... and makes me reflect on the new dichotomy in fashion: although style-wise anything goes and there are no more rigid trends in fashion today, business-wise it is harder than ever for unique independent retailers to build viable fashion companies.
Last week I was seeing lots of pretty green around me everywhere and started thinking I'd love something green and flowy to wear with T-shirts and sandals. I ended up picking this lovely skirt.
Jordan Baker silk green skirt with pink tigers, find it HERE
For full disclosure I should say my friend Jane owns the Jordan Baker shop, but in fact I have been thinking of independent shops a lot recently after my trip to London where the high streets in each part of town have started looking so identical you needn't bother going to more than one.
The same is the case on social media - if you love fashion on Instagram you may have noticed that many fashion posts are all about selling clothes nowadays. There are dedicated apps like LiketoKnow.it so that we can all buy the exact same high street clothes from companies with the deepest pockets to use the most popular influencers.
For as much as influencers claim to only work with companies they truly love, they still have to eat, and often there is a whole string of them promoting the exact same company at the exact same time. Last year there was suddenly an incredible amount of shared love for Aspinal of London, a perfectly lovely company I have nothing against, but not exactly known for its cool factor and/or young customer base. All the attention was a matter of sponsorship, no different from a full page advertisement in a magazine, yet presented in a more ambiguous way as the personal choice of instagram stars.
To me this illustrates that at a time when fashion is more democratic than ever and social media could be a great tool for new designers or retailers, the deck is often still stacked against small companies with less money to play the advertising game.
(For all of Instagram's protestations, it is not hard to believe that accounts with many followers and sponsors are much easier to find than smaller newer accounts).
My fashion M.O. has always been that I wanted to look like myself, and not necessarily the same as everyone else - I haven't always succeeded at that but I still admire women who have a style all their own, and whose identity is woven into their clothes.
That brings me back to my friend and her independent shop. I am grateful for the risk takers out there who bring us something fresh, an alternative to the ubiquitous, and keep our high streets looking interesting. Another small shop owner shared this on Instagram:
As I have said here before, I am not trying to sell you anything, I want this blog to be more about inspiration than about buying more stuff. That said, I feel very strongly about supporting small businesses everywhere, so if this post inspires you to think about that, then I'd like to say thank you very much indeed - I am grateful for your time.
As I mentioned at the top I was thinking of green lately. Hong Kong does green really well. Here are some photos of the places that inspired me:
Table setting at Duddell's on Duddell Street (HERE)
The Star Ferry between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon
Wanchai behind Star Street with Mondrian blue in front of pale green
Lugard Road on the Peak
Wyndham Street
The proprietor's simple Cantonese lunch on plastic table cloths in my favorite fabric shop in Sham Shui Po
Sitting on the back of a junk anchored in Deep Water Bay wondering about the quality of the water
Thank you very much for reading,
xxxx Dianne
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