Youjin Lee
This July is unbearably hot in many countries. Going out, people, even shopping, is annoying till your summer vacation finally rolls around. You just want to Netflix and chill, but it’s filled with its original series that you didn’t ask for. Here are some great things and a few ways to reduce your stress.
Shiatzy Chen
Today, Shiatzy Chen launched her collaboration with Disney, but it didn’t send butterflies fluttering in this Disney superfan’s stomach. The look, however, made me sigh out loud. This is how I want to look when I meet a royal family (any country’s will do).
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Sometimes posh people’s obsession over Japanese minimalist design puzzles me. A Scandinavian architect (or a Swiss banker or a London magazine editor) may feel genuine physical pleasure in a Muji store. Then, sometimes, I get it, seeing pictures like this. You don’t need to go as far as the patron saint of undomestic women worldwide, Marie Condo. Clean space, the impeccable perfection of what little exists, a kind of convenient comfort you don’t realize you’re enjoying until you lose it. Japanese design has incomparable charm. Like a weekend in the nicest ryokan in Kyoto.
Refinery 29
Well said. Agreed.
Guo Pei
Guo Pei has the potential to be this generation’s Alexander McQueen, or a legend on her own merit. How she embraces the motif, from forest to gothic architecture, and builds her own fantasy with structure is awe-inducing. If you think she’s not on the level of McQueen yet, remember the omelet dress worn by Rihanna three years ago? This seasoned couturier is getting better year after year.
National Geographic
Some people want to watch the world burn. The problem is that they are not few. Let’s do what we can. It’s not just about one less plastic cup and one more animal rescued. It’s to send a signal to the companies, governments, media, and ourselves: we want to make our nature great again.
LAB Taipei
There was a time when Hong Kong ruled the cultural roost in Asia, with exotic English first names and the golden days of Hong Kong films. Then J-pop and J-drama and Japanese style swept. Now Taylor Swift takes a selfie with Korean boy group BTS and people are jealous of her. Maybe Taipei can be the next manufacturer of cool. Based on the street fashion scene, maybe it’s already happening.
Tadashi Shoji
Tadashi Shoji is known for evening gowns and cocktail dresses. It shows even in his wear-to-work, with lace, crochet, and chiffon flattering all bodies (it seems the gentleman made sure of that). You don’t have to look feminine, but you can when you want to. Heck, you can wear a feathery yellow dress to work and still get the job done.
Amber Liu
“When you live in Seoul, you give a billion percent,” says Amber (or a copywriter for Nike). Seoul does that to its people. You gotta be fit to survive. And Amber is fit.
Gary Pepper Girl
Many international adoptees have poignant stories about revisiting their biological motherlands. It breaks the bottom of our hearts, whether we share the experience or not. Here, this beautiful photostream of an Aussi fashionista taught me that your life, in and out of Instagram can go hand in hand.
Produce 48
It’s a Korean reality show where the viewers vote for the candidates of a pop group. The first season was to make a girl group, and the second for a boy group. Some of my friends are hardcore fans who’d take those members to family gatherings if they could. Now the third season is back with more girls, and as a collaboration of Korean and Japanese agencies. I still don’t know what to think about the show, but I’m hooked when it’s on.
Sukkha Citta
If you have to wear something in this heat, let it be the lightest and breeziest fabric. Indonesian brand Sukkha Citta’s motto is #MadeRight, and they seem true to their words. They work with rural craftswomen with One Village One Collection model, and the colors are made in eco-friendly ways. And it’s classy and pretty as an angel’s seasonal robes.
Jim Thompson
I don’t usually warm up to the typical story of “a weary white man finding peace in the orient,” but there’s something romantic about Jim Thompson, a former American spy who helped revitalize the Thai silk industry and disappeared in Malaysia. Jim Thompson’s fabric company doesn’t seem to grasp the brand’s real charm. Visit Jim Thompson’s house in Bangkok and immerse yourself in his melancholy. You may buy something silk out of sentimental reasons.
Marvel Rising
With Antman 2 and The Incredibles 2 dominating local cinema, you realize that it’s been a decade that people have been saying Marvel and Disney’s winning streak cannot go on forever. Then you see a project like this and get back to rooting for them. Little girls watching Disney Channel will have more characters they can relate. They’ll feel entitled to save the world.
(Yes, I skipped June, because I thought nobody was coming for this series. Then one reader said, “What happened to the series? I liked it, because it’s different from other fashion magazine style guides. With, you know, your punchlines.” So the series is back.)
Andrea Centeno
Vi Nguyen
April Editors