Far away from the chic interior of their IFC branch and the rotating shoe installation of Pacific Place, there exists another Lane Crawford.

Tucked away in sleepy Ap Lei Chau you’ll find a less flashy and more subdued place called the Lane Crawford Warehouse. Award winning interior design it’s not, but the Lane Crawford warehouse offers something else - a chance to find major additions to your wardrobe at major discounts! (more…)

Last weekend I was shocked to hear* that there’s an American Apparel store in Shenzhen. Although the Los Angeles-based company has shops in Japan and Korea, they’ve never set foot in Hong Kong.

Curious to get a closer look, I decided to head up to Shenzhen to investigate. But what I thought would be a simple trip turned into an adventure! (more…)

“Been a long time since I Rock ‘N’ Rolled!”

Alchemists once sought unsuccessfully to turn ordinary materials into precious ones. The idea was to take something like common lead and make it into gold. Viewing a sample of Natalia Brilli’s accessories last week, I was struck at how she manages a similar formula - and succeeds. (more…)

He’s baaack! Celebrated Japanese fashion designer Jun Takahashi will be in Hong Kong for the opening of a photography exhibition that also highlights the Spring Summer 09 Undercover collection.

What’s a Grace?

The last event Jun Takahashi presided over in Hong Kong featured a live puppet performance. You can read about that event here. It turns out that the creatures have a name and their story has evolved considerably. (more…)

Agnes B. La Loggia within the IFC shopping center

European and American luxury brands once viewed shopping malls as the opposite end of the spectrum. Malls were derided as down-market, lacking in ambiance, sterile, suburban, and without unique value.

But in order to reach their target customer most efficiently, they have had to compromise. Particularly in Asia, there are occasionally differences between the label’s vision of luxury and the shopping patterns of consumers.

One crucial area where this rift surfaces is in choosing a location for a flagship store. (more…)

If archaeologists were to dig up the latest collection of jewelry by Hong Kong’s bad-boy diamond brand Rock Candy, what would they think? (more…)

Tuesday afternoon bag and backpack brand Kipling held a launch for two special collections. The lines were the fruit of a collaboration between Kipling and a small street wear label / design firm based in Belgium named Girls From Omsk.

One of the two collections is named Monkeys Over the City and updates Kipling’s signature monkey logo, incorporating it into a full range of colorful bags and clothing.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any cuter, I spotted a surprise. (more…)

In 2004, London’s prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum launched a retrospective on British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Titled, A Life In Fashion, the ambitious show traced her clothing collections over an impressive three decades.

In December, Hong Kong property company Swire brought the show to ArtisTree, a new cultural space in Quarry Bay. Stopping by last Thursday, I had a chance to see Vivienne Westwood’s diversity as a designer as well as glimpse her influence on modern fashion. (more…)

Puma quietly opened one of their top tier “Black” stores in the IFC mall recently. The shop is located on the first floor, near the fly-over walkway that leads to the Post Office, Jardine House and Chater House.

The Black Store carries Puma’s designer lines including Alexander McQueen, Sergio Rossi, Rudolf Dassler, Schedoni, Mihara Yasuhiro and 96 Hours shoes and apparel. The collections strive to represent the hybrid of sport and fashion. The Hong Kong Puma Black Store is one of only a few in the world, the others are located in New York and Tokyo. (more…)

Aside from throwing some of my favorite parties around town, the CLOT crew have a very successful clothing store called JUICE in Causeway Bay. It’s here that they sell top designers from all over the world as well as showcase their own CLOT clothing line which has been a big hit on the international street wear scene. Most of the clothing they carry at JUICE is extremely limited edition and represents a who’s who of contemporary street fashion.

In order to make room for all the new gear they’re going to be debuting in 2009, the gang is holding a major sale to free up some space. (more…)