Between the Salted Egg and the Golden Eggs

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Why am I banging on about EGGS all of a sudden on a Saturday night (oops…actually it's 4am in the morning in Hong Kong here…)?  Well, because I've had a bit of an EGG-citing whirlwind trip to Hong Kong where the first part of the trip was already mind bogglingly EGG-citing but the second part also matched that EGG-citing ness in equal measure.  So that's a lot of eggs…

But I promise there is a reason why EGGS are present in the post and hah, it is by no means roundabout and forced.  Ok maybe it is… oh well, here goes…

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Joyce aka the store which opened my eyes a little to Hong Kong's forward fashion acceptance last time I was there organised an even more eye-opening event to honour a special one-off project that Rodarte has taken part in.  The Mulleavy sisters have created four one-off outfits inspired by four characters played by Maggie Cheung (In the Mood for Love, Hero, The Heroic Trio, Clean) that were on exhibition at a bash thrown last night which accompanied a premiere of a short film directed by Wing Shya (most known for his graphic design and photography work on many Wong Kar Wai films…).  The outfits will then be silent auctioned off in aid of UNICEF.  Rodarte.  In Hong Kong.  With Maggie Cheung.  Plenty of Wong Kar Wai connections/connotations.  Whats.NOT.to.like.

I'm getting to the eggs, I promise.  I pretty much landed into Hong Kong feeling like a zombie but had to get stuck right into the proceedings of this event.  First up, a cocktail preceding dinner at renowned dining experience Yin Yang (weirdly enough, I tried to book a meal here last time I was in HK…).  In a group of about 18 peeps… there was Maggie Cheung bounding up to people introducing herself gaily and pretty much exuding friendliness and elegance.  Feeling small doesn't even quite cut it.  It is one of those cliches that everyone of Chinese origin (or maybe even non-Chinese origins…) universally hearts Maggie Cheung and she has 'national treasure' written all over (Judi Dench, you doth protest too much about the term…!) and frankly I'm not going to exempt myself.  She IS someone both my grandmother, my mother and me can get down with and after meeting her and err….  not creepily watching her at dinner… no, not at all…. I can go back home with happy reports.  Then my mother will yelp with jealousy.  

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Oh right…eggs!  The eggs I'm referring to is the home-salted egg yolk in the middle of this cabbage/tofu concoction on the left.  AND, the eggs referring to the ones that yielded the amaaazing crispy skinned chicken that they served (not depicted here as we gobbled that plate up too quickly…).   Black truffle chow mein on the right… 

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The other GOLDEN EGGS of course were the guest themselves… Kate and Laura Mulleavy, Jenny Lewis (who would perform later…), Autumn de Wilde (Rodarte's official documenter…), Candy Pratts Price (I dropped her famous "September is the January of fashion" line to her in convo which she thought was hilar…), and other important peeps.  There was a lucky bad egg in the house, no?

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After dinner, we were taken to the event which was held at an old maternity hospital in Sai Ying Pun, a fairly off-the-beaten-track area.  I have to say, even though Bureau Betak (who normally do Rodarte's show sets…) didn't create the whole event set and decor, Joyce did a pretty amazing job putting it all together so that it was truly fitting to Rodarte's universe.  Shards of white washed wood, blue neon/white lights… and then entities like this… what looks to be an old barber's chair… all mingling in this crumbling colonial building (I think they had to stop people from going up the stairs lest the floors collapsed…)

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**EDIT** I added a few more 'official' looking pics of the women of the night… Kate and Laura Mulleavy and of course Maggie Cheung

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The main portion of the event was of course to view the creations that Kate and Laura had designed in homage to Maggie Cheung's famous portrayal of characters… here are the sketches… apparently Kate and Laura very graciously sketching things for Joyce customers at an in-store event the night before so there are some very eBayable sketches floating around HK at the mo…

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First up… a loose-knit cream and pearly creation dedicated to Cheung's character in Hero… quite literally snow that flies in lieu of Cheung's assassin character Flying Snow…

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Heroic-trio-1993-01-g Heroic Trio is the only inspiration film here that I haven't seen… so a VCD/DVD hunt is imminent tomorrow.   It involves super heroines, invisible women and plenty of caped crusaders…

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Clean 

Clean is one of my favourite Maggie Cheung films and I quite like how directly Rodarte have been inspired by her outfit in the film adding literally tough or "hard" extra embellishment to the basic shapes…

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Of course the moment when most of the world got enamoured with Maggie had to be included in the film mix and the basic qi pao shape has been texturised and remoulded in the hands of the Mulleavy sisters. I quite like how they've held back from their more recognisable 'destroyed' signature, revealing a different side to Rodarte's aesthetic…

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Some contrasting performances by Shanghai jazz singer Rebecca Pan and Jenny Lewis (wearing A/W 09 Rodarte well…) ensued sandwiching the premiere of the film, all of which I've filmed a little below.  What of the film itself by Wing Shya which utilises the pieces that Rodarte created?  I was expecting ethereal and that's what I got in doses, all effectively soundtracked by Peter Kam.  I believe it will shown in Paris too in the coming fashion week… 

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And dawn in Hong Kong is nearly here and my contacts are threatening to kill my eyes but of course, if I posted this a day later, the eggs wouldn't have been as fresh in mind and I might have blurrier tale to tell…  

In all respects, it was certainly a one-off event in Hong Kong involving some hugely illustrious personas… it's not even a case of 'aimer' or 'd√©tester' as it was 'J'adore' all the way, which is an extremely cheesy and gushy to say but hey, when so many EGGS, on all accounts were involved, I can't really say anything but…

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43 comments

  5. Oh I didn’t know you’re in HK?! How long are you staying there for?
    I thought the event sounded abit cheesy but I got excited seeing a short of Rebecca Pan….a legend!!!!

  6. That is amazing…!
    I think Hong Kong is very good at importing different mainstream cultures. But people like Maggie Cheung help define something unique.

  8. Wow, I can appreciate how crazy this was, stepping off a plane and then onwards to such a great event with Maggie Cheung in the room! I’m quite partial to those salted dugg eggs when cooked in the right way!

  10. You went all the way to Hong Kong for a Rodarte expo? wtf…happened to living off baked beans…

  12. What a fun post, so many interesting things to look at 😀 Love the food, art and all the fashion!
    ‚ô°,
    Jessica

  13. Gahhhh! Rodarte + Maggie Cheung?? Gahhhh! I just died a little! So amazing! I’m so glad you made this post, otherwise I would’ve never known about it.

  15. AMAZING that you got to meet Maggie Cheung! (wooo chinese :D)
    Love those pics! Never been to HK, but hope to go some day xx

  26. Those Rodarte tote bags are cute. I love freebie totes, just got one from Harvey Nicholas advertising their new 4th floor today. Those salted Duck eggs look very bizarre in tofu and cabbage. However, salt eggs are much nicer then those century eggs which have a bizarre taste/colour/background story to them.
    http://taintedcupidity.blogspot.com/

  27. At first I thought, Ling Bo?! And quickly recognised it’s Rebecca Pan whom I remember from some WKW films and especially Chinese Odyssey 2002.

  30. Hong Kong, Jenny Lewis, and Rodarte? What the hell!?!? This sounds way too good to have been real.

  32. it sounds like an amazing experience. i saw in the mood for love recently and thought is was really moving. it’s good to know how influential maggie cheung still is not only in film but also in fashion!

  33. OK so if my (admittedly few) readers start complaining that I am hardly posting anymore, my only excuse will be that I am too enthralled by your myriad lengthy reports like this one. Loving the number and detail of your blogs at the moment, even if it is totally distracting me from doing anything productive!
    xx
    Duck

  39. I think “Hero” has to be the most visually stunning film that I’ve ever seen.
    In your photo you saw just Maggie Cheung
    in red, but when you saw the entire cast and set draped in red, then different colours for different scenes, the scale was amazing.
    It’s hard to think of anywhere outside the PRC that you can pull that off these days…. kind of like at the Olympics.

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