My team and I have been sweaty and busy preparing for the next issue of KNEON – dropping on Monday yay. I’m also getting ready for London Fashion Week. My focus will be very different this time around: I’ll mostly be looking out for Chinese designers and creatives. Also looking forwards to Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Royal Academy. I met him for a very solid 20 seconds back in Beijing at his solo show, and damn, that man has patience. Hundreds of people were crowded around him, asking for photos, and he remained smiley and welcoming. #selfie.

My mom is my number one hater when it comes to my dressing habits. “Why you wear so much black? You look like mafia Taitai”. Um, excuse me? The least you can say is that I look like a mafia boss. I don’t have the patience to dress up solely to be someone’s little wifey.

The styling for this shoot was inspired by this image, which reminded me of Gong Li’s two braids in ‘Raise The Red Lantern’ (which I just saw on Sunday – and is a genius cinematic piece of art, highly recommended)

I first found out about Digest Design when I visited the Triple Major store back in June. Their rack was beyond perfect. If guys drool over double D’s, then there I was, shamelessly drooling over these double A+’s. I sent the team an email confessing my unconditional love for their clothes, and Dooling Jiang and Hooh graciously (and bravely) invited this crazy fangirl over to their workspace for a meet-and-tea.

Read More

This is a shoot I did back in Beijing with NEEMIC, a brand by Amihan Zemp and Hans Martin Galiker. Neemic’s aim is to create beautiful design while striving to make the industry more sustainable. All of their pieces are also designed and made in Beijing – first hand proof that things ‘Made in China’ can live up to high standards for production, quality and resources. Hans and Amihan source leftover material from the high-end fashion industry and GOTS certified organic fabrics, and are co-founders of the Hong Kong organic textile association as well as Agrachina (a network promoting organic agriculture in China).

Talking to Hans about the core of their business was so enlightening, just because his and Amihan’s focus isn’t on an ambitious digital marketing strategy or a viral campaign – but in really improving on the efficiency of what they are doing and perfecting their product. Mind you, all the content they do have is so fricking beautiful. Just look at their lookbook.

Moral of the story: Have a mission, have a set of values, and choose a couple of mediums (be it a blog, magazine, clothing label, or videos) to achieve your goals and reach your desired audience. And be nice. Because being nice is cool.