Boyy Meets Girl

January 30, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

“Meet your new best friend, Boyy. He’ll be better than any male in your life – more stylish, well-built, will coordinate with your plans and will hold all of your belongings for you.” So runs the tagline on the website of progressive fashion retailer Browns on London’s South Molton Street above a list of covetable streamlined bags and shoes made of the highest-quality Italian leather, with names such as Karl 24, Green Romeo, Multicoloured Bobby and Blue Deon. 

Boyy is Italian-sourced, a label previously based in New York, then in Bangkok and soon to be relocated to Milan, that espouses the perfect combination of cool and classic – style beyond fashion. Your new best friend – if you haven’t met him or her yet – was set up in 2007 as the brainchild of Jesse Dorsey and Wannasiri Kongman, he an American musician and she a former buyer for Bangkok department store Central. The pair met by chance in New York at an event and instantly shared common creative ground in all matters style and aesthetic. 

Strolling the streets, Kongman pointed out what she liked when she saw it and, after months of noting It-bags, the pair decided fashion would make more sense if they created the bags themselves. Boyy was born, and its motifs are funky and quaint. With python, shagreen and croc exotica featuring prominently, the design, functionality and luxury of each product makes it a genre unto itself – and a must-have on Instagram, where the bag has been spotted on Kim Kardashian and the like. “Oh, I’m obsessed. Another @boyyboutique bag I need!” enthuses one of Boyy’s legions. “Want now… how to get?” implores another.

For a face during its earliest days, Boyy used then-unknown Thai schoolgirl Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying, more commonly known as Aokbab. The 22-year-old now models, acts, counts 465,000 Instagram followers and represents the house of Chanel in Asia. Writes Olga Yuen, Chanel’s fashion PR in Hong Kong, via email: “Aokbab and Boyy – yes! Totally. The brand really has an eye for style.”

Despite riding the contemporary waves of Instagram, Boyy was desirable long before IG. Like many below-the-radar labels, Boyy’s apocryphal moment came via a chance New York encounter with French singer, model and actress Lou Doillon, the daughter of Jane Birkin. A paparazzi shot of Doillon on the street sporting a Boyy bag, smoking and espousing insouciant French chic, set Instagram ablaze. It-girl Chloë Sevigny followed soon after and in the blink of an eye came a huge order from Colette’s Sarah Andelman in Paris. Boyy grew up – in a shot. 

Boyy now sells in more than 85 stores worldwide, including Selfridges in London and I.T (which has carried the brand since 2015) in Hong Kong. “It’s been popular in the market since our first launch in autumn/winter 2015,” says Candy Lau, I.T’s assistant merchandising manager, who oversees Boyy. “It always sells out within two weeks of the launch.” 

And to what does she attribute its desirability? “Customers are attracted by its buckle with a masculine shape, as well as its fine quality,” she says, adding that Boyy produced a special bag in celebration of I.T’s 30th anniversary last year. “It also offers mid- and mini-size versions of its Karl and Bobby bags, in addition to its seasonal details of colour blocking and fabrications (such as shearling and PVC), which is fashion-forward and maintains freshness for customers.” Karl 24 has been Boyy’s best-selling product in Hong Kong over the last three years. Boyy has also started producing shoes and sunglasses, and is considering other categories, but won’t rush into them until the time feels right. 

And why should it? Boyy’s sales reached US$22 million in 2018 – from a brand that’s still independently run, has no internal PR strategists and does more or less what it pleases. The brand runs four boutiques in Thailand and one in Copenhagen, and Dorsey and Kongman are eyeing Hong Kong and the Middle East. So far, everything has been self-funded. 

“Hong Kong is very high on our list, but it’s not so simple,” says Dorsey. He explains that being a 100% independent brand means large corporates want reassurance that the label is affiliated with a big fashion conglomerate or distributor. “We encountered this hurdle in Bangkok when we first started putting down our footprint,” he says. “It’s a challenge we’re familiar with and have succeeded with. It just takes time.”

Despite the move to Milan, Boyy was still based in Bangkok at the time of print. “We are renovating what will be our permanent showroom/apartment in Milan. It’s an incredible space,” says Dorsey. Abundant with design history, the ground floor of the structure was boldly renovated in 1972 by Vittoriano Viganò, Italy’s most luminous brutalist architect, and the space has remained untouched since, capturing a living snapshot into an incredible era. The structure also boasts a huge private garden curated by Pietro Porcinai, one of Italy’s landscape design legends. “When I first saw the space, my jaw dropped,” enthuses Dorsey, who spent seven months closing the deal to acquire the space. “It was instant love.” 

Poetry in Motion 

January 16, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

New Forms of a Dress

January 16, 2019 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Image above: Miles Aldridge, Home Works #3, 2008

Vanguardian Angel

December 19, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Holding Court

December 19, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

In the Wind

November 21, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Vestiaire Wear

November 21, 2018 / by Kitty Go

There was a time when eBay was pretty much the only viable re-commerce platform around. But what if, in the years before 2009, you were a fashion lover who wanted to buy or sell top-quality designer clothing or accessories? Aside from eBay and its notorious unreliability for high-end goods, there was the inconvenience of buying from individual bloggers or (millennial shocker!) brick-and-mortar second-hand shops.

For Fanny Moizant, one of the six founders of online designer resale boutique Vestiaire Collective, it was that inconvenience of buying from bloggers that nudged her to start the online luxury consignment app, which currently has more than seven million users. “The lightbulb moment for us was that the girls with fashion blogs couldn’t maintain wearing new outfits every day and had to sell what they wore on their blogs,” explains the French tech entrepreneur, who moved from Paris to London in 2013, then to Hong Kong last year. “I was personally interested in buying, but the correspondence and payment was very inconvenient. I had to send an email, then a cheque or money transfer… It was a pain. So I decided to bring fashion people onto one platform based on trust, with a smooth trading process.” 

Moizant wanted the opposite of a timed bidding system like eBay’s. The app has a suggested selling price, but the final price is determined by the community after discussions (aka bargaining) between buyers and sellers. Bidding is market-driven, where people can strike a deal as soon as both parties agree on a price. The app makes buying and selling easy – members don’t have to keep checking back like auctions or eBay. To emphasise how fast buyers react to desirable stock, Moizant firmly says, “A good product with a good price goes without bidding.” Vestiaire Collective collects anywhere from 25% to 40% commission on sales.

In terms of positioning and perception, Vestiaire Collective is the most luxurious and fashion-forward of the re-commerce sites. There’s something for everyone, from Zara (“super-special exception”) to exclusive Supreme drops, along with classics like Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Hermès. The app currently has more than a million products online and accepts 35,000 new consignments every week. “This isn’t just a luxury website; it’s for everyone who loves fashion,” explains Moizant, who’s wearing a second-hand striped Chanel T-shirt and current-season Celine palazzos, which she will be selling online soon. “We want to show a panorama of fashion that reflects contemporary style of mixing high and low. Who wears head-to-toe Hermès? Some members are from the industry or in media, and many more from other careers or lifestyles – but the common thread among all our users is their passion for fashion.”

Moizant and her partners have also identified a changing attitude towards the consumption, value and ownership of fashion items. Aside from being a trading platform, the app serves a new generation who values sharing and usage more than possession, who is addicted to newness, who doesn’t own a lot for various reasons, yet who has one eye on value and another on style. Vestiaire Collective ran a survey among its members and discovered that “buyers and sellers have a value mentality more accurate than ever,” explains Moizant. “When they buy something [at retail], they have a resale value in mind. Investment dressing used to be cost-per-wear, but now it’s ‘How much do I recoup if I spend $1,000?’”

She continues, “Vestiaire Collective facilitates a new and inspiring way of consuming fashion. You want new things, but you have to let go of others. We are closing this circle. This is not just a way of recycling, but slowing the pace of consumption, because it is going very fast – way too fast.” 

Vestiaire Collective remains a closely held private company. It has raised more than €100 million (including US$20 million from Condé Nast in 2013); according to Moizant, funding was “never a problem.” 

Being French was never a problem either – and in fact, has proved to be a great advantage. Although 65% of the business is generated outside France, its homeland is still the single biggest buying-and-selling market. 

“In this particular industry, a Parisian image gives undisputed credibility and heritage to any luxury brand,” elaborates Moizant. “It’s a good thing – and we are proud of our French DNA.” 

Fanny Moizant’s Top Selling Tips

1. Use the app and read instructions carefully. Detailed photos and presentation are very important. 

2. Don’t try to hide defects, because our curation team will definitely see them when they receive your goods for vetting.

3. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes and ask yourself how much you would pay for your item. If you do, you’ll understand rejection (if any) and become a successful seller.

Imaginary Visions 

November 7, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

Spicy Street

November 7, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium

At the recent New York Fashion Week, Tmall China Day vaulted Chinese fashion designers into the public’s eye. Organised by the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Chinese online retail giant Tmall (owned by Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group), three rising Chinese brands – JNBY, Particle Fever and Angel Chen – made their runway debuts. 

Amid all the excitement, one famous Chinese woman who has absolutely nothing to do with the world of fashion also attracted a great deal of attention. She’s 70-year-old Guizhou native Tao Huabi, the founder of the well-known chilli sauce brand Lao Gan Ma, which means “old godmother” in English. Founded in 1997, Lao Gan Ma is deeply ingrained in Chinese culture and is pretty much everywhere that Chinese people live. Like sriracha, it’s branched out into the wider public consciousness through pages like the Lao Gan Ma Appreciation Society on Facebook, where members share their creative ways to enjoy the sauce, such as with avocado. 

But this was Tao’s time to be thrust into the fashion spotlight. Her iconic portrait from the jar’s label was printed on hoodies that were sold at Opening Ceremony’s store on Broadway. Besides Tao’s portrait, this chic red product also includes the phrases “sauces queen” and “national diva” (in Chinese) on the sleeves. Specially made black aprons with “sauces queen” and the Chinese characters for “Lao Gan Ma” were also on stylish offer. 

Winter is Coming

November 7, 2018 / by China Daily Lifestyle Premium