Showing posts with label Vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vintage. Show all posts

Sunday, May 22

PRC is the place to be

People have the misconception that China is a very horrible place. Truth be told, I sometimes like it way better than Hong Kong. Yes, the people there can kind of be rude and love to shove and don't really have any manners and they may have bad etiquette, BUT can't you say the same about people in Hong Kong too? How many times have you been on the MTR during rush hour and have had a bunch of people shove into the train where there is physically no more space for them to even be on it?

Anyways, just thought I'd share my perspective on China. There's so much more to it that people don't know about. And having lived in China for at least 16 years of my life, I thought I'd put my "knowledge" to good use and blog about it.

Source: SmartShanghai

My family recently moved to Shanghai, and over the winter break (yes that was ages ago, and I am only now blogging about it), I visited the Lolo Love Vintage store after hearing about it from H&M's fashion video (side note: what kind of name is Leaf Greener...?).

My boyfriend visited me during winter break so of course I forced him to find the store with me. After searching for hours over a period of 2 days, we finally found it. Tucked inside one of Shanghai's tiny art communities, which is going to be/has been destroyed, on 696 Weihai Road, is this hidden gem. It has now moved to Wuyuan Lu. The shop was opened by Chinese stylist & make-up artist Lolo who has worked with models Emma Pei, Fei Fei Sun and Shu Pei Qin. My initial impression was that the store was in a super dingy area, but upon entering, it was quite cute. I think I'll let the photos speak for themself now!


Both photos taken by my boyfriend. I was pretty lazy and didn't feel like getting properly dressed up, hence my ugly face & glasses.

Above 2 photos- Image Source: SmartShanghai
If you're ever in Shanghai, make sure you pay this place a visit! More must-go places on China in upcoming posts! Back to studying my bioengineering notes :'(

Monday, March 14

Mega & Mega Vintage


London-esque store, with the fitting room designed in the form of a London phone booth (image from Pandanomo's Flickr)


One thing I miss most about Beijing is knowing my way around, and all those familiar restaurants and places that I go to. I was just thinking about vintage shopping (again), and I happened to stumble upon Mega & Mega Vintage's blog page again. I found out about it a year or so back when I was browsing Lookbook's China/Beijing page. I've been wanting to pay M&M Vintage a visit, but since I no longer live in Beijing, I can't really do that!

Well anyway, just thought I'd share some photos.
(From their photo gallery)
Ahhhh mountains of bags!!

A vintage dress from their most recent collection of dresses (season 23), more can be found in their photo gallery

Another dress from season 11, from their blog

A dress from season 16. I'm usually not much of fan for red, but there's something about this dress that I really like.

Friday, December 10

Outfit


Zara top, grey Uniqlo cami, green Zara TRF shorts, vintage bag

Ignore my yucky eyebags and pimple. This is what I wore in October for a visit with my dorm to the Hong Kong Arts Centre for the Popping Up exhibition, as well as dinner and shopping with Chloe in TST. I'm already missing the sunny weather for shorts and short sleeves. When it's hot, I want it cold, and when it's cold, I want it hot. Well it's kind of in between hot and cold. I want proper cold weather with coats and gloves and many layers of clothing.

Anyways, I love this vintage bag that I got in Prague when I went to Europe with my friends. I still remember making it my goal to go vintage shopping and come back with loads of vintage goods. But stupid me, of course everything will be relatively pricey. However, I'm glad I came across this bag.


It's big enough to fit all of my things in. And there are pockets in the front and back on the outside. And there's also a smaller one on the inside with a zipper. The only problem is that being vintage, it's got all these makeup stains on the inside. Its kinda gross, but in a way weird to think about what the owner was like.



And of course, a trip out will not be complete without me spending money. I have always had a thing for basics and this top from H&M just couldn't pass! It's super soft and convenient for when I don't feel like thinking about what to wear. Plus it's $79.90!


Lastly, to complete everything, I had to be a stalker of course and take pictures of this girl. Though individually, the pieces she wore were okay, I wasn't really feeling her overall outfit choice.



It's kind of hard to see her complete look since I could only get shots of her from the back. But is it just me, is it not weird?

Friday, November 19

so cute!


This is so cute! I was just going through my receipts (yes I keep my receipts...hah) and I found this one from Monki a few weeks ago with its little characters. I love the colors and the illustrations.

I mentioned in my previous posts that I was going on a shopping trip, mostly for vintage shops, after I was finally free from my never-ending workload. And I've procrastinated on posting about it, but finally, since I'm posting about the receipt, I might as well post about the trip.

First, we stopped by H&M. I feel like I shop there at least twice a month..really does damage to my wallet. But I just can't help buying one or two things from there each time, whether it be accessories or basics.

Though Hong Kong isn't that cold to wear hats in the winter, I got this beret cause I lost my old one :(


Again, HK isn't cold enough for leather gloves, but I'm going back home for winter. Well Shanghai isn't really my home, seeing as I've lived in Beijing my whole life practically. But my parents just moved to Shanghai.


I've been having an obsession with rings recently. I think it was after I saw Lisa O's post on rings, which reminds me. I was looking through H&M's upcoming products that they'll be releasing and this one looked pretty cool.

Gonna be on the lookout for it :)

Had lunch after at Ajisen Ramen, a delish spicy fatty beef ramen.


Then we finally went to do the vintage shopping. Started out by going into the Hollywood Road/ Soho area. Along the way, we passed by a huge crowd. Being true cantos and seeing a line, we went and lined up, since we found out it was where Hong Kong's first milk tea originated.



My friend, Dawn, at the back of the line.


So when we finally got to the front, we realized the line was for eating at the place. Some stupid guy had said that it was the take out line. So in the end, we just stood outside and ordered from a guy who looked too busy for his own good.


Yayz to milk tea. I'm wearing my Zara trench coat, H&M grey long sleeve shirt, H&M Sqin jeans, Pedder Red patent bag, and silver chain from Beijing's Panjiayuan market.

Next, finally onto vintage shopping. We first stopped by Vintage HK.


Bunch of little earrings.


I thought this tooth necklace was super cool, but I wasn't willing to a few hundred HKD on it.


A bunch of vintage rings, again hefty price tag. But they were definitely pretty.


A Bottega Veneta for a few thousand HKD.


I was falling in love with that cute little bow ring and the aviators ring with the black stars. Looked quite cute, but I just felt like that might be something I could find in China. The prices ranged from 150ish to 200ish.


I also thought this skull necklace was kinda cute, and those bone earrings. I kinda never really wear jewelery, despite the fact that I still buy it.


I wanted that chain bracelet, but again, too expensive (around 200-300 HKD) for me to consider.


Super cool vintage watches and other accessories. Few thousand HKD for the watches. Maybe in a few years time!


Vintage sunglasses!

After Vintage HK, we headed to Armour Antique. There was a huge range of gorgeous jewelery, except most of it was above HK$1000, clearly unaffordable for a student like me.

Lastly, we headed to Select 18 to end our vintage trip. It was the furthest away and took a bit of time to walk there. I think one of the satisfying things about going to these little shops is the process of finding them and then finally finding it and discovering a bunch of hidden treasures.

It was definitely fun looking at all the jewelery on this shelf. There was this one tiny purse (can't see in this photo) that I was considering getting, but I thought I probably wouldn't use it too much since it was too fancy and I got 4 new bags this summer.


Bags, and bags, and bags, and more bags! I think they had a second hand Balenciaga at the store.


This shop is literally packed with stuff, not that I'm complaining. Though there weren't that many people after awhile, it was still hard to get around cause there was only enough space to fit one person on the sides. But I definitely think it's worth it.

I didn't take any other photos cause I was too busy digging through all the stuff. Another section was at the back, which included a bunch of menswear, as well as sunglasses. They were pretty awesome, but I'm guessing they cost quite a bit.


These are the pair of earrings I came home with, they cost me after 180 (there was a discount on most items), I think it was about 200 something before.

The owner, Thomas, also said that he had a bunch of Topshop stuff that he didn't take out, so I definitely have something to go back for! There's also a website, which includes an online shop.

Finally, went to Mongkok to meet up with Chloe and another friend for dinner. Since Dawn and I got there early, we decided to stop by Monki to check it out. I didn't take any photos cause it was super crowded in there, that I just wanted to look and get the hell out after.

I found two pieces I liked, one was a tank dress & a black slip that I ended up getting.


The tank dress (HK$150) was something like this. Well, not hard to understand what a tank dress is... I didn't end up getting it cause it seemed kinda baggy near the arm area.


The slip, HK$200. I've been meaning to get one of these, and since I was already spending so much that day anyway, I decided to get it.


Their character is super cute! Loving the design aspect to the brand/store concept, they really emphasize on the artsyness.

To end the post, more food! We ate at 西門町台灣麵食 Seam Eett Taiwan Noodles, super high rating on Open Rice (one of the greatest creations in HK).

鸡丝粉皮, in other words.....vermicelli with shredded chicken? well according to nciku.com, 粉皮means sheet jelly made form bean/sweet potato starch. Yeah, no idea. But I love the peanut sauce.


What Dawn, my other friend Katic and I all had. One of my must haves for Taiwanese food, 卤肉饭. Basically minced beef with rice. So much more than it sounds. The sauce is delicious.


What Chloe had, 牛腩面. Beef tendon. It had a lot of....tendon.

So much other stuff to post....too lazy and no time. 3 group projects for Marketing, Management and my Mandarin language classes. So many deadlines to meet. Hopefully I'll have some time to update soon.

Thursday, October 28

Vintageeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Holy moly macaroni. I am excited to shop on Saturday. Despite the fact that I overspent last month. And I realize I kinda sounded spoiled in saying "I-don't-care-what-my-dad-says", but really, I do try to watch my spendings. I mean, I keep track of every cent I spend on an Excel spreadsheet! But every so often, I feel the need to reward myself. And I've also been tutoring a 2 & 3 year old English recently, just waiting on teaching 4 classes before I can get my salary!

Anyways, so I've been planning for my shopping trip by doing my research. Ever since I was preparing to move to Hong Kong during the summer of 2009, I've been digging through sites to find vintage stores. I think it's from all the blogs I read that mention vintage items, especially Sea of Shoes. She always looks fabulous in all her vintage pieces. So yeah, finally found a bunch of stores. Okay, enough words, going to share some with you!

HK Magazine's article Rock Solid includes some new and pricey pieces at the top. But if you scroll down, there's a bunch of stuff on vintage stores. If you want to know more, check out the article. I don't want to overwhelm you with words!


Armour Antique - 45 Staunton St., Central, 2803-7877


Select 18 - Shop A, G/F, Grandview Garden, 18 Bridges St., Central, 9310-6168


Ladyplace - Unit A, 1/F, World Trust Tower, 50 Stanley St., Central, 2854-2321


SatisFactory Vintage Emporium - 2/F, 6 Pak Sha Rd, Causeway Bay, 9783-5141

Another page I found was from Time Out while browsing through their website, 50 Best Independent Shops. Apart from fashion, they have other categories of shops like food and books. I actually found this page before the HK Magazine one. It's what sparked my initial plan to go vintage shopping this weekend. While some of their shops seem rather pricey, I'm still excited to check them all out.


Vintage HK - G/F, 57-59 Hollywood Rd, Central, 2545 9932.


Another shot of Select 18.


Voodooist Eye - 2/F, Hollywood Hse, 27-29 Hollywood Rd, Central, 2986 6368.

Hoping to check out as many of these shops as possibly, and hopefully get some photos in!