WHILE HONG KONG is on the brink of recession, Shanghai is booming. Money continues to pour into the Pudong financial district, and the city's rate of construction has been so rapid in the past decade that locals joke you can close your curtains on one view and wake up to a different skyline in the morning.
New bars and restaurants, each one more hip than the last, seem to be opening on a weekly basis in Xintiandi, a district developed by Hong Kong's Shui On Group which opened this summer and incorporates the area's Victorian-era shikumen or stone-gate houses, making it the place to see and be seen. And even on a Tuesday morning, well-heeled shoppers toting designer carrier bags are out in force at the gleaming Plaza 66, Shanghai's answer to the top floor of Pacific Place.
Most of the big brand guns including Gucci, Christian Dior and Tod's have already set up shop there; others such as Bottega Veneta and Hermes are hard on their heels, having recently snapped up prime locations on the ground floor.
'Beijing may well be the 'power' capital of China, but Shanghai is definitely its fashion centre,' says Bonnie Gokson, Chanel's regional director of image and external relations. 'Shanghainese women have always been elegant, but they have gained in confidence and style. People here appreciate quality and they love recognised status symbols.
'There hasn't been much fashion information in the way of magazines, but such is the hunger for them that many international magazines are starting to set up office on the mainland and are choosing Shanghai for their base. There's so much going on - new clubs, bars, restaurants are opening all the time. It's a very exciting place to be right now.' Which is why Chanel has just opened its flagship store in Plaza 66.
Even though merchandise costs 25 per cent more on the mainland than in Hong Kong, due to value-added and import taxes, the fashion-conscious Shanghainese are spending anyway, with shoes, handbags and jackets reportedly the most popular items sold at Chanel. And unlike Hong Kong, where the cold snap is brief and warm clothes get a couple of months' wear at most, the autumn/winter collection is very important in Shanghai.