MA FASHION DIARY- 28/11/2010: Meijia S-Vintage Muse in Shanghai

Meijia S is a Shanghaiese girl who pay her eyes of fashion on vintage style. She now is a well-known fashion blogger. Her vintage styles not only welcomed in local but also push her onto the Vogue Germany. 


As the new generation in Shanghai, she represent the attitude towards Vintage or second hand clothes: can accept and thought that is fashion.
At first, she just found interesting and chic clothing form the wardrobes of her mother or grandmother. After her styles succeed, she begin to find more vintage clothing to style. 

Here is her Chinese Blog: http://meijias.blogbus.com/

Here I post some looks of hers

Introduction from Meijia S:

a shanghainese girl who is crazy for fashion.

my style is simple and chic.

so obsessed with vintage.

Here is another press from the Style Stalker of WHOWHATWEAR

We glad to see Meijia S appeared on it.

(http://www.whowhatwear.com/website/full-article/style-stalker-october/)

And also her LOOKBOOK.nu: http://lookbook.nu/user/92969-Meijia-S

MA FASHION DIARY- 25/11/2010: Vintage Store and Lifestyle in China

Here I found an online magazine talk about the Vintage Store and lifestyle in Shanghai.

There is a Vintage Store located in the Anxi Clothing Market in Shanghai. The picture below is the owner and the decorations of that store. 

This page introduced the tips about how to shopping vintage. The stuffs and goods shown still form the same store. 

This page, editor give the reasons why people choose Vintage Clothing. 

1. Vintage clothing have stories

2. Vintage Clothing can call back your own memories about a specific time

3. The styles of vintage clothing are classical and timeless, the pass the selection of time.

4. Vintage Clothing also pass the selection of quality, some of them even represent the handicraft art

The following pages are the interviews about people who choose vintage. The editor give the questions such as why they choose vintage, what's special of vintage, Do you feel reject about vintage because they are second hand.

After reading their interviews, these people from every level of the society. Their status are different. Some of them are designers, some of them are students, others are photographers. But all of them mention the most important reason that they chose Vintage: Everyone want the fashionable clothes, but in Shanghai, almost all stylish clothing are expensive. Their lower incoming level can't afford these brand-named products. And the vintage that you can found unique-styled products in acceptable prices.

They also said, although from Chinese tradition that people reject second-handed products. But in new generation, most of them are more active in innovation and get the better receptive ability in new trend than their parents. More and more young people show their talent in absorb new fashion. 

MA FASHION DIARY- 22/11/2010: Vintage Street Styles in China

Coco Chanel said :"A fashion that does not reach the streets is not a fashion." When the Vintage became fashion in West, how about the Vintage Styles in China?

I remember I have been taken the photo for a private online fashion club named P1. Every month they got their own magazine including the best street styles in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing. In this March，when I wearing the vintage long coat walking on street, the photographer of P1 ask me to take a picture for them. They collect my information and email. Suddenly, at that month, I became the one on the first page of their street style column of their magazine. 

Obviously, they asked what I was wear that day. And people love this vintage look. How about other vintage style? Here I got the some styles still vintage on P1 magazine. 

The first one is taken on 29/04/2010. He dress himself into a military look with a vintage leather bag. Finally, he became the third most popular look in that month and been put on the first of the page.

This one taken in 01/11/2010. That time was around Shanghai Fashion Week. The girl dressed in total 70s style. Again, this look was welcomed and became the most hyped one of that issue. 

After last time I doing the questionnaire about vintage style, the feedback form most Chinese consumer show that they can accept Vintage or actually they looking forward to Vintage style. The street style pictures I put this time, is another evidence to show the vintage style is welcomed in China.

MA FASHION DIARY- 18/11/2010: The structure of my seminar

My seminar title is : Importing Luxury Brands and the influences to the Fashion Market in China

Introduction

China was the third largest luxury goods consumer in the world in 2004 and China has become one of the fastest-growing markets in the world for luxury labels. This red-hot market projected to be the largest luxury brands consumer in 2015. Just like Tom Ford said that:

“We are finished here in the West-our moment has come and gone. This is all about China and India and Russia. It is the beginning of the reawakening of cultures that have historically worshipped luxury and haven’t had it for so long.”

After that I need to introduce the situation that China after Cultural Revolution

Due to the Cultural Revolution, both economy and fashion in China have been delayed for decade.

After the Cultural Revolution, the government holds reform and opening policies. Suddenly, the western cultural and fashion information rush to China. The foreigners and Chinese notions of foreignness have been irrevocably linked with the “Luxury”

People begin to understand the “wealthy” West. 

Luxury Brands come to China

This part I got three examples

1.Successful example: Pierre Cardin

2.Confused in Western Style: Yves Saint Laurent

3.Cultural misunderstandings: Giorgio Armani

Luxury Brand Nowadays

I gonna talk about the Burberry in China

Present & Promotion: Architectural decorations, flagship stores & film

This part including: 

Louis Vuitton and Dior Architectural Decorations; Gucci, Louis Vuitton and 

Emporio Armani flagship sotre and Dior new promotional film-Lady Blue Shanghai.

My conclusion including

1. Influence to the Chinese Fashion market and consumers

2. The importance to my POS

MA FASHION DIARY- 16/11/2010: Vintage clothing market in Tokyo

This article is about Vintage Clothing market in Tokyo. It's very helpful to me to understand the vintage market in similar area.

Toyko hones its vintage clothing market

By Kaori Shoji

TOKYO — The story about vintage clothes in Tokyo goes like this: A Hollywood actress, after a successful crash diet, sold her size 6 wardrobe to a thrift shop in Santa Monica. Three months later she came to Tokyo to promote her latest movie and one afternoon wandered into one of the city's landmark vintage clothing shops, called Santa Monica. What should she find there but her own shorts and several party dresses, unobtrusively displayed under a sign that read: "Santa Monica Style."

The story is credible for the simple reason that Tokyo has now reached a point where it's safe to call it Planet Vintage. Among the 400-plus shops scattered over the city, myths like this abound.

The good news is that it's not all rumor and folklore - according to a fashion stylist, Keiko Okura, "the quality of Tokyo vintage products are unmatched."

Okura, who habitually combs the racks of thrift shops to collect extra items for fashion shoots, said, "Nowadays, even in Paris and London it's no rare thing to walk into a vintage clothing store and come out disappointed. But in Tokyo, where the vintage market is fiercely competitive and the customers knowledgeable, it's always a challenge to go in there and see what's going on, check out what other people are wearing."

Vintage clothing first took hold in Tokyo during the postwar years - young men, eager to emulate the ways of American GIs striding through the city wearing their confidence like medals, began buying U.S. military clothing on the black market.

After the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, the demand for American casual soared - and in 1966 a store called Chicago opened its doors to a Levis-hungry public, the first bona fide vintage shop Tokyo had ever seen and now the most trusted name in the business. According to a co-director, Tsutomu Iizuka, "customers coming in were all asking for jeans and flannel shirts. Back then, no one had the means or distribution network to bring these in, so we shifted our focus from imported merchandise to used and vintage."

Chicago now has five outlets in Japan and operates a warehouse in St. Louis, Missouri. At its main store in Harajuku, Tokyo, old clothes are displayed like gallery pieces: an embroidered circular skirt from Guatemala, 1960s surfer shirts from Maui, natty suspender belts from Japan, circa 1957.

Some vintage enthusiasts say it's not enough anymore merely to hunt and purchase. Professional buyers like Shinichi Kotani, who travels Europe and South America for five vintage shops, said, "The problem has always been with size. The fact is, clothes made overseas are just too large for the Japanese body."

This is where the "remake" comes in.

The successful pioneer company in this field is called Taos, which collaborates with a vintage wholesale retailer. Taos remakes and refashions old clothes in a way that makes them undistinguishable from new. Shirts are taken apart and sewn together again, re-emerging with a tighter, more fashionable silhouette. A pair of woolen pants may turn into a vest, a chef's shirt into a sleeveless summer blouse. A linen bed sheet becomes a button-down shirt. Almost all the work is done by hand. The end-product bears the Taos tag and is sold for a higher price than what people expect to pay for vintage clothing, but as Kotani points out, it would be "unfair and inaccurate to call Taos products vintage or recycled products. What they're creating is something completely new."

The vintage remake trend is also changing the designer brand world. The designer Michiko Suzuki, head of "Y's Red Label" brand for Yohji Yamamoto, has come out with a collection based on remaking deadstock, or never worn, bomber jackets. By taking the jacket seams apart, dissecting its parts and then reassembling them into elegant dresses and skirts, Suzuki is pushing the envelope on design and recycling. He's also caused a sensation on the runway.

"I think we'll be seeing a lot more of this trend," said Takako Yokomizo, a fashion industry analyst. "Remaking things and breathing new life into what had been unusable or uninspiring is alternative consumerism," which "matches the times."

MA FASHION DIARY- 15/11/2010: Vintage Fashion in Japan

Here are some blog about the Vintage Fashion in Japan. Including the situation about vintage store, vintage styles and the styles in Japan.

Grimoire Shibuya – Japanese Dolly-kei & Vintage Fashion Wonderland

read the full version please click link below:

http://tokyofashion.com/grimoire-shibuya-japanese-dolly-kei-vintage-fashion-wonderland/

On the border of Shibuya and Harajuku, on the 7th floor above various small streetwear boutiques, you will find Grimoire. It’s the pioneering store behind the Dolly-kei fashion scene. Managed by former fashion student and Cutie model Hitomi Nomura and owner Naoaki Tobe, Grimoire is a magical hideout away from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo street life

Japanese Girl in Vintage Fashion From Grog Grog

We photographed this cute 20-year-old Japanese girl at the6%DOKIDOKI x Popples event a few weeks ago in Shibuya. She’s wearing a vintage coat from the Shimokitazawa resale shop Grog Grog, a vintage-looking patchwork dress, yellow stockings, and vintage moccasin boots. Her accessories include a knit scarf and an eco bag with a Popple attached to it.

Haight & Ashbury + Mikiri Hassan & Spooky?

Friendly couple in vintage wear from Haight & Ashbury.

Virgin Mary, Tarock & Dr. Martens

Artist and book store staffer in Virgin Mary vintage cotton and lace.

For Vintage Clothing in Tokyo, visit Harajuku and Shimokitazawa

Metropolis magazine, which I think is the best English-language magazine in Japan, did a special about vintage clothing and shopping for used clothes in Tokyo. Vintage shopping in Tokyo is really easy because I have found so many great, surprisingly really cheap vintage stores all over the place.

The Metropolis article recommended Screaming Mimi's near Daikanyama station, Star Verry in Shimokitazawa, and two others I haven't visited called Mink and KMP. Screaming Mimi's Tokyo is the sister store to Screaming Mimi's on Lafayette Street in New York. I have visited the NYC and the Tokyo one, and think both stores are full of great things but they're both a bit overpriced. Their clothes are also both a bit "safe" and not really exciting or unique. But if you like vintage designer clothing, they're a nice store in both cities. Star Verry is really cool and there are at keast 20 vintage clothing stores a few steps away from Shimokitazawa Eki. I know I keep talking about that Shimokitazawa, but it really is so rad.

My favorite vintage store in Tokyo so far is called Kinji. It's in Harajuku across from La Foret (the best mall you will ever see in your life... there's a Jan Svankmajer museum exhibition going on right now in that mall. See what I mean?) I like Kinji because it's huge, has tons of selection, and is extremely cheap. I got such a great skirt there for 345 yen (3 dollars) and I got the shirt I wore to  tea in Yokohama at Kinji, too. Kinji is awesome and super easy to find since it's right under The Gap store in Harajuku. Above it, there's a vintage chain store called Hanjiros and that's fun to explore because it's massive, but I haven't found anything there quite yet.

Just to give you a tip: in Tokyo, vintage stores are almost always called "used clothing shops" so if you ask about vintage stores, most people won't know the word vintage. So if you want to know, ask for "used" shops.

MA FASHION DIARY- 09/11/2010: The sign form the questionnaire

Today, I check the result of the questionnaire so far form my Chinese blog. 


Here is the result:

     If not considering the price, which one of the followings will you choose?

1.   Luxury Brands             85%

2.   High Street Brands      15%

   By relating to your incoming, which one will you choose from the following     options?

1.   Vintage Luxury Stores, the price is more acceptable     100%

2.    Authorized retail store                                                   0%

  Which promotion mode of Luxury Brands will attract you more?

1.   Visual Way (including posters,  ad campaign photo-shoot, window display and decorations of the   stores, visual events)                                                                                          100%

2.   Written way (including emails, newspaper， short message service)           0%

 Please choose 2 options form the followings shows your opinion in the most effective ways to attract consumers.

1.   AD campaign photo-shoot                   47%

2.   Promotion Video                                  14%

3.   Window display and installations         38%

4.   Promotion events                                    1%

 Vintage is the one of the most popular fashion trend in the Western. What’s your opinion about  Vintage fashion?

1.   International fashion trend, pleased to accept                     66%

2.   Vintage is kind of second hand clothing, can’t accept        34%

 If the vintage clothing store open in China, are you willing to buy?

1.      1. I’d love to             92%

2.      2.Can’t accept             8%

 If the vintage clothing store send a part of the incoming to charity organizations,  is that more attractive for you to buy the vintage clothing? (or more help to you to understand vintage fashion)

1.   Yes              90%

2.   No               10%

From the result, I found most young consumer in China can accept the Vintage clothing and styles. That make me think about what I really want to do. Originally, I want to introduced a vintage clothing store to Shanghai. But more researches I did more I feel something wrong. All these weeks, I just try to find the researches to make sure the Vintage business works in Shanghai. That is not I got the passion to do. 

According to my past 3 years education and BA degree, I'm more willing to do something closely connected with fashion styling. But all these evidence I did sounds like the business plain. 

By thinking about all of these. I'm make sure I want to be a style translator between Vintage Style and Chinese consumers. I want to hold a fashion exhibition just like western luxury brands did when they first came to China. I can not only using ad campaign photoshoot and promotion video to promote my exhibition or be a part of the exhibition, but also I can styling and create the decorations or displays in exhibition. Just like the result shows, charity can help consumers to understand the vintage fashion.  In order to connected to the charity, I think I can set the view fee and a part of them will goes to charity. As the exhibition, it's more easier for me to test how many people interesting in and get their feedback quickly.