Hong Kong shopping guide & travel tips! Cute panda cookies, Hello Kitty fashion, Uniqlo, Sogo.
Hong Kong is all about eating and shopping. I did a bit of both on my most recent trip.
Read on for a peek inside the Chinese city’s cutest stores, and my latest Business Insider article about kawaii food.
Sweet meets Gothic, in this Kowloon shopping mall.
Corset skirt: Atelier Pierrot, from Laforet Harajuku (see photos from inside this Tokyo department store)
Mary Jane shoes: Demonia
Hong Kong locals love to take photos with funny backdrops. Shopping centers often have displays, like this “Sweets Paradise” one in Kowloon, for that very purpose.
Remember when my friends and I posed in the “Magician’s Liar” last year in Mongkok?
Japanese pop culture is extremely popular here, hence the “Sushi Oishii.”
What do you think I’ll find on my plate?
Hopefully not these “Black or White” burgers from McDonalds (dyed with squid ink, they look inedible). I prefer the cute Rilakkuma buns from 7-Eleven.
Better yet: these panda bear cookies from Kee Wah Bakery! I gave a box to Seby and to Naomi.
I’ve taken you inside many of Hong Kong’s malls, but here are photos from a not-so-known area, Whampoa. It’s home to a boat-shaped department store and Treasure World.
Hong Kong’s my favorite place to pick up cute accessories (I just got a fat-cat bag and wallet). Characters such as Rilakkuma are plentiful, but prices are much cheaper than in Japan.
I always stop by the cosmetics chain, SaSa. You can get Japanese makeup brands and gyaru eyelashes for half the Tokyo price.
You know Hello Kitty is popular when she has her own store, a collaboration with KiLaRa.
In addition to casual wear, the shop has red-bowed purses, shoes…
…and tons of kawaii accessories.
Monchichi monkey jewelry is sold in the Japanese department store, Sogo (it has locations in Causeway Bay and Tsum Sha Tsui).
Also in Sogo: the girly-lace-romantic-pop brand, Liz Lisa.
Clear purses and scalloped fabric are currently in. (Compare these Liz Lisa photos to the ones I took last year.)
The crochet garments are great for layering (I bought the white one on the middle mannequin).
Often, I find bizarre-cute items (like this Wario shirt) simply by wandering around. In Causeway Bay, there’s a “squish-faced cat store” — a pet store that specializes in Exotic Shorthair kitties!
It’s a Hello Kitty world. We only live in it.
Sanrio teamed up with Uniqlo for a tshirt and tank tops line.
I leave you with these panda bear bags. For more details about the various malls and brands, read my Hong Kong shopping posts.
What do you think of Hong Kong’s clothing selection? Would you gobble up these panda biscuits?
Speaking of – I have a new article in Business Insider, with 30 photo of kawaii food! Snoopy cakes, Hello Kitty bentos, mouse lattes and more.
In your opinion, who does cute cooking better, Hong Kong or Tokyo? If you’re intrigued by this food trend, I wrote a book about it that includes recipes: Cute Yummy Time. Bon appetit!
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Tokyo Visual Kei & Jrock music store in Laforet. Fairy kei, tattoo pattern stockings, Fruits Magazine.
Many readers tell me they first became captivated by Harajuku fashion after the release of Phaidon’s Fruits, a colorful tome of outfit snaps.
The youths in Fruits accumulated a good percentage of their wardrobe from Laforet Harajuku. Today, the department store remains a center of alterna-pop fashion. Shall we take a tour?
I always begin with the basement levels, which hold (quite aptly) underground fashion and Visual Kei music.
Laforet’s Jrock music store has CDs, posters, magazines and memorabilia of your favorite spiky-haired acts. Band members often come for meet-and-greets, or to “take over” a shop for a few hours.
In addition to the usual cute-Gothic clothing, there’s recently been a stronger presence of what some might call “Nu Goth” fashion.
The look: sleek and high-quality black garments, usually layered, and involving leather and copious spikes or studs.
On the poppy side, colorful printed tights are all the rage. Some stockings are quite pricy — $30-50 US and up — but they have intricate designs and limited runs. I’m not so keen on wearing patterned tights like these, but I couldn’t resist the Innocent World x Alphonse Mucha ones.
Hot pink is… hot, at least in this boutique.
Do you know who this “Darling” character is? Would you wear this neon-1980s style?
Satin jackets and full-on prints.
Googly-eyed jewelry, bright bangles and two-colored pastel hair.
Love the “Evil Cutie” shirt, with an earless Ziggy Stardust bunny and bat!
At the entrance of Laforet, I ran into my friend Misha Janette, Tokyo-based stylist and creator of Plumb wigs.
She was helping her friend, owner of Harcoza, during their pop-up event.
Never seen such quirky, squishable jewelry and clothing.
Back to the Lolita levels (the basement of Laforet). Alice and the Pirates is on a pastel kick at the moment.
Atelier Pierrot stays dark and elegant. Their fabrics and shapes haven’t changed much over the years, but their formula is sound — they make some of the best corset-waist ruffle skirts around.
Harajuku girls outside Angelic Pretty. Their coordinates sum up the spooky-cute, fairy-Lolita vibe of these stores.
Eyeballs, brains, and vampire fangs at HellCatPunks. There are quite a lot of eyeball accessories around.
Putumayo’s punky-Loli look always stands out.
One of the most unique and focused shops is Nile Perch: a wistful, pastel fairy-kei dream.
Can’t get much sweeter than scallops, lace, bows and soft rainbow hues. This style is different from Sweet Lolita because it lacks the bell skirt shape and Victorian-Alice styling.
The upper levels of Laforet are a mixed bag. I enjoyed this twee clothing shop, with polka dot retro heels and cats galore.
Kitty-shaped basket purse… twee heaven.
How did you like the clothes in Laforet, compared to Shibuya 109? For more Harajuku Fruits style, check out my Tokyo store guide. More cute Japanese boutique photos coming up — including a Steampunk shop!
LA CARMINA
