on the list

Stephen Shore, American Surfaces (2008)

Alexander McQueen, Savage Beauty, (2011)

Roxanne Lowit, Backstage Dior, (2009)

Mario Testino, Portraits, (2002)

Tim Walker, Pictures, (2008)

Just a few of the things I've been flicking through lately, some more carefully than others. Abysmally averaging something like a chapter a month with novels lately, but there's something immensely satisfying about books with pictures.

go green

If there is one word to characterise this blog-attempt, it would most shamefully be neglect. Pretty evident by the fact that every other post is an apology for recent hermit-ness and abandonment. Last night I glanced at my camera from across the room, sitting mournfully next to my television, no doubt gathering massive quantities of Beijing dust and really felt ashamed.

Looking back, the two most memorable achievements of my latest hibernation binge can be encapsulated in a) Boardwalk Empire and b) added adoration of The Row since Dirk Standen's interview with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen as part of his 'Future of Fashion' series on Style.com

There is nothing I love more than when things start adding-up and inter-relating, so when I glanced at these beauties from The Row's just released Resort 2012 collection - which as a whole, rang the right bells with the silhouettes I'd been admiring from Boardwalk Empire - I fell right in love with this particular shade of mint green (to add to my general pastel-hues obsession).

The Row, Resort 2012 Steve Buscemi and Kelly Macdonald in Boardwalk Empire.

The working life 24/7 is somewhat of a sad fact to contemplate (ahem, late communication coma and avid watching of old films and melodramas) but just as I was finally giving myself the metaphorical wake-up call to shake off all these absurdly dull thoughts and embrace blogging about twinned mint-green viewings... I opened my muddled folder vaguely entitled 'things I like' to find another of these two deja-vu shades jumping out at me right next to each other (the result of 'jen.kao' and 'jenna.lyons' alphabetised). From pastel to flouro, what else can I surmise but going green is the big step forward?

Jen Kao, Resort 2012 Jenna Lyons in J.Crew skirt, June 2011

Burberry Beijing: shaky home videos in a hi-tech age

Burberry has been making waves when Christopher Bailey dropped into town on Wednesday (with Keane in tow!) to stage a 3D hologram show of his F/W11 collection. when the invitation said 'Beijing Television Tower' we were all a little confused, but I guess it was all a bit too high-tech for your bog-standard five-star hotel. So I tagged along with A, who told Du Juan it was their mission of the night to get me in, but honestly how can anybody stop you if you're walking in with a supermodel clad in a spiked mini-dress (weighing in around 4kg) and a fierce leather jacket?

Walking into a cavernous black studio with projections on all surfaces around you, I think for me, pretty much defined the concept 'surround sound' and completely placed you in a Burberry plaid-filled alternative universe. The experience was too good for photographing, and I went along with this hi-tech thing by making my first ever iPhone 4 videos. they were hilariously shaky (due to problems of juggling clutch, phone and not spilling your champagne on Du Juan), and reminded me of the videos I used to watch on that 90's TV show You've been Framed. I tried to play it cool, standing a bare 1m away from Bailey himself, but then the junkie 'I was there' feeling in me totally had to be fulfilled that night. There is of course a much better video here of the actual thing, along with Keane's amazing set. Not that many people knew them, because I guess they never quite made it that big in China, and I hadn't heard much of their new stuff, but they obliged by playing a selection of their greatest hits from my teenage years.

My only gripe of the evening was that Bailey timed his appearance in the rather crowded VIP with Keane playing the song I'd been waiting for (Somewhere Only We Know), and I was too preoccupied with trying not to stand in the way of his photo with celebrity x, that I barely had time to focus. As for the show itself, I think we were all pretty stunned. The models looked a bit fuzzy around the edges but apart from that looked so real. I had a major debate with my friend the next day who was convinced they had been projected onto a screen. That would have been pretty self-defeating, and obviously too technically challenged to know how 3D holograms work (how many different projections does it take to cast a 3D person?) but they were definitely walking about/disappearing/morphing in real space, not on some flat surface.

bright lights, big city

neon dream // so many menus, so little time // fish balls + beef curry // more neon appreciation // how can Belvedere + coffee + kahlua ever equal bad things? @ The Pawn // vertigo @ The Upper House // LKF hills // harbour views // 70's style trams + Jil Sander S/S 2011 // french toast HK-style + steamed milk pudding

If I had to pick the one thing I love most about Hong Kong, it's the utter satisfaction the neon-light lover inside me gets from roaming the streets at night. Having spent a good three months in Beijing though, there was that feeling of travelling in from the sticks to a place where taxis from the airport cost a whopping 400 HKD (making me pathetically thankful I lived somewhere else), where tipping is de rigueur, and it's just not cool to holler at a waitress from the opposite end of the restaurant. Things to click a massive 'like' on (the consequences of having finally just watched The Social Network): fish balls (with curry or otherwise), trams, discovering the existence of crunch cake (@ Sevva), outdoor decks on tall buildings, The Pawn, exciting pineapple drinks in 7/11, Zuma, Lane Crawford on practically every corner, British nostalgia re-lived in Pizza Express, sea-views and glorious Cantonese French toast (which may take the prize for best cultural hybrid ever). I lugged my camera around only to take sporadic pictures, but the one constant in the background is the amazing Jamie who I blindly followed as she led me from backstreet diners to endless shopping to Saturday night LKF-escapades in true top-host style.

before Peter Lindbergh

The sad thing about public holidays in China is that they usually make you come in on the weekend to counter-balance the fact that you finally managed to score two extra days off work. Thankfully this Saturday, Peter Lindbergh swooped in and saved the day by giving a seminar up in UCCA along with VC, which meant we got to grab food sitting in the sun before listening to a fascinating two hour conversation between Lindbergh, Angelica, Jerome Sans, and Franca Sozzani, who just happened to drop by because she was in town. Sozzani and Lindbergh's collaboration has spanned over 20 years, and they had some hilarious and fascinating anecdotes about some of the greatest characters in the business.

On Helmut Newton; who would apparently, only ever take three snaps of anything, and when Sozzani complained about the horrible shot of the beautiful actress/model he was meant to be photographing, Newton would reply nonchalantly, without any qualms, 'but darling, she was awful'.

On Steven Meisel; 'there's only one fashion photographer for me - Steven Meisel, the others are photographers who shoot fashion'. (Franca Sozzani)

For Lindbergh therefore, it is the woman, not the fashion, which is of importance. As he said quite plainly in the talk, 'fashion is made for woman, woman is not made for fashion'. His best editorial work from the 1980s, 1990s, really showcase this as they feature women clad only in white shirts. His first cover for American Vogue in 1988, was not only a career-defining moment for Lindbergh, but eventually, as he recalls, came to signal a more seismic shift 'from rather formal women, quite perfectly styled and concerned about social integration and judgement, to more outspoken and adventurous women who controlled their own lives and were independent from masculine protection and social rules'. It is no coincidence of course, that this was also Anna Wintour's first cover for American Vogue. She had famously found Lindbergh's photographs buried in the bottom of a drawer, and saw exactly the statement she wanted to make: confident, powerful women and Christian-Lacroix-couture-with-$40-jeans.

Vogue, November 1988, by Peter Lindbergh

"make it happen"

Stefano Gabbana (l), and Domenico Dolce (r)

The term 'superstar designer' gets bandied about so much these days you forget what it was all supposed to mean in the era before fashion designers were their own celebrities. So when Mr. Dolce and Mr. Gabbana came to town a few days ago, and decided to give a live demonstration of their skills at their seminar at the Central Academy for Fine Arts, we were all definitely intrigued. The concept was simple: students would present the designers with one of their sketches and the designers would, to quote the great Tim Gunn, make it happen. Right on the spot, right there. Talk about project runway.

The process, essentially, went something like this. 1) there was a sketch presented and 2) in fifteen minutes, it was a dress.

So yes, the whole thing was held together by staples, and there was that awkward moment where I was convinced the model wasn't going to wriggle into it, but in a quarter of an hour, Mr. Dolce had taken the sketch, sans pattern, traced the outline (from somewhere in his head), cut the fabric, and in consultation with Mr. Gabbana had added some flourishes (altered the sleeves, added some very Dolce lace on the back). Then staple, staple, staple... done.

What one forgets about these truly great designers is that they are firstly, fabulous craftsmen and tailors. Whatever we think about their designs, you've got to admit that they've definitely got the skills. Much like my adored Yotsuba sushi chef, a true maestro, always makes what they do look so easy. Apologies for the awful pictures though, just couldn't bring myself to take guilt-free DSLR shots when I was supposed to be semi-working and on edge that the maestri would run out of staples...

some things old, some things new. le six

Rosamund Pike in An Education, 2009

Chloé, 1988

Chanel, F/W11

a flat boot really ought to be slouchy

'Summer Nights', Grease, 1978

There will never be a happy-clappy summer song quite like it.

le smoking

Nick Knight, Yohji Yamamato catalogue, A/W 1988-9

all the attention being paid to Yohji Yamamoto at the V&A makes me devastated that I wont be in London to see it. I might not covet his clothes for myself, but he is one of the few designers, like Maison Martin Margiela, whom I have the utmost respect for. Flicking back, this Nick Knight image is entirely seductive. The curators behind the scenes at the V&A have produced this fascinating blog about how the whole thing came together, an absolute must-read. I'm intrigued about how the 'interventions' in the other galleries will turn out. In my short-lived dream of working at an art institution, this is probably what I would have seen myself doing.

"I know. It's just fabric. But it speaks to us like a world. If it were a desert, and you a traveller, you would talk about its winds, its stars, its sun. You probably will."

- Yohji Yamamoto

recently

it's been almost a month of neglect, though i don't think I can really explain why. Maybe the evils of Chinese Twitter lured me away, but more likely it's the usual lethargy excuse, because this whole waiting-for-spring thing has made life just seem a bit lacklustre of late. Somewhere in between leaving the office at midnight and arriving home to cook myself dinner though I found an urge to give a little update. after a day of staring at words and weeks of eating all manner of spicy, oily, though admittedly tasty food, there was a surprisingly simple pleasure to be found in boiling a few vegetables. There to thoroughly enhance this enjoyment of course, were the amazing Maison Martin Margiela x Cutler & Gross sunglasses that my boss had gifted to me this very morning; what a way to ease the past fortnight of working to her European timetable....

How amazing

It's been so long I can't even remember the last time I was stunned by any editorial but as I flipped through Paris Vogue's February issue I landed on one page and actually had that rare 'wow' moment. Mario Sorrenti, Sasha, blue skies, neon yellow and pleats (please!) had combined for a blissfully non-tired 'Spring trends' look. From then on every image of Jane How's carried a veritable love-love-love mantra - definitely time for a new obsession.

Sasha and Freja by Mario Sorrenti, Vogue Paris, February 2011

Styled by Jane How

"your girl is lovely"

All these new things (job, apartment, new year) have surprisingly come together to produce an unexpected lethargy. Lots of time spent curled up on my bed watching melodramas and other things conducive to the slow decay of my brain cells. Maybe I'm sick of winter, but hermit-like tendencies can only be tolerated so far. On one of my last reclusive binges over summer, I whizzed through all the seasons of Sex and the City again, for no apparent reason and whilst watching The Way We Were this time around, it finally hit me at the ending where the original 'your girl is lovely Hubbell' moment came from. Not sure how I managed to disconnect the 'Hubbell' thing because what are the odds of having two film characters called Hubbell? Other dubious tendencies of the film aside, the last moments definitely made it for me. Also let's not forget to admire Robert Redford's pristine preppy attire. Not only do I covet his sunglasses but one of the film's assured highlights were the appearances of his perfectly-slung-over-the-shoulders jumper. On another style note, watch Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides to catch Josh Hartnett with a bob. Now, that was a re-discovery well worth making.

i wish i was a punk rocker (with flowers in my hair)

it's not really part of my new job description to go to fashion shoots anymore, but as apartment-hunting on saturday went extraordinarily well, my afternoon opened up and i thought to drop by and say hi. I timed my arrival to coincide exactly with the pizza (win) and lusted with relish after a pair of Haider Ackermann trousers of the softest, supplest leather imaginable. the iPhone clocked a temperature of -4 outside so we were all feeling bad for the model Li Danni as she affected nonchalant poses in her t-shirts and strapless dresses whilst we shivered in our coats and multiple layers on the sidelines. tough beauty indeed.

some things old, some things new. the fifth.

Daria Strokous by Willy Vandeperre, Jil Sander Spring 2011 campaign

Baz Luhrmann, Strictly Ballroom, 1992

can't wait for Baz x Carey x Fitzgerald

Nicholas Kirkwood x Rodarte Fall/Winter 2010 by Tommy Ton

Please finish this sentence, "If women stopped wearing heels .... "

"God would stop making feet."

- Nicholas Kirkwood

Genius.

Claudia Cardinale // Il Gattopardo (1963)

delayed devotion

Lanvin Pre-Fall 2011 // Matthew Williamson Pre-Fall 2011

am feeling rather content that looks I covet i.e. the luxe maxi-skirt/casual top of Dries van Noten Spring/Summer 2010 haven't disappeared, as I'm still avidly searching for my own.

Hong Kong, Dior, Quentin and I

by Quentin Shih

faux fur and fake bling

Yauatcha macarons, a new departure // Meadham Kirchoff x Topshop // smocked mackerel @ Polpetto // Alecia + feathers, feathers // Future Beauty: 30 years of Japanese fashion // 'faux fur + fake bling' // crinkled cup coffee @ Foxcroft & Ginger

the last few snippets of London as I'm back to Beijing tomorrow. the past few weeks have been everything that's best about the city at Christmas; friends and foodie adventures coupled with the thrills of the (winter-sale-bargain) hunt. there will be a significantly longer gap before the next Beijing-London flight; going to miss it all.