介绍:
Xiaohua: A facekini, which probably a lot of people already know, is becoming not only a new buzz word, but also a new fashion trend so it seems. So the word “facekini” or “face bikini” was created not long ago as pictures of retired women in Qingdao wearing full-face masks at the beach went viral online. Now this bizarre trend is getting global attention because it recently got a high-fashion makeover.
So, basically just what’s your idea and comment on this whole fashion trend makeover?
Heyang: Well, I think it’s pretty cool and it shows that fashion actually…
John: Wait. The facekini or the magazine shoots?
Heyang: The magazine shoots, because it shows that high fashion does take inspirations from random things in life. And when you look at these fashion shoots, actually you know, the weirder, the better often. So here I think they are getting inspirations from these really Damas, you know, that were wearing these face bikinis to prevent themselves from getting stingged from jellyfish and also just to keep yourself away from the sun.
John: It has nothing to do with jellyfish, come on, this has everything to do with making sure “my skin doesn’t turn black.” But I think, I mean, I think it’s interesting to see high-fashion designers are kind of taking inspiration. But I think also you have to remember these designers they will take inspirations from wherever they can get it. I mean the whole idea here, is not necessarily to make something consumer-friendly, but it’s for many of these people, especially if they are young and upcoming, it's to make a name for themselves. If they can stand out by having something kind of strange, you know, maybe to some people exciting, or something new at least and something novel, something that no one has ever seen before, then that's good for them. So I don't think we should necessarily jump to the conclusion that suddenly we are gonna start seeing facekinis all around the world, mostly because in western culture we value a darer skin. We usually end up valuing a tanned body and so it becomes strange if your body was tanned but your face was white.
Heyang: Yeah, I think it's about making the statement, making, you know a mark saying that you are different from everybody else.
Xiaohua: Yeah, that's true. By the way, the facekini didn't originate from the Chinese Dama wearing them at the beach. Originally it was a ski mask designed for swimmers, and also beachgoers, I don’t know, maybe the Damas were the one that promoted it to the world. However, you know, this whole topic has got some people thinking that maybe it was a good thing what Chinese Dama did because they have elevated a Chinese element that was originally linked to vulgarity to the fashion world. Do you think that we can find similar examples of sort of things maybe not originated in China, but you know, we see in China a lot that has somehow got to the world stage?
Heyang: Well. I think the best example would be the woven plastic bags or I think some reports call it the China Town bags that we used to see people just carrying a lot of stuff in it. It’s cheap. It’s very difficult to break the bags and it’s quite useful to carry a lot of heavy stuff in and then Louis Vuitton actually adopted the design and also Celine did it last year too. And it has got this high fashion stamp upon it when usually in China, it’s people who can’t even afford luggage use these bags.
John: Yeah, because they are crappy and made of plastic. I love designers. I mean basically you just take this idea, make it out of the material that’s probably a little bit better, put your stamp on it and suddenly everyone loves it and they’ll pay a lot of money for it. Also I think what’ interesting is that in 2009 Michael Kors came out with his models wearing what he called the “Lei Feng Cap”, which is basically, you know, it’s the fur lined cap with the red star right in the middle. You see most pictures of Lei Feng. Even solders in cold climate in China you will see them still wearing these types of caps.
Heyang: And also well without the star maybe it’s just the Russian hat, but with the star definitely, you know, it strikes a cord with us who are educated about Lei Feng as we grow up. But certainly this could also be that the international market or these fashion power houses are paying more attention to what China wants because this is huge market for luxury products or just fashion products in general.
John: But normal Chinese people don’t wear Lei Feng Caps.
Xiaohua: Yeah, and they think that they are probably not that beautiful.
John: Usually the only people that I’ve ever seen in Beijing wearing Lei Feng Caps are the stupid foreign tourists who come here. They seem like “he he, I look a Chinese.” And they put this on their heads and walk around like fools.
Xiaohua: Exactly, and military bottles as well, water bottle.
Heyang: But I do think it’s an important gesture to see that in these fashion shows that there are more or less oriental elements towards that and it’s like when they employ more Chinese models wearing this kind of things strikes a cord with Chinese consumers I guess.
Xiaohua: But I don’t like to over-interpret the Chinese elements in them. And for example “Shout Out Loud”—I don’t necessarily agree with him or her, but I’ll read it out last—he or she is saying that these Chinese Damas have been contributing to the growing influence of Chinese elements and they are brave and courageous and they interpret what it means to be created in China.
Heyang: Are you sure he is not just being ironic?
Xiaohua: Maybe he is, we don’t know. But that’s all we have for this edition of Round Table. Thank you for listening!
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