Category Archive for Hong Kong + Macau
HONG KONG & MACAU, MAY 2011! GALAXY MACAU HOTEL RESORT GRAND OPENING, ROOMORAMA ASIA APARTMENT RENTALS.
Ai-yah, fei maoo. Sebastiano and La Carmina will be in Hong Kong and Macau for the month of May! (Time to unpack my Cantonese 101 books…)
We’ve got a full schedule of journalism and TV work. Get ready for coverage of Hong Kong’s alternative, kawaii and pop culture scene. How about panda and toilet theme restaurants, Victorian boudoir bars, and cute food cooking lessons?
We’ll be staying in a modern apartment in Causeway Bay, thanks to the lovely folk at Roomorama. Like Tokyo’s Shibuya, this chic district is loaded with cafes and boutiques, and the SOGO Japanese department store. Seba and I will show you what it’s like to stay in one of Roomorama’s short-term rentals (they have locations all over the world, so you can live like a local wherever you go). Perhaps you’ll try out their apartment rental service on your next trip.
Seba and I will also take the short ferry ride to Macau… for the media and VIP-only preview of Galaxy Macau, a giant 2 billion dollar hotel-resort opening this month! We’ll be staying there before it opens to the public — test-driving the 50 restaurants, 2,200 hotel rooms, spa, sky top wave pool, and man-made beach (perhaps we’ll build a sand castle?).
Macau is in boom-mode. Gambling was its lifeblood for decades, but now, entrepreneurs are setting up lux hotels that make Las Vegas look like a pile of pennies. And I’m dying to see how the Rococo-spirited Galaxy Macau will raise the bar.
I haven’t been to Hong Kong in over 3 years, but I went yearly when I was a munchkin, to visit relatives. Creepy-cute characters have always haunted my life.
Here I am on a Cathay Pacific plane ride. In those days, my favorite stuffed toy was a round bear that I insisted that it was a cat. It was my fate to wind up with a earless teddy bear…
Sebastiano also has a Hong Kong history: he was a model there before moving to Japan.
Where in the world is Sebastiano Serafini? Milan, and now Tokyo. Above are images from the Stand Up! The Fragile launch party, featuring him as main model.
If Seba’s Paint drawing is any indication, our Chinese adventure will be full of 8-bit action! (Only his brain could conceive of us as Tanooki Mario and Goth Princess Peach.)
Have you been to Hong Kong or Macau? We’d love to hear your recommendations — please leave us a comment. And tell me what you’d like me to blog about (Hong Kong fashion? Theme restaurants?).
PS: I previously wrote about Gothic Lolita shopping in Hong Kong.
Song of the Day: Joy – Lost in Hong Kong (12″ Italo Disco, ai-yah!)
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READER QUESTION ABOUT HONG KONG LOLITAS. JAPANESE STREETS SWEET LOLITA TEENS, ANGELIC PRETTY HARAJUKU FASHION PHOTOSHOOT.
NOTE: This blog post was written years ago…I’ve since visited Hong Kong and done many more articles about Goth/Lolita and Visual Kei culture. You can read all my articles here, and there’s some Lolita shopping maps here.
Japanese Streets, a comprehensive resource on Harajuku street style, kindly gave me permission to post these Sweet Lolita photos. The models are aged 13, 14, and 19 and mostly wearing Angelic Pretty — and their candy-floss hair is to die for! You can see more from the shoot on Japanese Streets.
Now, let’s reach for the Reader Questions mail bag. Liz writes, “I’ve got some questions for you Carmina :) They relate to Hong Kong…”
1. When you travel to Hong Kong do you dress to the nines in Lolita gear? I find HK to be a pretty conservative country, being blonde attracts enough attention for me — I’m curious how your experience with the HK people is if you dress “crazy” here? Do you get a lot of photo requests, etc.?
Ah, you gotta love Hong Kong attitude. In Japan, you can be half-naked and drenched in fake blood — and everyone will politely walk by. Whereas in Hong Kong, you’ll get scrunched-up faces and pointing fingers and a chorus of “Ai-yahs”! HK fashion can be pretty crazy, but the acceptability standard is: would a Cantopop singer wear it? If not (eg, Lolita/Goth/Punk), then you can expect some rudeness from strangers.
2. Do you have any favorite HK fashion spots for Gothic Lolita style?
I did a post about Hong Kong Lolita stores Spider, Baby Cupid and Dracula; you can read it here. It includes a map and detailed directions.
A few more to add to the Hong Kong shopping list:
† Sogo in Causeway Bay has a Liz Lisa (Princess Kei) and Hangry and Angry (the casual cat mascots from h.NAOTO) on the third floor.
† Right behind Sogo is Laforet. Several of the boutiques sell Japanese young women’s brands such as Milk and Jane Marple.
† Anna House sells custom-made Lolita clothing. The shop is near the Kwun Tong subway stop.
3. Where are all the HK Lolitas?! I’ve seen a small handful, usually in TST taking photos so I presume they’re not locals :( It’s such an interesting genre of style, and you probably know how into “street” fashion people are here. I’d love to get some photos of girls here dressed up & start publicizing more “unusual” fashion.
You’ll see Lolita and Harajuku-inspired outfits around town, but other than individual meetups, there aren’t really any events where the girls gather. Hong Kong is funny about fashion and money. Cantonese stars don’t wear the fashion, so few girls are interested. And there isn’t any money to be made by having Goth/industrial parties. However — dum dum dum — there may be an invasion in the works… keep reading and all will be revealed!
I welcome you to ask me questions, which I’ll reply in this blog feature (shoot me an email any time!). You can see my previous responses to Reader Questions here.
Song of the Day #188: Genki Rockets – Heavenly Star (the first song in my new Scottish Fold video — have you seen it yet?)
LA CARMINA
