In Da Hood, Xintiandi

Remember this guy from the CHILLIN’ post a few posts back?

Well, that picture was actually taken in my neighborhood, and inspired me to do a post on some of my favorite characters from da hood.

First up is this lovely group of women. I noticed them staring at me from afar, which definitely happens to me a lot in China because people are always trying to figure out where I’m from…

This used to really annoy me, but I’ve gotten used to it… And how could you be upset a such a lovely group of women?

But these two are my favorite neighbors:

They remind me a bit of these two guys from around the 1950s that I found in my archives on Chinese Fashion History. It’s like they are doing two different takes on the same outfit, one a bit more sharp but uptight and the other more relaxed but sloppy.

I feel like the outfits that old people are wearing today in China are very indicative of how their outfits in the past, as old people have been more resistant to Westernization and are less prone to the logo-slave trend in China… They have been a bit more static in what they’ve chosen to wear over the decades, so now it’s like you can still get a glimpse of past sartorial trends. Look for more pictures of old people and their style, as a young generation of Chinese begins to embrace vintage.