Wonder what the people are wearing streets of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Bangkok? If you believe everything you read in the fashion mags, you'd think high end designer brands are ubiquitous. Not so in the streets of Shanghai, the first stop of our Asia trip. In the bustling east Nanjing Road area just west of the Huangpu River and The Bund, young people dress similar to American urbanites, skinny jeans, ballet flats, and graphic print tees. Shanganiese millenials master the art of mixing prints, plaids, stripes and polka dots. Although I'm hawked on the street, "Lady want designer bags?" young women are not carrying logo laden handbags, authentic or not. With the exception of international brands Zara, Mango, H & M, and Gap, most of the shopping is lower end, local brands. As you cross streets into The Bund, designer luxury shops are abound. Chanel, Prada, Boss, and Armani line the street across the river. The same holds true in newly built mega malls containing all luxury brands, yet few people shopping. At a designer event, people looked fashionable at moderate process points, yet I spot more Prada and Chanel handbags, not unlike events in Atlanta. In the trendier Xintandi area for outdoor lunch, people are dressed a bit more upscale, and there are more westerners that appear to be there on business. Eclectic, trendier fashion is much more prevalent on the streets of Chicago, LA, SF and of course NYC.
I definitely have Asian hair envy. They embrace precision cut hair on both guys and gals, spiky gelled styles or strong bangs and bobs that swing automatically back into place. Overall guys have it for more stylish, hip looks in Shanghai. With jeans, a tee or long sleeve shirts and colorful trainers, that's British for sport shoe, it's easy.
Hong Kong streets ooze mass crowds, a combination of the Las Vegas strip and NYC's 5th Avenue and Times Square on steroids. Young people on the streets now sport an eclectic mix of vivid color, graphic tees, leggings- some patterned some multicolored, skinny jeans, occasionally accented with colored ankle socks or knee highs some paired with sandals, some with ballet flats, and the most common trend, Ray Ban style black frame glasses, mostly clear lenses for function, some no lenses for style, dorky, but in style. Their hair is more unkempt than in Shanghai. A plethora of designer handbags sway down the street, but the craziest phenomena in the TST shopping area - waiting behind velvet ropes to get into stores: Prada, Gucci. Louie, and the line outside Chanel was so long, we wouldn't do it. Sunday morning shoppers queued outside the high end designer shops before opening. Later that day we stood outside Chanel watching the activity inside. The stores were packed, people were shopping in the sense that salespeople were interacting with handbags on the counter. Some left with shopping bags. Mind you the shoppers did not look excessively affluent, and these bags were authentic, selling at full price, easily ranging from $1100 - 2200 and up. At this point, I'm still flabbergasted at the scene. I later learned the Chinese yuan is high against the Hong Kong dollar so shoppers from mainland China save about 20% + 17% sales tax, hence the frenzy. Whew, glad I sorted that out. David was a real trouper as I obsessed about that phenomena for about 36 hours.
So far the global travel tip, and Rachel Zoe agreed in a Ask Rachel segment of Who, What, Wear, skinny jeans or leggings worn with a mid length tunic, layered with a cropped sweater or jacket and ballet flats is it! I imagine in cooler temps, flat ankle or knee high boots will take over.
I had to give some thought about how to describe the fashion from Bangkok. Whether on the streets towards the river or along the upper level walkway making easy access to at least four mega malls that I counted, most of the women wear dresses and skirts because of the sultry, humid 90* temperatures. Here you have more a mix of sandals and ballet flats really seem to be taking over the streets, (note my July blog from NYC.) Along the walkway to the malls the fashion is almost a bit more suburban is the best way to describe it. Colorful or neutral, knee length, full skirted or simple day dresses, young women are a bit more dressed up along the walkway. Another notable difference, despite the humid temps, women wear sleeves, short or three quarter, an over wrap, or modest sleeveless. You don't see the bare, strappy tops as ubiquitous across the US. Interesting. You know how some people shouldn't be baring it all? It's nice. The walk towards the river (and my $15 killer Thai massage, typically $125 in the US,) you see more of the working class, eating from food vendors with wares scarier than. NYC. Many are dressed as you would see in downtown Atlanta, State Street Chicago, and the working class mixed in NYC- simple, conservative, synthetics.
It occurred to me in the Hong Kong airport, because we were flying within the region, not international but with the local people: they are just like us. It sounds simple and trite but if more people realized the Asians move about just like people within the US move across the country, maybe we would have more respect for diversity.
