Shabby Chic

Shabby chic is sometimes defined as a mix between "cottage" and "luxurious" - god knows what that means. But I guess it is about contrast. Here I am with my Celines walking into a private kitchen in the bowels of Lan Kwai Fong. It's exactly the kind of contrast the fashion mags love. Dirty tiles, cigarette butts, rusty railings and fancy shoes. It's not really shabby chic, perhaps more heroin chic, but that seems a bit extreme now that we are no longer in the nineties.

I ended up here after a long afternoon at Sevva - lunch and then drinks at the gorgeous terrace overlooking Central Hong Kong and the harbor. The sort of afternoon where my friend showed us the contents of her handbag. 

All of that actually fits into her lovely Chloe bag, which I have been coveting for a long time. Today I also met the lovely Chinese man wearing these stripy trousers. It's a shame my crappy blackberry camera couldn't get his full outfit - he also had striking red locks and told me he was at Columbia University in the mid-seventies.

Look at his amazing perforated jumper, the stripy linen pants, and the studded shoes. So lovely there are people willing to dress up like this!