CHINA NOW: AN EXPLOSION OF STYLISH FLAIR
Just a decade back, China was a mystery, shrouded behind the impenetrable wall of communism. No country has witnessed such a sweeping transformation on so many levels. China consists of 160 cities with a population of more than one million per city – and more are planned. Two decades ago private enterprise did not exist; now five million firms flourish. In 1986 China had perhaps a single millionaire compared with current estimates that 10,000 people are ‘worth’ more than $10 million each.
Recent share of world trade jumped from less than 1% in 1979 to 6.4% in 2005, the year in which China became the third-largest trading power, after the US and Germany. China is set to become the leading exporter by the beginning of the next decade, and the pollution that chokes you upon arrival is evidence that the Chinese want profit at a cost. It’s all about money, pure infantile greed. China’s city residents are prospering from an explosion of entrepreneurial bravado.
The street reflects the social changes, with Chinese very much adopting a Western look, especially that of Hip-Hop and Punk. Stores such as Source in Shanghai, is a skater’s wet dream, from the customising service to denim to the compulsive selection of trainers. With a vibrant street and club culture, photographic exhibitions within the store in their Kong Gallery, Source attracts a wide range of people and if you’re heading over there, Source is a good place to start from. Xidan is Beijing’s shopping district and in and around Grand Pacific you’ll see diffused versions of street ‘types’, working a budget look. “Bands can get a rehearsal room for the cost of a Snickers per hour,” says Tony Bednall of Raffles Design Institute, “Whilst so many young bands play to perfection, it’s all a copy of a copy of a copy. No imagination. Much the same can be said of fashion here, but things are changing. Fast.”
There’s a police and military presence everywhere. There’s a feeling that, as a visitor on a Visa, you have to behave yourself, toe a certain line. Visitors from abroad wishing to stay in China long-term have to provide a certificate proving a HIV- status. As Napoleon once said, “When China wakes, the world will tremble.”
QIU HAO
Fashion designer Qiu Hao is taking Shanghai by storm with his modernist and organic approach to fashion. Aged just 29, Qiu has four boutiques and a studio employing a staff of thirty. Having studied pattern cutting at Central Saint Martin’s in London and having worked alongside designer Alexander McQueen, Qiu returned to Shanghai to open three stores for women, one for men, in and around the trendy JinXian Road area. “JinXian Rd is the shortest road in central Shanghai but it is one of the calmest and most attractive roads in town. People retain a traditional lifestyle here, living in fragile bungalows with modest amenities. The area is full of great furniture shops, art galleries, restaurants and nice coffee shops.” Check out Boona on Fuxingxi Road.
QUEENIE
Queenie is a young woman who works in advertising and she makes Shanghai a kick! Incredibly tall, incredibly skinny, she dresses in combinations of Nu-Rave and Punk and is a character at so many of the art and music ‘happenings’ in Shanghai.
HUANG HE
Artist Huang He has had many solo exhibitions in China. The young artist has a particularly high profile in Beijing’s trendy 798 ‘Artist Area’ in the North East of the city, which is a MUST to visit – especially on a Saturday or Sunday. Huang He’s works reflects aspects of classic China, but with a subversive twist. Many of his youthful subjects look happy and demure from a distance, but on closer inspection, the children and teenagers who form the main core of his work are dressed as punks, wearing Vivienne Westwood. “Almost every person born in 70s China experienced a teaching system with a forced ideology. We sang songs without understanding their lying, honeyed words and we pretended to work hard for something people called ‘ideal’. My work attempts to awaken the memory of those times.” Represented by Beijing’s Being 3 Art Gallery, Huang He is one to watch.
Photographs and words: Paul Hartnett [2008]
