Sniped Shanghai Street Shots: Top 9 of '09

I've had three obstacles thus far in putting together a Top 9 of '09 list like this (I kind of did it):

1 - I've only been in China for 12 weeks and thus don't have that many great pictures to choose from.
2 - I've literally been sniping shots (stealing you could say perhaps) of people on the streets because no one will ever pose when I ask them... they are highly suspicious of us foreign folk, which has made it difficult to get perfectly posed pictures.
3 - I'm usually trying to take pictures as inconspicuously as possible while walking on the street, riding the bus, in a cab, or on my roommate's scooter. So please, if the pictures are off-centered or blurry, don't judge me... the pictures are ranked by considering both the subject's style/stance and the quality of the photo.

...So I've finally edited it down to the Top 9, but this post might spoil some later posts because the pictures are released before they are really contextualized. But it's the New Year soon, so there are many, many new pictures to be sniped of otherwise unwilling subjects, but just to forewarn, you will see some of these pictures again.

Honorable Mention - She would have made it into the Top 9, but I spotted a Burberry scarf in her outfit unfortunately. But I know that it's at least real because it's not conspicuously the central piece of her look. Rather, it's blended as a part of a beautiful composition, and I have to give her props for making the world's single most offensive piece of clothing almost bearable:

Number 9 - This guy really isn't Number 9... I just thought I should start off the list with a strong and interesting look to entice you to read further, and this guy has style to the max. His layers are great, the colors are beautiful, and the composition is perfectly and quirkily accented by the silly shape and color of the hat:



Number 8 - Jean jackets are back! Or rather, they never cycled out of the Chinese fashion system. We are still a couple of decades behind here, so I could understand one or two jean jackets here or there. But there are MANY, and they are EVERYWHERE (as I'll blog about later). What's worse is that jean jackets are inevitably paired with, how creative!, jeans. But he looks like a working boy, as he's obviously a bit tired, so his jean suit is probably uber functional:


Number 7 - Here's a construction worker with a loosely tailored and semi-disheveled look that I thought was super cool. If you were working as a construction worker, wouldn't you want to still achieve some amount of individuality from the billions and billions of other construction workers in China?? I've never seen an anyone in such a profession in China so interestingly dressed, but the proportions, colors, cuts, and styling are all there. Appropriate, but still exceptional:

Number 6 - I love the conspicuousness of this woman's PJ set... I never knew a pink to pop like that, and what makes this particular ensemble even more special are the heeled boots and cell phone she's sporting around with her stroller:

Number 5 - So poised, yet not posed... this young gentleman has interesting layers and proportions, as well as nicely composed colors.

Number 4 - I always find people on the street wearing super interesting uniforms... an interesting factoid when you consider the country's recent sartorial history. Anyway, this maiden clad in all white gets the Number 4 spot for her cute haircut and incredulous stare:

Number 3 - This little girl is ColorBlocking my brains out! She deserves Number 3 all to herself for how cool she looks (and the pose I got was great!), but I'm adding another little girl's picture right below just for some contrast... I bet the ColorBlocker didn't dress herself that way, but at least someone in her family had the decency to not dress the little girl in a fake Burberry coat at the tender age of 5:


Number 2 - This old guy has the most endearing smile, and I somehow managed to capture it... and this close up to him too! The iPhone has revolutionized picture/video-taking, because I would never have been able to have gotten this close to someone and sniped this kind of a shot with a regular camera. Anyway, I love his sweater pattern and color combination on top, and he's dressed appropriately for his age. His personality though definitely is what makes the picture Number 2:

Number 1 - She's the coolest f'in lady I've seen in China. I ran across the street and almost died to get this photo, but it was well worth it. She's super unique and quirky by Chinese standards definitely, but she's just chillin' and doing her own thing with that bright blue bow tie. I think she was as intrigued by me as I was by her, which allowed me to snipe this great shot and expression:

Qiu Hao, Man of Vision

Now you all can see what sartorial boringness I have to deal with every day:



Best Quotes from Qiu Hao:

"My photographer friend told me: 'Oh Shanghai style is so interesting, because the street style is so boring.' Well, that's what I saw. It's kinda boring, ya, and also these days it's really fake."

Qiu Hao legitimizes my observations that people dress so blah here. As he later calls this predominant style, "like office lady style"... most everyone here is dressed in a sort of droopy style very similar to that of a rural office lady... or office man (sometimes in China, he or she has bedazzled their gear, but that doesn't really make it better).

Also:
"In London, you just go out in the college or the street, you can see a lot of people that have their own style and it's not learned from a book or fashion magazine.
They created their own style, and from their outfits you can see their personality."

This is totally true, and that is the second quote that he has talked about something being copied or fake... dress here is definitely not only boring but also fake. There is no interpretation of cultural materials in China. That is to say, clothing is adopted, rather than adapted, by Chinese from the West. So, because these styles are simply learned or copied, the situation demonstrates how many people just consume fashion in China... I guess you could say that this is a contributing factor to the success of large Western luxury brands in China. And I guess, by extension, counterfeit luxury goods.

That's Shanghai Fashion Special
Qiu Hao was ranked as the number 1 most influential person in Chinese Fashion. The list also includes Vera Wang (she's American...), Angelica Cheung, and a few other surprises (meaning these people definitely shouldn't be on this list). Qiu Hao deserved to be on top though, especially with this response to a question about personal goals:

"I'd like to show my collections to more people. I thought about doing Shanghai Fashion Week... but I prefer to organize my own show."

Ouch... but I mean, I'd do the same. That's only a fair statement by anyone who has ever had to experience Shanghai Fashion Week.