Day 3

ELLE magazine

第三天 - Day 3

Wednesday October 14, 2009

Today is fashion house day! Hooray! 

I’m dropped off in central Puxi on a gorgeous sunny morning in Shanghai where I’m meeting the Fashion Editor on our first fashion stop at H&M (Hennes & Mauritz) and I’m excited already…

I make my way through to the lobby of the building which leads to a corridor lined with elevator doors on both sides and an extensive list of tenants written in Chinese and an attempt in English… so I take a guess and hope for the best.  The elevator doors open at the 23rd floor and I step out in to unknown territory as I walk through the door of the fashion house and realize why this amazing space is kept hidden from those who don’t know it’s location….

It’s amazing; I’m taken away by what’s behind the door of the H&M fashion house on the 23rd floor of a busy Shanghai city scraper.  Lined with floor to ceiling windows looking out on to the city skyline and bustling traffic below, the walls of the room are filled with racks of glittering outfits, posing mannequins, Fashion Editors from various magazine and merchandise buyers.  Tucked around the corner is a small open plan space for H&M PR which equally gets a share in the magic view. 

Next stop is Max Mara, which is not only less impressive as the last stop in terms of location but also because Editors from other fashion magazines have already picked through most of the clothes.  I have no idea which fashion houses are on the agenda for the day so I’m constantly excited wondering - where to next?

We arrive at Miss Sixty and pass Fashion Editors from Vogue in the lobby, the conversation is in Chinese and sounds friendly, I’m amazed at passing them by, but of course it’s common.  Much like their label, M60 has a great office space that is hip, funky, modern and ‘out there’ a pair of M60 jeans hangs on the wall and bright bold colours are painted on the office walls in yellow and green, typical of M60.  The range of clothes to choose from here is great and we find some interesting clothes to include in the Mix & Match shoot.

We stop off to have lunch at a noodle bar and get the chance to sit down and chat outside of work which is great because we can get to know each other.  There are so many interesting people who live and work in Shanghai and I am lucky enough to be having lunch with one of them. 

After lunch we continue to catch taxis all day from one fashion house to another in what seems like covering great distances across the city.  Once clothes are chosen they are packed in boxes by suppliers and sent back to the Elle home base.  It’s a big sense of relief to know we don’t have to carry bags let alone boxes of clothes with us and although it’s a fun day it’s also quite tiring, my excitement must have used up my reserve of energy because by the end of the day I am absolutely exhausted. 

Our last stop was accessories house: Dyrberg Kern.  Great stuff, it’s a Danish brand which sells accessories; watches, sunglasses, and fabulous pieces of jewellery with bright bold colours, chunky necklaces, jeweled and modern – we saved one of the best until last – it was the perfect way to end the day having some fun accessorizing with the jewellery; statement pieces as Debbie the host put it.