a former British colony and international trading port. An incongruous collage of old meets new, east meets west under constant urban renewal. Ho Sin Tung’s 'LOVE HOTEL: Please pretend we’ve been to a lot of places' includes a collage of cards from locally-endangered seedy motels named after glamorous holiday destinations. “Venice Inn”, “Hawaii Guest House” and the delightfully misspelt “Romb Hotel” are kitschy delights you'd never find in a tourist map. 

This is an show where somewhat frustratingly, no message or agenda is explicit. Contemplative effort, imagination and open-mindedness are needed to appreciate HK’s cultural fabric – which is complex, idiosyncratic and contradictory. However its mystic allure is a promising sign of big things yet to come.

Images from top:  pbs.org, aesthetica.com, guardian.co.uk, ocula.com

Freshly Brewed Hong Kong Blogs pt 2 - Ztylistas and TOUGHLOVE

In the second part of  Freshly Brewed Hong Kong bloggers special, discover Ztylistas and TOUGHLOVE.

 

Ztylistas

The Chinese Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Topshop Unique oversized vest , Cheap Monday jersey pullover

 Thakoon addition utility skirt c/o Shopbop ,Pamela Love dagger rosary necklace c/o Shopbop 

Topshop Unique creeper boots

1990s flashbacks in that funny heet stuff you get in craft shops! Yes really!
 Cheap Monday cropped turtleneck top, Yasmin Kianfar lasercut neoprene skirt

Watch your back - Lanvin en bleu tweed tee, on the streets of
Shibuya, Japan

Getting some Vit D in H&M denim blazer and Karen Walker sunnies

Perfecting the Emily the Strange deathstare. Opening Ceremony knitted contrast sleeves dress c/o Shopbop , vintage YSL denim jacket , Givenchy Obsedia bag , Topshop Unique creeper boots

The most high-fashion stylistically out of the Brew & Post gang, Ztylistas is the lovechild of CSM friends Melinda Wang, who models and Derek Ho, who photographs. No two snaps are the same, mesmerising in its own chemistry, character and narrative. I hate falling into the cliché of making comparisons to titles that frankly don’t need further publicity, but the photos could easily been torn Nylon pages.  Expect dynamic poses that experiment every work awkward body angles and plenty of hair swishes. Treat your eyes with this designer x street paradise shot in derelict spaces and overgrown yards. 

Ztylistas don’t churn out content on a thrice-daily basis.  But when they do, boy it’s worth the wait. 

TOUGH LOVE

 

You've got to respect a guy who risks stealing the bride's limelight wearing a purple/pink print tie to a wedding. Valentino Suit, Club Monaco Dress Shirt, General Knot & Co Floral Print Tie, Raf Simons Chain Derby Shoes

Club Monaco Men’s Pop-up Shop in Wan Chai HK. http://www.anthemstore.co.uk/ are London stockists of the brand.

 

Nike Flyknits, Carl the Camel in a bright floral number

Here's a dilemma for you.  Converse sneakers or greasy burgers? (Orange wheat print plastic cups - very working class HK)

Made in U.S.A. Shirt HKD 1390, Persol Vintage Sunglasses HKD4550, Vintage Omega HKD45,000. Sumo the dog (POA, kidding, not for sale)

“A New York/Hong Kong creative trying to find out what kind of man he’s inspired to be and how handsome he can look while doing it." 

You’d be forgiven assuming he’s a poser, but he’s actually a softie who is very, very funny. Not to mention the epitome of that new breed of sophisticated Asian metrosexual − girlfriends, be very afraid − mixing cool, emerging urban labels no-one’s ever heard of with classics like Club Monaco. He has a unique, confident style that compliments deadpan faces and flora/fauna tattooed arms. I liked the fact detail shots of clothes are clean and simple. Men will appreciate honest fashion advice, like his preferred method of dealing with pushy tailors. 

The best photo stories chronicle exotic travels, like riding Carl the Camel on the Great Wall, or exquisite ‘Yum Cha’ dim sum sessions accompanied by Chinese art Sir David Tang’s (of Shanghai Tang) members-only China Club (中國會).