Sidenote: am I the only one who did not know that Cronuts are a cross between donuts and a croissants. Because I totes thought they were a type of nut. Also, I saw Ai Wei Wei and his team working up on the second floor, but was mentally fangirling too hard to think of a functional way to say hi. Next time then.
Love Pillowbook top, Stefanel blazer, Nike sweatpants, Nike sneakers.
Every time I’m walking into a hutong, I feel like I’m back playing Pokemon on my Gameboy Color and Ash is walking along those grassy areas and eek! a wild Caterpie appears. Except in a hutong, it’s more likely to be an elderly Beijinger shouting at you for being, well, you.
Anyway. What I’m trying to say is that you always end up finding something magical and unexpected. Even the faint whisks of toxic smog add some charm to these walkways. Yep, I just made pollution #romantic.
These photos were shot by Irene the other day outside her Hutong studio. I’m wearing a dudou top from her label Pillowbook. You can read more about it in the interview I did with her here. Also since I’m not allowed to wear anything but sneakers for the next half year because of my damsel-in-distress of an ankle, I might as well join the sneakerwear bandwagon officially and cop some new stuff. In the meantime, here are my Nike Air Forces, falling apart and all.
COS coat, mom’s jeans and sweater, dad’s shirt (family sharing stops here), Persol sunglasses, Nike sneakers.
SPRING HAS SPRUNG. I took my less-swollen-but-still-kinda-swollen ankle out for a spin on Saturday. Uche and I explored 798 Art District in Beijing – definitely the first stop to make if you want a concentrated introductory dose of Chinese Art and What It’s Like Now.
We found graffitied walls, multiple stops for coffee, a super curated street art shop called 400mL, and fifty shades of neon errywhere. Also it’s a mark of what a horrible History of Art student I am that this was the first time I visited the UCCA – Liu Wei’s ‘Colors’ exhibition is currently going strong. These are some more outdoorsy pics taken on my camera by Uche. He has the other ones. Coming soon. Within this week. I promise.
Nick and I arrived a bit too late to AOTU Studio‘s Christmas party, so the space was almost devoid of both people and mulled wine *sad emoji*. But we decided to explore and ventured upstairs to where the hairy activities of the collaborative hair salon take place.
Hawt clean minimalism featuring just wood, glass and the lonely cactus here and there. The salon space was elegant, clean and consistent in styling. I loved it. Founder of the studio, Ray Wu, was also there and chatted to us about how the two-week space is not yet finished, and his potential plans for making practical use of the open rooftop space come spring. Rooftop haircut? I’m down for that.
AOTU STUDIO
Beixinqiao Toutiao 67 Beijing