If you haven’t seen Alexandra Wallace’s “Asians in the Library” video yet, I can only assume you’re fresh off the boat. Here’s the soundbite which really irked us:

“So being the polite nice American girl that my momma raised me to be, I kind of just gave [the Asian student on the phone] … ‘It’s the library, like we’re trying to study, thanks!’ And then it’s the same thing five minutes later. But it’s somebody else, you know? I swear they’re going through their whole families, just checking on everybody from the tsunami thing. … Like, you seriously should go outside if you’re going to do that.”

So, this was inevitable:

$20 a pop. Proceeds from each purchase will go to the Red Cross, to help fund the Japan earthquake and tsunami relief efforts. Two other designs are available.

(ohhhchingchonglinglongtingtong.com via LA Weekly)

Taiwanese actor-turned-model Godfrey Gao is the new face of Louis Vutton. Just 26 years of age, Gao has already starred in TV dramas in Taiwan to some fanfare — most recently, he played the lead in the suspiciously-named 我的排隊情人 (Volleyball Lover).

With Chinese interest in luxury brands soaring, it was only time before more Asian models joined the fray. The statuesque Gao, who stands at 195 cm (or 6’5″), will be first appearing in LV’s spring campaign, showing off a rather dashing Damier Graphite “Elvis” messenger bag.

From the Guardian:

With recent reports suggesting that Chinese men now spend more on luxury goods than their female counterparts, the casting of Gao is a welcome, but not surprising, change. If Chinese men are splashing out their yuan on designer bags, then modelling them is surely the next logical step.

For those dissatisfied with static images, we’ve provided a rather adorable Singaporean video interview with Gao about the art of cooking below:

[via Guardian]

South Korean political scientist Kim Young Soo has revealed the hottest fashion trend of 2010 in North Korea to be… skinny jeans! If we’ve learned anything from the Korean peninsula conflict this past year, it’s that North Korea should never be underestimated.

For his research, Prof. Kim interviewed approximately 2,000 North Korean defectors during the year who had fled to South Korea via China. He reads this updated look as a sign “that North Korea is easing its isolation.” While skinny jeans have long been a staple in the closet of most Europeans, East Asians, and even Canadians and Australians, North Koreans have been long deprived of such vogue dressings (among other essentials).

Other possible interpretations:

• Skinny jeans are the only ones that fit a chronically malnourished population.
• The Korean Wave of pop culture has made it past the 38th Parallel.
• Kim Jong-il (or his son) has a new fetish?
• Manifestation of anti-Americanism

Your ideas?

[via Straits Times]

As four of the top ten global cities are located in Asia (as ranked by Foreign Policy Magazine), competition over political influence and economic centrality is fierce, with capitals like Beijing, Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo often gaining the upper hand.

Culturally, however, Shanghai has seen itself rise to a level of fashion not shared by any others in the region, save Tokyo. While it only ranks in the top 20 — tied with Frankfurt — it oversteps other noted fashion meccas like Stockholm and Milan.

It happens to be Fashion Week in the city on the sea, which explicitly proclaims its goal of becoming an “international fashion capital.” Fashion maisons from Paris and London are making Shanghai their haute couture headquarters for the new Chinese bourgeois market (which starts young!). At this moment, we should ask: If modern fashion and art can control the largest city in China, could a similarly new kind of politics follow suit?

In terms of rankings, Shanghai has also moved up five spots from #10 to #5 on this year’s Zeitgeist Ranking by Hub Culture, marking another win in the cultural dominance. It’s more edgy and artsy than too-edgy-and-artsy-to-try NYC. Shanghai has long been a safe-haven (at least, as safe as any subversive place can be in the PRC) for China’s postmodern artists and filmmakers, distancing themselves from Beijing.

From museums like the ShangART Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA), from schools like the Shanghai Visual Arts Institute (SIVA) to the China Academy of Art, the city easily boasts the broadest palette of arts education in the mainland. As Shanghai competes both internally and externally for recognition and hegemony, FP predicts that “controlling the cities” will be “the key to the Middle Kingdom.” Can the invisible hand of capitalism — one adorned with BVLGARI jewels, obviously — open the silk curtain to a freedom of expression that extends beyond clothing?

Perhaps the state officials’ speeches opening Shanghai Fashion Week weren’t so much about asserting CCP values as they were echoing British Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaizey‘s homage to the industry that is the second largest employer in the UK, and keeps London afloat at the #2 spot of Global City rankings. Perhaps.

The increasingly well recognized skyline of the Bund and juxtaposition of modern architecture with the colonial French Concession make the new, and old, city spaces at once iconic and avant-garde. Is it too soon to say that Shanghai is the Lady Gaga of China’s postmodern urbanization?

Either way, Shanghai is the place to be for 中国的21世纪的男和女孩子 (China’s 21st Century Boys & Girls).

[image via]

Become a fan of 21st Century Boy on Facebook.

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Little Emperor Syndrome: a phenomenon in which the rise of the Chinese urban class led to the pampering of a family’s only child – in part a result of the one-child policy. Companies are realizing they’ve been missing out on a potentially lucrative market all along:

Designer labels such as Gucci, Fendi, and Stella McCartney have all recently released luxury children’s collections in an attempt capitalize on parent’s penchant to show their wealth through their children. It should come as no surprise that China is seen as a main target market for these new lines, where China’s little emperors get the sole attention of parents and grandparents.

[via Shanghaiist]