Let me start off by saying that I love D-Mop’s events. For a little background info, D-Mop is a high-end retail chain with locations in several of Hong Kong’s top shopping centers. In addition they have two large flagship shops in Central and Causeway Bay – Hong Kong’s major shopping meccas – which are a magnet for local celebrities. Friday night they held an event for Japanese designer Mihara Yasuhiro. Mihara designs an upscale line for Puma and just put out a limited edition book to commemorate his new line.

The crowd found at D-Mop’s events echoes the clothing they specialize in – upscale, creative and funky. This is a big difference from say, a Gucci or LV party, where the crowd isn’t nearly as charismatic. There’s always a quality, rather than quantity aspect to their events. Friday night’s party was filled with people sporting unique looks. Unfortunately, I was so busy talking, I didn’t take any crowd shots! For a peek at more sneakers by Mihara Yasuhiro… (more…)

‘Kung Hei Fat Choy’! It’s Chinese New Year again – the biggest holiday of the year. Yesterday marked the beginning of year of the pig.

So how does life change in Hong Kong during the Chinese New Year holiday? Most businesses shut down. Essentials such as supermarkets operate on only a limited schedule. Due to the nearly week long break, many people go away on holiday. Often people spend time with their family and visit relatives. Married couples give red packets filled with money to their children, relatives and colleagues. With the cease of most construction, the city is far quieter than usual. Where I live, you can hear birds instead of buses when you wake up!

One fun part of celebrating Chinese New Year is going to the special new year’s flower market in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. It’s PACKED with four, three-block lanes of stalls and people selling all sorts of items to bring luck and good fortune in the coming year. The atmosphere is raucous and fun.

Hawkers rent booths and decorate them (sometimes outlandishly) to attract attention. The merchandise on sale is extensive. Over the last few years, blow-up inflatable items have gained popularity. The plastic blow-ups are based on everything from animals of the Chinese zodiac, to items that sound like something with a double meaning in Cantonese, to items that deal with a current issue. For example, this year there were giant cigarettes, making reference to the recent ban of smoking in Hong Kong’s restaurants and public areas (which is a huge deal in a place with a deeply entrenched smoking culture.)

Old standards meant to bring good fortune are also present at the market. These include different types of flowers and fruits such as small orange trees. Pussy willows (for financial fortune) and peach blossoms (for love life) are also two of the more popular choices. (I bought both!)

Colorful paper and plastic pin-wheels seem to be popular items.

Small charms often in faux-jade that help to protect people of different zodiacs are also available for purchase.

Wonder what it’s like to walk through hundreds of stalls in a sea of thousands? Check out the videos! (more…)

I was going to the JP cinema, my favorite place to catch movies, when I saw this huge wrap-around ad by Carhartt. The billboards featured interesting illustrations of people wearing Carhartt clothes. The placement was at a crowded intersection in the heart of Causeway Bay, one of the busiest and trendiest of all the shopping areas in Hong Kong.

Rockit, Hong Kong’s only large outdoor music festival touched down last weekend for its fourth straight year. This time it lasted two days, rather than three, but it still packed in several big name d.j.s including Goldie, Bryan G, Adam F, and the locally-grown Uptown Rockers. Top billing this year was Ian Brown formerly of the Stone Roses, in addition to last year’s favorite – Electric Eel Shock, the wild metal band from Tokyo. Several local bands were also featured including Hardpack, my favorite Punk band. (Click any of the photos to see a larger version!)

Almost as important as the music itself is just chilling on the grass in a large open space – something that we in Hong Kong nearly never experience. Although there are soccer fields scattered about, there is very little open space – especially with grass. Flat land in the city is just too valuable to set aside. The site of the festival, Victoria Park, located in Causeway Bay, is the only large swath of grass that I can think of.

The Rockit festival area is divided into two parts: a main stage and a tent. Music is not played on the two simultaneously. A single group or d.j. is playing at any given time and people walk back and forth between the two locations. D.J.s always play in the tent, whereas bands play both venues.

One of the drawbacks to an outdoor music fest… portable toilets!

Victoria Park, where the festival is held is a major recreation area, particularly on Sunday when maids (who work six days a week,) have their day off. In the photo below you can see Indonesian maids congregating on the grass just outside the entrance to the Rockit festival. Hong Kong employs a huge number of domestic helpers. There are nearly 150,000 Filipinos and 100,000 Indonesians working in Hong Kong as maids.

This year there was also an area set aside for street artists to showcase their work.

There have been two notable new arrivals from America in the last few months. Krispy Kreme, the infamously tempting doughnut shop, and Burger King have both opened new branches in the city.

Krispy Kreme has two locations – one in Causeway Bay, a high-traffic shopping mecca, and the other (pictured above) in Soho, the trendy neighborhood home to dozens of restaurants offering international cusine in a two-block area.

It’s interesting that Krispy Kreme is occupying the former site of Starbucks Coffee, which itself had an extremely successful launch in Hong Kong a few years ago. The Soho branch is directly next to the Mid-Levels escalator (search my archives for previous entry) which moves over 45,000 people per day! It’s a high-profile location and an excellent choice for making an introduction.

On the subject of American chains arriving in Hong Kong, it’s worth noting that before Starbucks opened people questioned their ability to do well since, the argument went, there was a cultural tie to drinking tea rather than coffee in H.K. The skeptics were proven wrong. Starbucks has been a runaway success, and has expanded greatly. The same naysayers have said that American-style doughnuts are too sweet for Hong Kong – let’s see what happens!

Burger King has adopted a different location strategy. Despite being located at the top of Victoria Peak in the newly renovated Peak Tower (a main tourist destination overlooking the city,) Burger King has attracted residents from all over the island. On a recent Sunday, the place was completely packed with more locals than tourists – with not a single seat available!

Fast food pioneer McDonald’s is extremely successful in Hong Kong and they are ubiquitous throughout the territory. Until recently however, Burger King had only a single branch open in Hong Kong – located inside the terminal of the airport, which limited its customers to only ticketed passengers who had proceeded through immigration. Opening a location on The Peak is perfect to build the brand with the massive number of tourists from China and other parts of Asia as well as to provide familiar, inexpensive food for Western foreigners.

A few weeks ago I went to an exhibit at my friend Arnault’s shop in the Tin Hau neighborhood of Hong Kong Island. Tin Hau is sort of sleepy area located across from Causeway Bay, on the opposite side of Victoria Park.

Arnault has been the distributor for several hip brands and he decided to open this shop as a showroom, as well as to showcase other cool products he’s discovered. There are many products from France, a solid music section, iPod mixers, and miscellaneous, but cool Japanese art books.

The shop is called Kapok – named after a kind of tree. There is actually a huge kapok tree growing in the center of the street on the block where his shop is located, so it’s not that bizarre a choice!

Interesting, unique shops like this are not easy to find in Hong Kong. Because land is so scarce, rents are extremely high throughout the city. Prime shopping areas like Central and Causeway Bay are too high for small shops to afford – particularly for street level spaces. Some shops open on higher levels, but it’s more difficult to get walk-in traffic and the rents are often still prohibitively high.

Anyway, on this night, Arnault had organized an exhibition of t-shirts from graphic designers and artists throughout Asia. The shirts were mounted from the ceiling, and the partygoers could mingle among the hanging shirts.

All the shirts on display were available in limited edition runs at the shop. The packaging was excellent. The shirts were folded into thin green boxes (bearing the color scheme of the store,) and stacked near the front shop window, adding to the window dressing.

I was cruising around Causeway Bay when I nearly walked into a street promotion for my friend Jill’s debut album ‘Hit Me’. Jill and her twin sister Janice are everywhere in Hong Kong these days. They are featured in a huge McDonald’s campaign, and you can hear their music blasting from trendy shopping centers all over town. Jill’s twin sister Janice established herself as the hottest new singer in Hong Kong last year, and it’s exciting that Jill is now entering the market as well. In contrast to the good-looks-only Pop idols that make up a large portion of the industry, Jill and Janice are both talented, experienced singers.

Janice and Jill aren’t the only twins in the H.K. music industry. Two twin brothers – Dino and Julio, who form a group called Soler, are another pair. These guys also stand out in the market. Although newcomers in Hong Kong, they are both serious musicians who have put in years building their musical skills. I’ve seen them perform live on several occasions, and they put on a great show.

The most famous set of twins in the H.K. music industry aren’t actually twins at all, but that didn’t stop them from going by the group name Twins. Gillian and Charlene, more commonly known as A Gil, and A Sa, were, and still are a phenomenon. In terms of the new economics of the Hong Kong music industry, where product endorsement nets more revenue than music sales, Twins are one of the most successful acts in Hong Kong. Their cute, innocent looks lead to a marketing bonanza, and they appeared in hundreds of ad campaigns.

In addition to high-end fashion shows, I also end up regularly attending street fashion events. Street fashion is big business. While a small percentage of the population can afford couture clothing, most people can afford a cool pair of sneakers. Friday night I checked out an event for the new Adidas Adicolor collection. The original Adicolor line was launched in 1983, and this year there was a huge new campaign featuring a full line of shoes and clothing created by top international designers. One of the highlights of this collection for me is the Adicolor New York City series designed by Bill McMullen.

Three of the main participants in the new Adicolor collection attended the party. Designer Bill McMullen actually d.j.ed for part of the night! The packed-to-capacity event was held on the top floor of the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay.

Last week Nike held an event to coincide with their new ‘Joga Bonito’ campaign. ‘Joga Bonito’ means ‘play beautiful’ in Portuguese, relating to Ronaldo, one of the top Brasilian soccer players. To kick-off the advertising blitz, Nike threw an event at the DMOP shop in Causeway Bay. (DMOP is one the high-end retail chains in Hong Kong.)

There were several installations of artwork and merchandise related to the campaign, including photographs, toy figures and jerseys on display. They also had two special ‘Joga Bonito’ themed foosball tables for people to play.

Here’s a photo of Nike’s street advertising campaign for ‘Joga Bonito’ in Causeway Bay that I took later that night.

Every year there is a huge fair and flower market set up in Victoria Park in Causeway Bay. It features hundreds of vendors in rows and rows of stands. The more traditional offerings are flowers – several of which symbolize luck for different things. The more modern offerings seem to be inflatable plastic toys of all manner and size. Most of these were on sale for around $10 HKD which is a little under $1.50 USD. Another element is the fact that Chinese New Year is tied to the zodiac which consists of different animals (the year you are born corresponds to one of these animals.) This year is Year of the Dog, so there was much dog-related merchandise on display.

The fair which covers around a quarter of a mile was completely packed!