A4 is here!

Yes, it's again the new Mitsukoshi I'm writing about, not a new Audi. No, Mitsukoshi didn't pay me anything to write about their latest addition again, but it's just that the soft opening today of their fourth store near the Warner Village in Taipei is the big fashion event of the week.
I already told you about the stores on the first floor, because it was possible to see their posters and ads as you walk by. Tod's is apparently selling an exclusive brownish bag exclusively for Taiwan customers at the price of 30,000 New Taiwan dollars, that's about 1,000 US dollars. Balenciaga wants half more for its lamb leather motorcycle bag, the China Times writes today.
And the rest of the store: a "jeans bar" on the 3rd floor, food on the 6th floor, and of course, cosmetics on the first or ground floor.
Will it really be all that different from other stores and especially from the Mitsukoshi's A8, A9 and A11 next door? You can find out tomorrow, I'll have to wait until Monday to reconnoitre the place and write up my impressions for you.
Just not to let Mitsukoshi steal all the attention, let me mention that Sogo is coming up with a special sale of local designers including Stephane Dou and Changlee Yugin, Chang Yang-chen and LaiCarFiore, beginning tomorrow and going into the first weekend of October.

Vivienne Westwood and the others

So yes I went to the Vivienne Westwood exhibition in Taipei and it was well worth it. A bit surprised though that the emphasis was more on the recent Westwood, and not so much on the early punk period she's so famous for. The ripped T-shirts and clothes with chains and needles were there, but they were only a bit player in the event. The museum obviously showed off Westwood's "Britishness," with a lot of the more recent items emphasizing her use of history and traditions, think Scottish tartans, ballroom dresses, and clothes her Ladyship would wear while his Lordship was out foxhunting. One hat was a bird's nest made of branches with a complete bird standing over it. All in all, quite a worthwhile, and heavily visited exhibition. Next, I would like to see the Italians coming to Taipei, say Giorgio Armani and Prada.
Talking of fashion exhibitions, on a television show here I just found out that Salvatore Ferragamo has a neat little museum in Florence. So if you're on holiday in Italy soon, don't forget, take some time out or convince your tour guide to take you to that museum.

In other fashion news, the media here were all agog recently about a 398,000 New Taiwan dollar bag. That's about 12,000 US dollars. It's not a Louis Vuitton or a Gucci, not even a Birkin bag or a motorcycle bag, and it doesn't carry any obvious logos. According to the September 15 China Times Express, it's a black German-made "Comtesse" bag in crocodile leather. In its first year on the Taiwan market, 50 bags were sold. The bags will soon be on sale at the Far Eastern Plaza's mall.

Last week's Style supplement in the Taipei Times reported on Marc Jacobs' new works at the New York Fashion Week, and closer to home, on Isabelle Wen's Autumn/Winter 2005 collection. Susan Kendzulak wrote the "Bang! Bang!" collection had an early 1960s feel, with combinations of brown with purple, and deep greens and browns are the dominant colors. As on view in her boutiques, many of her designs have a New Bohemian, neo-hippie look about them.

This afternoon I will be again touring the usual fashion malls and taking the look to see how the soon-to-be-opened stores are progressing. According to the United Evening News, the Mitsukoshi A4 - that's the one just north of the A8, A9 and A11, yes, close to Warner Village - will differentiate itself from its pack of neighbors by targeting the 20-to-40 female demographic. On the first floor, you can already see the posters heralding Coach, Tod's, Salvatore Ferragamo and Balenciaga, but apparently a total of 277 brands of clothing and cosmetics will be on offer.
For no reason I understand, I received an e-mail inviting me to the party for the launch of actress Vivica A. Fox's - she was in Independence Day ID4 and in Kill Bill - new magazine - in New York. Thanks for the invite, but I'm nowhere near New York anytime soon. The magazine is called "Jolie," so Angelina will have to look for another name if she ever publishes a magazine. And finally, thanks to Esprit's Roxanne Chiu for sending me her business card after the show I wrote about last time.

Esprit 101

After I had a look through "Brand" magazine, I went to Taipei 101 for one show in their Fashion Week: the Esprit Autumn/Winter 2005 show.
With the bare branches of a winter tree as backdrop, the models showed three collections. As Esprit Taiwan general manager Roxanne Chiu told the crowd, the clothes showed a mix of Asian ethnic flavor and European retro fashions.
Orange and purple were the most remarkable common threads in the three collections.
The male models were in the minority, but that was really no surprise. They mainly showed off jeans trousers and loose wrinkly jackets. A purple T with a cap broke the monotony.
The real fireworks were reserved for the women, and they shone in a wide variety of items, from a loose yellow off-the-shoulder pullover, to purple stockings, to orange jackets, silky beige blouses, a blue sleeveless eskimo vest, and long woollen scarves.
My favorites were the skirts and blouses least reminding of winter: the rich, warm orange-tinged items decorated with the glittering floral designs that seem to be taken from an Indian palace. A purple blouse with shiny red and blue flowers, and a light mauve woollen jacket held together in the front by only two buttons were especially charming items. The earthy hues based on inspiration from India were taken to near perfection by a brown skirt with rich silver patterns.
So much for the only show that I'll be able to attend at Taipei 101's Fashion Week. Even though Esprit is usually not mentioned in the same company as Loewe or Etro, it nevertheless showed that even a more mass-market brand can supply imaginative and beautiful items of clothing.

September Brand Magazine

While I sort out the problems with uploading my pictures to this blog, there is so much happening around me that I can't wait until I those troubles are over before filling you in.
So in this posting, I want to review the September issue of Taiwan's "Brand" magazine.
As usual, the magazine opens with pictures of new products from handbags to watches to lipstick. There is also quite a bit on men's clothing for Autumn/Winter 2005.
The main report is about the pricing of famous brands, but I really have to read more before I can tell you what it's really about.
If you're fanatic about bags, logos and retro, then this issue of the magazine is certainly generous to you. It reports on the new Prada bags, with the traditional upside-down triangle, but also with the more classical-looking oval in various sizes with the Italian royal coat of arms and the words "Prada Milano dal 1913." Then there's Fendi with its Selleria series showing a horse, Celine with the Sulky series and its horse and racing cart, Bally with its coat of arms and the date 1851, and Loewe with the 30th anniversary of its Amazona bag. Loewe and Celine get even more coverage further on in the magazine.
One of the cover stories deals with androgynous fashions for women, who they divide in types like the power woman, the ascetic monk, the bad boy, etc.
There is also a feature on bags for people who can't afford bags, i.e. wallets and note books and the like.
From Hong Kong, the magazine features agnes b., which also sells flowers and coffee there. On the same note, there's a profile of the Giorgio Armani Caffe in Milan.
Paul & Joe is a brand you might have heard of, but you would be wrong if like me, you guessed there were two English or American men behind it. Paul and Joe are actually the young sons of French designer Sophie Albou.
This month's edition of "Brand" ends with fashions for young girls and portraits of local fashion and music celebrities.

Coming Up in Taipei

As promised ages ago, I finally worked out the problems with A. my computer and B. my camera, so today's the day that you can start and admire pictures on this blog. Well, then of course, I forgot about problem C. uploading the pictures to this blog. After spending 8 minutes uploading 4 pictures, they sort of vanished down a black hole. Great! Let me try again.
As my subject for this new feature, I decided to take the shops that are opening soon - most of them later this month - in Taipei.

Gucci, baby!
First off, the Breeze Center has at least three new guests. The Salvatore Ferragamo which had a final sale I mentioned a while ago in a previous posting, has now closed down and will be replaced by a Burberry. But the eyecatchers, right out on the frontside of the mall on Fuhsing Road, are a Cartier and a Gucci. Since I am not a jewelry and watch expert, I decided to show you the Gucci half. The store is only located on the first floor, but the poster goes up all the way, past the overhead Mucha rapid transit line.

A4 - Mitsukoshi everywhere
The area near Taipei 101 and the Warner Village already has three Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department stores. Obviously not enough, because a fourth is under construction. "I love Salvatore" is the slogan you see everywhere, hailing Salvatore Ferragamo, maybe compensating for his departure from the Breeze Center. The Mitsukoshi A4 will also house at least a Balenciaga, Tod's and Coach.

Coach 101
And talking about Coach, they're about to move into Taipei 101, not on the 3rd floor, where rivals Louis Vuitton and Gucci maintain their crowded operations, but one floor lower, on the second. The United Daily News says Coach will offer the Hampton's Suede bag exclusively to celebrate the opening, at a price of 14,800 New Taiwan dollars.
Staying at Taipei 101, Piaget opened up earlier this week, and Van Cleef & Arpels are also moving in. In addition, the world's tallest tower is laying on six days of fashion shows - invitation only - on its renovated 4th floor plaza, until September 15. The only one I have time to attend is the Esprit show tomorrow afternoon.

So, that's it for now, expect more in the near future about the latest edition of Taiwan's Brand magazine, and about Lynn H. Shih's book, which I managed to finish yesterday.

Fashion Weekend

The coming weekend looks like a major fashion holiday for Taipei. There's the opening of the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum - introduced in my previous posting - and there are quite a number of fashion shows as well.
Taipei 101 held a news conference this afternoon with a regional Prada manager to prepare for the fashion party tomorrow at 10 pm, which should focus on the Italian brand's Autumn/Winter 2005 collection. The organizers sent me sms messages about the news conference, but unfortunately I was unable to attend.
Another tall building, the Far Eastern Plaza, is the scene for a row of fashion events. Today - too late for that, but I can still mention it - Blumarine, Moschino and Aigner had their day. Tomorrow Saturday will see shows by GF Ferre, Just Cavalli, Escada Sport and Design 21. Sunday will be dedicated to Italy's Max Mara.
While all of this is going on, I'm also still reading Lynn H. Shih's book, and an update on that should follow in a couple of days. I keep promising things, and I will deliver. Just stick with me for the ride.

VW drives into Taipei

Punk has never been a favorite of mine, neither the music nor the fashion, but you can't deny Vivienne Westwood is one of the most significant fashion designers of the past decades. More surprisingly, Vivienne is visiting Taiwan these days, though a typhoon wiped any news about her visit off the TV screens.
Luckily, the newspapers have taken up the slack, and at least three of them discuss her, and the reason of her visit: an exhibition of her designs at Taipei's Fine Arts Museum on Chungshan North Road until October 9.
In the Taipei Times Style supplement, Susan Kendzulak finds traces of British history in the 500 designs on show, including tartan plaids and rococo paintings.
In the China Times, Huang Lei writes the exhibition was organized by London's Victoria and Albert Museum, and is on a tour of the world. Vivienne Westwood's designs are for sale in at least 6 locations in Taiwan: the Sogo, the Mitsukoshi A9 near Warner Village, the Mitsukoshi in Tienmu, the Eslite on Wuchang Street in Hsimenting, the Chungyou department store in Taichung, and the Hanshen in Kaohsiung.
In the United Daily News, Yuan Ching interviews the designer about Dior and Chanel, her interest in Chinese art, and her Autumn/Winter 2005 collection, which dwells on human rights and has strong political - leftist - overtones.
All three newspapers love the picture of the blue shoes with the stratospherically high heels, made famous when Naomi Campbell stumbled in them, the China Times writes.
So my prime destination this coming weekend will be the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, though I also hope to be making it to a Prada show on Saturday. I'll keep you informed.