Eastern Promise

There isn’t as big a focus on truly localised fashion magazines as there is in the Far East.  The sort of fashion magazines I buy there are going for a concentrated readership within that particular city be it Hong Kong, Shanghai or Beijing and feature shops probably within a 50 mile radius from the publishing house.  I must admit that I haven’t been to Mainland China in about two years and the sort of fashion magazines I bought back then featured editorials with the usual girly wide-eyed posing in sickeningly cutesy clothes that are about locally produced clothing as opposed to international high fashion.  So gorging on these editorials on TFS (thank you ecec for the scans!), I’m absolutely flabbergastered.  I’m a complete slow-mo and haven’t quite realised that China has a newfound appetite for this eclectic kind of fashion forwardness. 

What strikes me about all these images is the contradiction and juxtaposition between old and new.  It may be too obvious a theme to use but in the case of China where modern age sits side by side by tradition, shoots set up this way are even more striking.  The slowly eroded streets of old China that the new generation are spurning used in this way highlights their former beauty with the help of the vivid outfits.  The model in an MIA-esque ravey gear on the Great Wall of China is especially pretty powerful imagery from which you could embellish with all sorts of interpretations.

From iLook magazine:

From Modern Weekly:

From Time Out Beijing (I had no idea Time Out had such a fashion led focus over there…)

What I should have been doing was tracking the progress of fashion in China in the past few years and it’s interesting how far removed I am from mainland China, given that I live in the UK and also because of Hong Kong’s (where I’m from) slightly odd status as an ex-Brit colony.  I can only hang head in shame…

Speaking of the Far East, Pirelli’s 2008 calendar which is Shanghai themed is now out and features the beautiful Maggie Cheung in the month of December.  This far more cliched Far East imagery than the images here but is still gorge-worthy material.    

11 comments

  2. It’s always so striking to see contemporary fashion against an ancient backdrop. It reminds me of fashion shoots in places like Venice. But there is a timelessness to old architecture so somehow it always seems to fit.

  3. oh wow! themetallic silver leggings…and THOSE SHOES! from the top photoshoot..just GORGEOUS!
    I’m still a 17 year old so china’s ‘cutesy/kawaii-kei’ scene still holds a place in my heart…but this style just makes me drool a little..

  4. speaking of pirelli calendar it was a mixed expirience. hot-dior-items and all-the-hot-models-of-the-moment… is this what the real pirelli spirit about? being trendy or making a trend?
    surely, agyness looked amazing in this oriental warrior interpretation, but didn’t it feel a bit burberry?
    too many questions. my heart will always belong to the surreal nick knight’s edition. this was the conceptual fashion photography at it’s best.
    how do you think?

  5. loving these shoots! I must say I’m pleasantly surprised, whenever I flick through Taiwanese or Chinese magazines back home I always find them dull dull dull, but these are amazing.

  7. i really don’t like LV YAN,the lady at the great wall..ohhhh..
    i love the pictures from modern weekly

  9. i really like ËåÉʨ£ this photographer’s style
    next time i go back to china, im gonna hunt for these magazines
    i dont know if you know this chinese art magazine called “Vision” that also have some nice fashion editorials.

  11. How do i subscribe to ilook magazine? Can anyone give me the contact info???? i can’t find it anywhere on the internet.

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