Fashion People
Hot buys: It was a sweltering Thursday evening, and guess what people were buying at the new Vivienne Westwood in-store boutique in Seibu, Pacific Place? Black wool coats with thick, faux fur trim. Priced at $9,650, the mid-length coats were snapped up on the first day. Also popular were skinny T-shirts printed with what looked like scattered Smarties, which sold for $1,950 a pop.
Christian rises: If you thought Christian Lacroix was over - so very Ab Fab-Ivana-Trump-1992 - think again. The people at Swank Shop, which retails Lacroix and his younger line Bazar de Lacroix locally, report renewed demand for the label, perhaps because of fashion's current obsession with ornamentation and colour. Whatever the reason, Swank is going to town on the brand, organising luncheon and tea-time trunk shows at the Grand Hyatt Drawing Room on September 21. Minimalists, be warned.
Snack attack: It's never too late to re-invent yourself. Just ask Judy Hong, ebullient local retailer and lady-about-town, who introduced the SAR to brands like Gianmaria Buccellati, Le Sportsac, Aigner and Mandarina Duck. Now she has decided to branch into food, specifically little cups of flavoured, fruit jelly which she is importing from Japan. Available at city'super, Q Snack is also intended to aid digestion and detoxification. Next up for Hong: skincare products.
Vintage Ma: Rumours abound that popular, willowy socialite Fanny Ma has tired of the cocktail-party circuit and is intending to open a business. Noted for her love of fashion, Ma is apparently planning to open a boutique by the end of the year. The store will be somewhere in Central, and will sell the feminine, vintage-look clothes Ma loves to wear: catty tai-tais insist the boutique will really be an outlet for the socialite's cast-offs. We tried to confirm the rumours with Ma, but she was off in Europe for the summer. On a buying trip, perhaps? Just a Mo Mo: Vintage clothes are more popular than ever. Lane Crawford has brought in a line called Mo Mo Falan, created by a United States' designer who reworks antique clothes into chic, modern designs. She's so hot, Donna Karan will be stocking some of the collection alongside her own line at her planned mega-boutique on Madison Avenue, New York. Falan's ensembles are all one-of-a-kind and retail prices at about $15,000 to $20,000. And, yes, the line sold out before it got here.
Fashion at the Forum: Fashion folk will be praying for good weather on September 14, when 20 leading fashion brands are planning a glitzy, evening outdoors fashion show at The Forum in Exchange Square, sponsored by Hong Kong Land as part of its Brand Central campaign. Loewe, Fendi and Jil Sander will be among the labels taking part in the show, which will attended by an invitation-only crowd of more than 500. Let's just hope they don't get soaked.
Talkies of the town: If you want to see Michelle Yeoh in the new season's fashions, or find out who the new man in her life is, or read David Tang's opinions about Chinese in Western dress, pick up a copy of new lifestyle magazine Talkies. Unrelated to Talk, the hot, new American publication edited by wunderkind Tina Brown, editions of Talkies are already being published in Belgium, Holland and France. Produced locally by Jill Triptree, former editor of Hong Kong Tatler, it is being promoted as a 'people magazine'. A launch party will be held on September 7 at the Cyrano Lounge of the Island Shangri-La, where David Tang will host a David Letterman-style talk show, grilling invited 'celebrities' and personalities, who will no doubt suffer him gladly.