Not only is he the pioneer of Japan’s streetwear scene, the founder of visvim, Head Porter, GoodEnough, Base Station and countless crossover collaborations, but Hiroshi Fujiwara plays a mean acoustic guitar!

It all started on Tuesday when I received an invitation in the mail to check out the F.I.L. (Free International Laboratory) store opening. Actually, the invitation was for two events, a reception at the store from six to eight, followed by a live performance at an outdoor venue from eight to eleven.

F.I.L. is the storefront face of the visvim brand. Visvim was founded by Hiroshi Fujiwara, often referred to as the father of Tokyo’s Harajuku streetwear scene. He’s a visionary in the production and marketing of streetwear and is a mentor to such notable figures as Nigo, the creator of A Bathing Ape. Visvim products are highly regarded for placing equal emphasis on comfort, quality, and design. Although sold in select stores outside of Japan, the Hong Kong shop is their first foreign retail venture.

The Hong Kong F.I.L. store is a collaboration with the I.T. Group, one of the top players in H.K.’s upscale clothing market. Collaborations like this, where a foreign brand has a local partner are a common practice here. In particular D-Mop (another high-end retailer,) and I.T. are the local partner for numerous international brands. Silly Thing, more of a specialty retailer (among other things,) has also adopted this approach.

The store with windows covered on the day before the opening:

The F.I.L. store is located in the heart of Hong Kong’s Central neighborhood. Situated on number 18 Wyndham Street, it’s around the corner from D-Mop, Maison Martin Margiela, and a new Diesel shop. The store is also directly next to Sugar and Hei Hei - two mainstream clubs. M-88, the new building that houses Racks M.D.B. is right across the street. As far as foot traffic and exposure go, it’s in an excellent location.

I stopped by the F.I.L. reception at six-thirty. The narrow sidewalk outside the shop was crowded with press and onlookers. Stepping inside, the shop interior featured bare walls with a single rack of clothing on one side and a short shelf along the other wall on which shoes and a backpack were displayed. The checkout counter also housed jeans and several hats. What did it look like? Check out the photos and video! (more…)

Opened by several partners including an award-winning designer turned popular d.j., an MTV-Asia reality T.V. star, and a former Hong Kong bachelor of the year, the crowd at Racks is one of the most interesting you’ll find anywhere in Hong Kong.

Located on the seventh floor of M-88, a newly renovated building on 2-8 Wellington Street in Central, Racks is just around the corner from Lan Kwai Fong, one of Hong Kong’s major nightlife areas.

Though primarily a billiards club, Racks has already established itself as a party destination for Hong Kong’s nightlife elite.

Racks’ launch a few weeks ago was that rare event that brought together a diverse crowd and packed the venue with scenesters, models, d.j.s and celebrities including Donnie Yen, Soler, Chapman To, Isabella, Daniel Wu, Rosemary, and Lisa S. to name just a few.

How crowded was it? (more…)

Designers, models, stylists, fashion victims, and people in the nightlife scene gathered last Wednesday to celebrate the more rebellious side of fashion at Lane Crawford’s ‘New Generation’ event. Lane Crawford is one of three major upscale chains that specialize in cutting-edge fashion. Lane Crawford’s sprawling contemporary stores anchor three of Hong Kong’s most popular shopping centers - IFC2, Pacific Place, and Times Square.

The event provided a networking opportunity for stylists and fashion insiders, in addition to a good excuse to have some fun. Lane Crawford has recently repositioned itself as more of a trend-setting upscale retailer, rather than its previous image that resembled a department store. The ‘New Generation’ event fits with its new emphasis on being a leader in “fashion forward”. (more…)

Friday night I attended the launch of Levi’s Copper, a line of jeans that uses original-style copper rivets. The party was held at the Star Ferry pier, which seems to be the venue of choice for everyone these days. (Just to name a few, Nike and Diesel as well as high-fashion brands such as Vivienne Westwood have all used the space recently.) The location is good for a number of reasons - it’s directly in Central, (one of Hong Kong Island’s main neighborhoods,) the space is raw (so it can be outfitted in whatever way the client wants,) it’s a scenic location (with a view of both sides of the harbor,) and it’s away from all residential housing, (which means no noise or crowd complaints!)

Arriving at the venue, for a second I thought there was some sort of Flintstone’s theme going on. After passing through the reception, guests entered a faux mine shaft and proceeded through to the main room of the party. The rest of the venue was similarly decorated with fake stone and rock-textured drapes.

DJ Tommy, Hong Kong’s most famous home-grown D.J. started off the night, followed by a performance by the local group FAMA, sort of a Hip Hop / comedy duo. Ever wonder what rapping sounds like in Cantonese? Check out the videos of Clinton Sparks, Joe Budden and Fama performing! (more…)

Open for nearly six months already, HALO is a new lounge by the same people behind the popular Hong Kong club, Volar. Halo occupies a basement on 10-12 Stanley Street in Central. Designed by a Japanese interior designer, Halo is a cluster of rooms outfitted in several different multi-textured decors. The horse-shoe shaped space contains two larger rooms - one with upholstered leather sofas and arm chairs, another with a series of round tables and a bench.

Two additional smaller rooms include a library-themed space and a billiards room. Though each room contains a different look, Halo succeeds at maintaining a cohesive, intimate environment.

What makes the place standout? Halo succeeds at achieving an ultra-contemporary feel - yet with warmth, something that most nightlife spots lose in striving to be modern. Halo also boasts the best design of any space in Hong Kong since Dragon-i opened four years ago. Part of this is the attention to details. For example, even the men’s room has an interesting snake-skin pattern on the wall created by tiles.

If you’re looking for a place that can compete by international standards, Halo is a strong contender.

Weekdays Halo is a lounge more suitable as a place to go with a group of friends. On Friday and Saturday nights the place transforms into a more uptempo club-type vibe. Who goes here? Celebrities who want a place to drink without being hassled, the elite of the party set, socialites, and the progeny of Hong Kong’s established families.

See my previous post about Halo here.

Wednesday night I attended the launch of Puma’s French 77 collection, a line ode to the decadence and style of the late 1970’s. The event was at Zenses, a restaurant in the heart of Central on Queens Road. As guests arrived, the d.j., Frankie Lam, set the mood by playing an assortment of disco hits from the period.

Before the actual show there was a performance with several dancers and a guy doing roller-disco moves! Roller-disco is actually something close to my heart, having grown up going to the local roller disco every Saturday for a few years.

The show featured a fashion-shoot and tennis-themed skits including Amanda Strang, Cara G., Rene, Carl Ng and Eydie Tai among others. In addition to the Puma 77 collection, the models also wore Evisu pants and skirts.

To see more video and photos… (more…)

Last Wednesday I d.j.ed the Hong Kong leg of the K-Spray 3 tour. For the last three years K-Swiss has organized the tour which features famous international street artists. This year’s edition included Flying Fortress from Germany, the London Police from England, and PEZ from Spain.

Sugar, the venue for the show (normally a large mainstream club,) was totally transformed for the night! The entire space was covered with K-Spray iconography created by the three artists. Tables, stools, and walls featured their character-based artwork. A special paneled wall was set up on the dancefloor for the artists to do live painting. This is always a popular segment for these type of events - watching the artists create their signature characters before your eyes. To see photos of the artists in action… (more…)