360Fashion Exclusive Interview with RAY P. LEE, co-founder of Chopshop Concept Store, Beijing, China.

360时尚在中国北京独家采访Chopshop 创意店的合伙创始人RAY P. LEE.

Q: Tell me about your store
     请给我介绍一下您店的情况

R: The store is in the 798 art district, known for its art galleries and museums but not anchored YET as a destination for retail. We're introducing designers not yet represented on the mainland, designers we know, designers we like, its very personal.这个店位于以艺术画廊和博物馆著称但还不是零售集中地的798艺术区.我们在大陆介绍我们认识或我们喜欢的设计师.

R: Myself and Lin Jing, arguably China's most renowned product designer, so we are the two creatives. We do all the merchandising, the buying, the concept and then we have a couple of silent partners who operate the business side of the operations.我和Lin Jing(中国最著名的产品设计师),我们是2个创意主义者.我们负责所有进货和创意.除此之外,我们还有一些幕后的合伙人负责商业上的运作.

Q: First opening or relaunch?
  第一次开店还是再经营？

R: Yes it's a relaunch. It was previously more a gallery space for design and to highlight Lin Jings work. But a new direction was decided upon and I was brought in as a partner to side saddle with LinJing on the creative and inject a more international perspective.算是二次经营了.之前更像是设计画廊用来展览Lin Jing的作品.然后我们确定了一个新的方向,我们增加了更多创意和加入了更多国际思维.

R: Well, I think the customer is quite varied. It's for kids, hipsters, fashionistas, socialites, no specific, our target aims across the spectrum. Our price points are really competitive and most are one-off pieces.我想顾客群体很多样.有孩子,赶时髦的人,社会人士,没有特定,目标人群范围很广.我们的价格也是很有竞争力,大部分也只卖一件.

R: Maybe...I mean it's all about me (laughs). Well, us!!也许...都是关于我(大笑).是我们!

R: Yes I bought in small quantities to test the ground. As I said, 798 is not really a destination for fashion and retail. I just want to bring in some designers that are known in fashion circles in Europe and the States but yet in China and do a small edit, and gauge the reaction from the customers and friends.是的我进货量很少,是想先做测试.我说过,798并不是时尚和零售集中地.我想介绍一些在欧洲和美国时尚圈里著名的设计师到中国先做一个测试,看看顾客和朋友的反馈意见.

Q: What designers?
什么设计师？

R: A real mix, for example Bless from Germany, Ato from Japan, Antik Batik from Paris, Tom Scott from New York, Chinese designers Zhang Da and Qiu Hao, Senada Theory from Thailand, Henrik Vibskov from Denmark to name a few...

德国的Bless，日本的Ato，巴黎的Antik Batik，纽约的Tom Scott，中国的Zhang Da 和Qiu Hao，泰国的Senada Theory ，丹麦的Henrik Vibskov,先举这些例子...

R: I found the only two I feel come with a point of originality. You know with a kind of intellectual not just a commercial process, which is the problem with a lot of designers in China.我知道的有2个原创的设计师.你知道,是有创意,而不是纯商业设计,在中国的很多设计师都会出现这个问题.

R: Qiu Hao, who I took to Paris last year and won the Woolmark Prize. A very important prize: Yves Saint Laurent, Karl Lagerfeld, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karen have all won that prize...It's a big international design prize for young designers. Qiu Hao was the first designer from mainland China to win such a major prize.

Then Zhang Da from Shanghai who is a very clever wise guy with a Japanese / Martin Margiela spin sometimes, but definitely more conceptual than a lot of designers. It's very much his look.Qiu Hao,我去年带到巴黎,获得了Woolmark奖.非常重要的一个奖项:伊夫圣罗兰,卡尔·拉格菲尔德,杜嘉班纳,唐纳.凯伦都获得过这个奖项..这是一个年轻设计师的知名国际设计大奖.Qiu Hao是第一个获得这个奖项的中国大陆设计师.还有来自上海的张达也是很聪明,他的设计有时带有日本风格,他比很多设计师更有想法.

There are a couple in London that I am interested in, they are still in design school and they are from the Chinese Mainland. They  starting to generate a lot of press as well, even though they are still in school.还有我在伦敦很感兴趣的一对夫妇,他们来自中国大陆,还在设计学院学习.他们虽然还在学校,但是已经开始参与很多媒体活动. 

R: They have a point of difference. They're not just coming from a commercial point of view. They're experimental and dare to think out of the box.他们和别人不同.他们不仅仅从商业的角度考虑.他们非常有探索精神,并且敢跳出常规思维.

R: Not sure about Zhang Da but I know Qiu Hao studied at Saint Martins in London which is one of the most renowned schools for fashion. They have a western point of view but they are still strongly rooted in China.  They're groovy and they explore. 我不知道张达,但是Qiu Hao 在伦敦的圣.马丁斯学习过,这个学校也是时尚界最有名的学校之一.他们受西方思想影响,但是仍然扎根于中国.他们具有创新精神.

Q: In Beijing are you going around and visiting other designers, are you in touch with the young designer scene here?

在北京您有没有拜访别的设计师,特别是年轻的设计师?

R: No. No. I used to be in touch with them. I used to follow. I should get back onto that. I am interested to see what young kids do, but unfortunately it's still a bit early. But yeah, I'm always on the lookout for whos around, whos next.没有,没有.我过去和他们保持着联系.我想我现在也应该这么做.我很对年轻的孩子们在干什么很感兴趣,但是现在还有点过早,不过我时刻都在关注.

Q: What about the Chinese customer understand the point of view on fashion that you have?

中国的顾客能理解您对时尚的观点吗?

R:No. [laughs] My friends do. But the average customer? More and more they do. I mean they have internet, they travel, they travel alot more than they used to do. They are a lot more fashion savvy than they were four of five years ago and with that they're becoming increasingly adventurous.不.我的朋友们理解.但是一般的顾客?越来越多的人理解.我的意思是他们有网络,他们有更多的旅游机会.他们更热衷时尚,更具有冒险精神. 

Q: Isn't there an education process that you have to go through?       Chinese  aesthetic has often been likened to "No Style". What do you think about that?

R: Yeah, in general. It's a process. There's a lot of bad fashion here. There's an education process that has to happen here but I'm not going to do it! [laugh]. The designers I bring are not well known here, but they are well known in Europe and in the States, so there is an education process that has to happen here. Take people through the collection, explaining it to them is part of the process. And I have done that so the customer starts to see it in a different way. A piece of cloth hanging on a hanger without a story, is just a piece of cloth. It's not Gorgio Armani which has an image already attached to it most people are familiar with. 总的来说,是这样的.需要一个过程.在这里有很多不好的时尚,需要有一个教育的过程,但是我不会去负责这个工作.我带来的设计师在这里并不出名,但是在欧洲和美国很有名.让人们参观展览,给他们做解释是教育的一个部分.我已经在这样做了,顾客们也在以一种全新的方式来看待.一件挂在衣架上的没有故事的衣服,只是一件衣服.这不是一件已经有人们已经熟悉的阿玛尼的形象.

Q: Don't you think that the majority of customers here in China are just looking for "cheap price"? Or big names? We keep hearing they only want famous brands--you can only bring in famous brands to China and be successful? Because the Chinese customer is a little bit Russian style where they show that they have money.

R:  Bling. They love the bling. But you know that's not me and I know that my niche is small. 

But I think it's a growing niche. And I think that people do want to be different; want to be unique, to stand out. People increasingly do want to have alternatives and there ought to be alternatives to the tried-and-tested high end and high street. I think that you can wear Louis Vuitton with any of the pieces that I have, or you can wear H&M with any of the pieces that I have. You can dress it up, you can dress it down. Again, I think that's the style process that has to be relayed.人们还是希望有不同,希望独特,希望能够突出.人们希望有更多的选择.我想你可以穿路易斯.威登搭配我这里的任意衣服,你也可以穿H&M,搭配我的衣服.可以随意的上下搭配,我想就是时尚发展的过程.

in 1994 I came here to study Chinese. I survived BCLU University about a week but stayed a year hanging out with the artists, being part of the scene here drinking cheap Chinese vodka and slamming tequilas in Maximes - a lot of fun and no fashion! Absolutely no fashion!! We were all dressed very badly. We all found things in markets and we had a sort of patchwork of really bad Chinese clothes. But it was a 90's Beijing style and somehow it worked! It was appropriate, Beijing back then was a very different city. Now of course it's very cosmopolitan. 第一次我来是在90年代.在1994年,我来这里是学汉语,我在BCLU大学学了一周,然后和艺术家们混了一年,喝中国伏特加,很有意思,但是一点都不时尚.绝对没有时尚!我们都穿的很糟糕.我们在街上市场里买很糟糕的衣服,但是那是在90年代的北京,那会还行.那会的北京不一样,但是现在是个非常现代化的都市.

Q: Do you think it is too late? Anybody coming in now--it's too late to do anything?

您认为现在是不是太晚了？如果想来中国-一切还来得及吗？

R: No! No. There's lots to be done! Lots to be done. Lots to educate. Lots of gaps that need filling. Lots to collaborate on.还有很多事情可做,很多需要教育的东西,很多需要添满的空隙,还需要很多合作.

Entrepreneurs in China are popping up everywhere, from young designers opening Ateliers in Beijing, to students with great business plans taking advantage of rural areas to create accessories.

SHOKAY BRAND

"After returning to school, Chyau and So thought about how to turn yaks into a business model and came up with an answer: their thick, shaggy coats, which seemed ideally suited for clothing and accessories. They drew up a business plan and entered it into a Harvard competition, as well as an international contest in Amsterdam. Their plan won first prize in both, enabling them to set up a non-profit company, Ventures in Development, incorporated in Hong Kong with USD 40,000 in start-up capital, funded by the prize money, as well as private donations."

The result was setting up a brand called, Shokay, a high-end, for-profit fashion and accessories brand made using yak wool from Qinghai Province, on Chongming Island, just north of Shanghai. [Read Full Article Here]

China is where young entrepreneurs are having market opportunities.

北京 - 2009年4月17日）北京金融街购物中心连卡佛独家推出Kate Moss Topshop 2009春夏系列，最新服饰于2009年4月25日到店。 

最新系列以裙装为主：清新的白色棉质裙，混印礼服裙为夏日带来缤纷色彩，黑色饰金属片迷你裙散发迷人魅力。民俗设计源于70年代伍德斯托克波希米亚风情，完全体现了Kate对夏天节日的钟爱。明亮诱人的裙装展现了活泼的印花图案，配合衬里外套尤为特别。 

"我喜欢在夏天穿着印花服饰。"Kate表示，"我从过往的印花收藏中挑选自己最满意的图案，增加创意，完成了这季的设计。" 

(Beijing - April 17, 2009) Lane Crawford Seasons Place, Beijing is excited to launch exclusively the Kate Moss Topshop Spring/Summer 2009 collection, arriving in store in April 25, 2009.   

The new collection is dress dominant; fresh white cotton sun-dresses, ditsy printed tea dresses that are an easy throw-on summer staple, and black sequined mini dresses that exude after-hours glamour. Folk inspired pieces are reminiscent of 1970s Woodstock bohemian dressing and capture Kate's love of summer festivals. Bright and flirty dresses are made from panels of clashing floral prints, with matching quilted jackets.  

"I love wearing prints, particularly in summer and they've proved a real hit in my past collections. Whilst researching the spring range we looked at loads of old prints. The capsule range features original colour combinations exclusive to my Spring collection," Kate said.