Aris is one of the main designers for Izzue.

She is from Hong Kong, but she much prefers Beijing due to its bohemian, rock & roll vibe.

These tailor-made products for Chinese tourists are popping up everywhere, even in the world of luxury tourism. This article in the International Business Times describes a new event designed specifically for wealthy Chinese travelers called Dragon Week. In NYC, Dragon Week is created by Affinity China, which takes tourists everywhere from a cocktail party at Yue-Sai Kan’s townhouse to Bergdorf Goodman for a private fashion show. This year, it even included a private gala held at the Empire State Building with a visit by Mayor Bloomberg.

Moving back to business, Fung Brands is acquiring multiple European companies. The FT reports that Fung, owner of luxury menswear company Trinity Group, is now in talks with French fashion house Sonia Rykiel to buy an 80 percent stake. A growing trend, we’ll continue to see many acquisitions of this type.

Auctioneer Tom Keane talks with MailOnline about a different kind of Western product making its way into Chinese markets: British antiques. Pieces ranging from bookcases to leather armchairs are selling for high dollar (almost ten times more than in Britain) in China today. Keane attributes the growing interest mostly to the uniqueness the pieces hold in Chinese homes.

Hong Huang recently talked to the FT in her home about how, despite her accomplishments, her extremely wealthy friends still look on her with pity. Huang, well-connected politically due to her heritage, jokes about how her friends simply enjoy what she does.

These friends, she says, make up a good portion of customers at her store, which she credits to the fact they’re well traveled and want to support Chinese brands. Although Huang believes Western brands have far from damaged Chinese designers, she predicts the next generation of buyers will move away from gaudy designs to something less Western and more oriental.

But it will all be an eclectic mix, no?

Text: Caroline

This student is wearing a hat Beijingers tend to associate with legend Lei Feng.

At WWD, Hong Huang (THE Hong Huang, I imagine) complains of schlepping through Europe’s fashion weeks while her family is home enjoying dumplings and conviviality.  She attributes scheduling that ignores Spring Festival to a paucity of Chinese buyers and multibrand department stores. Despite the purchasing power of consumers, Chinese brands stores and brands still lack clout.

Originality or its absence is related, Huang thinks.  She cites the amusing predilection of Chinese for naming their brands after animals.  Northeast Tiger, Baoxiniao (Happy Bird in Chinese) and Sept Wolves are major players who observed the early success of crocodile jerseys and concluded that animals sell.

Fashion-wise, she recommends red belts for all those born in the Year of the Dragon.  As most will know, one must wear red in one’s birth year to avert ill fortune.

The Year of the Dragon is bound to bring good things for Chinese Vogue, as one can surmise from this Irish Times interview with EIC Angelica Cheung. In 2011, China was third among the 15 international editions in revenue.  One might have guessed first, given the magazine’s almost dangerous heft and the frothiness of the market.  I will have to ask friends how local editions of Bazaar and Cosmo compare.

Over at agglomerator China Fashion Bloggers, we see Hurun Report‘s list of the top ten gifting brands.  Unsurprisingly, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Hermès dominate.  The only local brand is Moutai, that exceedingly mild white spirit.

AnyWearStyle runs through the highlights of 2011, including Burberry, Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Bulgari events, and makes predictions for 2012.  These include that much-lauded Uma Wang will be Designer of the Year and young Xiao Wen, Model of the Year.  Sister site, AnyShopStyle, is also offering a special Chinese New Year discount.  This is the spot for buying designers like Xander Zhou, Leo Kong, and others online.

Jing Daily speaks of eight recent trends and suggests the indignation toward high luxury taxes will intensify with little happening, conspicuous consumption will continue its “gradual death” – or what I might call a transition to manifestations considered less vulgar, and the luxury e-commerce market, now led by players like Xiu.com, Shangpin.com and 5LUX.com will undergo a weeding out process.  Meanwhile, this piece at Jing forecasts a continued skyrocketing in Chinese luxury consumption abroad, including during the current New Year holiday.

Timothy Coghlan of The Maosuit gives us some great images of recent advertising campaigns with Chinese themes and all the special editions released for the Dragon Year.  Huge events in 2012 will include Louis Vuitton celebrating year 20 in China by re-opening their Shanghai Plaza 66 Flagship, which will be the brand’s largest China outlet. LVMH will also commence a luxury mall project in Shanghai, with Macao Casino magnate Stanley Ho.  The L’Avenue project in West Shanghai to host the complete stable of LVMH brands as well as a fancy office building.  Colossal but oft-forgotten cities like Shenyang, Hangzhou and Tianjin will also see droves of new luxury brand malls opening.

So, just a lot more exuberance in the Year of the Dragon.

This is just so much fun and what a great pair!

Photo: Suzy

Perhaps there is a bit too much here and her taste may not be entirely unimpeachable, but there is something appealing about the eclecticism here.

I rarely put models up here, but this confrontational chinoiserie from a cosplay party was irresistible.

As was this dramatic coat from the same event.

And what a nice use of blue and lovely smile!

And here is some blue with pop!

Maybe it was the year that local fashionistas discovered blue and realized it is even more adaptable than black.

Thick frames and workwear were also major trends.

Behind this rather S&M look is the chemical tank at 751 that remained the most popular venue for fashion events this year.

An aggressive adrogyny kept appearing.

This was an interesting mixture of mostly items mostly from Western brands to create an effect that seemed undeniably Chinese, or perhaps Uyghur.

Retro florals were the thing to do.

Photo: Suzy

Chinese-influenced looks grew as a trend this year.

It was a year in which headlines constantly announced Chinese consumers were abandoning conspicuous consumption and logos.  The new fashionistas must wear labels with irony.

And it was also a year in which luxury consumers in second-tier gained increasing attention.

Which was your favorite look?

With China’s design school churning out graduates and droves returning from the top schools abroad, the number of designers plying their trade has been increasing rapidly. Designer, curator, and entrepreneur Song Tao – a true mover and shaper – champions a fresh, but distinctly Chinese, aesthetic. Known for his product and interior design, Song is perhaps even more famous for the work he has done on promoting his peers.

Armed with a master’s degree in plastic arts from the Sorbonne, Song returned home to found Tao Gallery, a design space, in 1994. In 2002, he started ZI ZAO SHE, a brand that promotes his designs alongside those of other rising stars. This brand is known for its re-interpretations of classic Chinese shapes in contemporary materials like lucite. Subsequently in 2009, he spearheaded the China Furnishing Designer Brand Alliance and founded O Gallery in Beijing’s 798, a one-stop destination for viewing the work of China’s top designers as well as that of top international stars.

Song has curated shows from the Ullens Center to Art Beijing with a participant list that reads like a who’s who of contemporary Chinese design: Shao Fan, Sun Wentao, Liu Feng, Jia Li, Chen Darui, Ma Xiaowei, Wang Zhenfei, Fei Ruo, Xie Dong, Wen Miao, Xiao Tianyu, Gu Qigao, Wang Ke, Shi Jianmin, Gao Yiqiang, Huang Ying, and others. Many of these same designers have work that is available at O Gallery.

The future is bright for design, says Song. “The success of luxury brands like LV here in China taught us that people buy the real thing once they have the money” he comments. “Now plenty of people have the money. If they appreciate design, they will definitely pay for the original.”

2012 won’t be a year of austerity and introspection on Stylites!

It’s rare that an outfit seems to work so well with hair dyed in this color.

Founder of Yaang and chief director of Kieperzapfen Design, Wang Yang studied traditional Chinese painting at the China Academy of Art and worked in Hamburg and Berlin for several years.

1. What are the biggest influences on your work?

Artists including Andy Warhol, Giorgio Morandi and Chen Laolian. I also like Song Dynasty bird and flowers paintings and landscapes from the Ming and Qing.

2. Is your work part of the current drive toward Chinese retro and nostalgia？

Chinese culture has so much to explore and my goal is to make products with a visual language that sparks an emotional response in customers.

3. What are the main challenges for you?

Beyond the issues of cost control, finding new channels, and working with suppliers that we always face, we always seek an attractive design language.

4. Where is China design now?

Chinese design is in its infancy since the proceeding period was so empty. Many clients and customers
remain unwilling to spend on design, though trends are positive. Many designers are working hard to get
China on the design map. Competition is growing, so how to find your place and then settle down and just produce good design is an issue.

The numbers in China are naturally the most impressive. The Chinese customs agency reports estimated that 30 percent of the Christmas products manufactured in China are sold domestically and sales at shopping centers is thought to spike by up to 30 percent in this period.  Perhaps one motivation for celebrating the day is the inexpensive decorations.

The unapologetic embrace of the most materialistic aspects of this religious event day be because there are not enough of traditional Chinese days that can be used for partying with friends.  Home-grown holidays may be too solemn or official.  The adoration of this foreign holiday might also highlight the cosmopolitanism and openness of contemporary China.  However, at the end of that stylish yuletide dinner at a five-star hotel, Christmas in China is all about fashion – having an international, hip, lifestyle.

Oh yes, and Merry Christmas to all of my viewers wherever they are!

She is a former resident of the Big Apple, where I just arrived myself.

Quite the tights.

Stanley is one of the main men behind Liquid Element, one of China’s premier PR/events companies.

And Bao Yifeng founded Liquid Element in 2002.

Shaway Yeh is the Editorial Director for the LifeStyle section of Modern Weekly.  

And here I am with model Zhang Zhiyuan.

Tomasz and Yuanyuan.

And Tomasz with PR Executive Rhoda Adams.

Jeffrey seems to have done something wicked.

- Conde Nast China Managing Director Cao Weiming discusses the rise of Vogue, GQ, AD, and Self in the most important rapidly growing market for print media.  Vogue China now has the third highest revenue among the 15 international editions of the publication.  I also heard recently that GQ China is expected to surpass the UK one to become the top grossing GQ, right after the US version.  More from China Daily on Conde Nast in China.

- Not all is as buoyant as what fashion industry watchers were promised though.  Shares in HK-listed Prada have slumped 34% from their price at listing in July.  With 42% of its sales in Asia, Prada enjoyed 25% growth in the first nine months of the year and 39% in Asia (outside Japan).  Like everyone, investors are worried about slower than utterly exuberant growth in 2012, though Prada in China must still be a very good bet in the medium to long term.  The world’s largest listed jeweler, HK’s Chow Tai Fook, also saw its share price drop 8%.  Both of these are probably more cases of investors accepting that growth in the Chinese luxury market will be merely strong, rather than overwhelming, at least in 2012.

- On a lighter, or hopefully darker, note, a new chocolate theme park north of Beijing hosted a show with fashions made from chocolate.

Sorry for the delay in getting these photos up.  I know the event was last week, but the exhibition is still on at Lane Crawford.

Above are make-up artist Tupper Bai and his friend, a fashion photographer.

Two media luminaries: Charley Kan and Li Mengxia.

Blogger Tess showing off her new style.

And here is one of Beijing’s leading creatives, Lin Lin.

And fashion PR luminary, Nicole Chen.

Tommy, the PR Director for fashion retailer Shine, shows us how to mix blue and hot pink.  Trousers are tailor-made, the shirt is vintage imported from the US purchased at Mega Mega Vintage and the sweater is Prada.