Dee Poon is excited about opening her month-long pop-up store Dysemevas tonight. 'Come by, it will be fun,' urged the daughter of retail magnate Dickson Poon and garment manufacturer Esquel Group's Marjorie Yang Mun-tak. 'We have stuff going on all week. There's games, pop-up hair salons, body and face painting, DJs, all sorts of crazy stuff. It's a bit nutty but ghetto, too.'
It sounds like a fashion version of Lollapalooza, as her temporary store at 254 Hollywood Road will feature works from 10 up-and-coming Chinese designers, starting tonight until December 21. For more creative cred, the shop is designed by Zuni Icosahedron's Mathias Woo. 'The reality is since it's a small store we might as well have some fun and take some risks. The money's up side and down side are pretty much capped. I'm involved in design but I've always had a fashion focus, too. This is the area I feel most comfortable.'
Even the name is part of its goofy charm. Pronounce Dysemevas as 'the sum of us'. 'I made it up. I thought of Emevas, which is 'save me' backwards, but even I couldn't say it or spell it so I added 'dys' in front, as in dyslexia.'
However, what you won't find is Poon relying on her high-powered parents to carry off this pet project. The ambitious effort is completely hers and hers alone. 'I pretty much did everything. I'm sure they would be happy to help but I haven't had any fires so big that I can't put them out myself. I occasionally ask for advice and they might say, stop yelling at me, you're being a brat!'