Jamie Weihuang
Two For The Road 二人转
These days, I’ve been reading up a lot about 1920s/1930s Chinese silent cinema. In a world where words are meaningless, and visuals convey the story (which I’m totally ok with), a head scarf can suggest a domestic wife living in the countryside, and heels and cosmetics point towards the metropolitan and urban Chinese woman frequenting dance halls and smoking cigarettes. Gonna keep it short and sweet and just leave it here. Happy halloween weekend guys.
Because Uma Said So 姐姐说了算
I want to talk about the Wangsical. That’s a thing now. After Alexander Wang, Vera Wang, Vega Zaishi Wang, another Wang you defos need to know is Uma Wang. When I finally met her clothes in person, I felt like I had rekindled a childhood friendship that didn’t exist. Why does that sound creepy? It isn’t, but I probably did look creepy when I was looking through her AW collection. The emo typography nerd inside me also growled admiringly when I saw her black/white logo. It was what it is. Wait what?
The textures are absolutely exquisite, and also an experimental joy to wear. What I mean by the experimentally joyful is that all the pieces are kind of like Lego – you can layer, overlap, turn around, wear upside down. There’s a certain structural versatility in her clothes that certain puts a proud ‘Made In China’ stamp on the wearer’s face. If I was a personal shopper/stylist for a modern Chinese businesswoman looking to represent her company and employees abroad, I would lead her to Uma. This is quality understatement at its finest and a reminder that the air of GIRLBOSS-ness cannot be bought with logos and designer flashing.
I’m not gonna lie, wearing this sheer dress, pictured above, with only my nipple stickers and cycle shorts for underwear and shooting photos with a self-timer on the streets probably wasn’t the best idea. But then again, being a winter-h8er and studying in Edinburgh probably wasn’t the smartest one either.
Skate Away 像滑板一样滑走
Little me who knows nothing about skate culture and who tried skateboarding at 12 in hopes of becoming more like Avril and who failed drastically, will now talk about skate culture. From an outsider’s POV, the skate world is like a more outdoorsy and t-shirt wearing yoga retreat. It’s rhythmic, beautiful and seamless to look at, and has such a warm community feel.
I headed to Saughton skate park last weekend with Lucy, and was so warmed by all the types of people there: older, younger, girls and boys. Just t-shirts and tricks and movement and hanging out. In those moments, I wish I could skate. I wish I could be a part of a world where it’s ok if you don’t want to work for Goldman Sachs or some consultancy agency. It’s the cool club without the attitude or the judgment, and I’m happy to just be the onlooker for now.
Who knows, maybe I’ll veer off from The Plan and become a pro skater by this time next year. I’m wearing a coat by a Chinese designer, Yu Zhou aka YUZZO (funny since I’m guessing this is how a lot of non-Chinese speakers would pronounce her name), which warmed me up all over and reminded me that a t-shirt is never enough in Edinburgh. Those winds. Biggest bitches in town.
Photographed by Lucy Henshall and edited by Victoria Jin.