One Eye Cat

Earlier this year I have made my way to Taipei visiting a very good friend of mine. As an ordinary mainland Chinese girl, Taipei was just a city name in the Taiwanese TV shows I watched when I was growing up, but this time it really came alive and amazed me in so many level, especially the local people. I was luckily introduced to a lot of creative people through my friend, they are all so open-mined and welcomed my visit.  Andrew Chen, a celebrity fashion stylist/designer in Taipei, is one of the people I met from the trip. His design was worm by many A-list celebrities in Asia, such as A-Mei, S.H.E, Elva Hsiao… Now he is sharing some experience/thoughts and his personal space on One Eye Cat with us.

采访：

问：听说你以前是发型师，请问你是如何转入服装行业的？
答：在从事发型师的过程中，因为常常接触许多艺人和流行杂志的内页拍摄，以及认识一位在台湾十分有名的摄影师小苏哥（苏益良），于是我从中慢慢转换跑道。一开始我先为造型师Paul做助理，做了约莫半年多，体会到服装造型师的生态及看见，后被小苏哥介绍到 Men’s UNO 杂志当 Fashio Editor，在此工作一年多，在中间过程中开始出来接case。我的历程比较幸运，因为一开始就和 A-Mei，S.H.E 合作。从长期的工作配合中我学习到很多，也感谢她们的照顾。

问：哪位服装设计师给你留下最深的影响？分享一下你最喜欢的一些设计师
答：Raf Simons，Martin Margiela 和 Helmut Lang ，这三位服装设计师对我早期影响最深。Raf Simons 2001 秋冬与2002春夏这两场秀以无政府街头示威者的概念转达属于 Raf 的激进年代，实在是太美了。我欣赏 Martin Margiela 的结构符号的穿衣哲学。而早期的 Helmut Lang 对我来说就是个经典形象，无庸置疑的剪裁和线条。目前最喜欢的设计师是 Iris Van Herpen, Anne Sofie Madsen, J W Andersen 和 Meadham Kirchhoff。

问：绘画是你的兴趣爱好还是你做服装的灵感来源？
答：绘画是好友 Ian 在无意间看到我家猫咪们在墙角下留下脚印，以至开始作画，从中慢慢变成我们共同玩乐的兴趣及爱好!

问：你所理想的工作项目是什么？
答：从接触信仰后，我已经慢慢把自己在不同工作及视野完全交给上帝了，所从事任何项目都为了只有荣耀他在我身上所应许任何恩典了。所以对我而言能够不断创作和从事美的相关性都觉得很棒及更多挑战性！

问：和大家分享一下你最近在听的音乐或正在读的书。
答：《安藤忠雄：我的人生履历书》及《圣经》。音乐我听很多不同类型， 例如：Fever Ray, Iamamiwhoami, Olafur Arnalds, Planningtorock 和 The Knife。

Interview:

Q: I have been told you were a hair dresser before, how did you turn into fashion design/styling?
A: When I was doing hair dressing, I worked around celebrities and got opportunities to work on set of photo shooting for magazines. Also I got in touched with a very famous fashion photographer in Taiwan Liang Su, since then I was gradually changing my career path. At the beginning I have been assisting another fashion stylist Paul for half a year, during the time I experienced how the life is like as a fashion stylist. Then photographer Liang Su introduced me to work for Men’s Uno Magazine as a fashion editor. After working there for a year or so, I started to get some freelance jobs. I think I was very lucky that my first clients are some famous Taiwanese celebrities like A-Mei and S.H.E. I have learnt a lot from working with them, and I really appreciate it.

Q: Which designer influenced you the most? Please share with us your favorite designers.
A: Fashion designer Raf Simons, Martin Margiela and Helmut Lang influenced me the most at my earlier stage. Raf Simons’s 2001 AW and 2002 SS collections was absolutely stunning and powerful, which illustrated the concept of youth protest and anarchy. This was his own radical moment. Regarding Martin Margiela, I like the concept of deconstruction from him. The early design from Helmut Lang is so classic for me, I am amazed by the unbeatable cutting and incredible silhouette. My favorite fashion designers now are Iris Van Herpen, Anne Sofie Madsen, J W Andersen and Meadham Kirchhoff.

Q: Is painting one of your hobbies or is it where you get inspiration from?
A: The footprints left by my cats on my wall which first discovered by my good friend Ian, inspired me and my friends to do painting and later on it became our group activity and mutual hobby.

Q: What is your dream work project?
A: After I got to know about religion, I gradually give myself and vision to God, any work project is a gift from him. Enable to create constantly and work in the creative industry is wonderful for me, and I am looking forward to the upcoming challenges.

Q: What are you currently listening or reading?
A: Book by Tadao Ando and Bible. I listen to all kinds of music, such as Fever Ray, Iamamiwhoami, Olafur Arnalds, Planningtorock and The Knife.

Words from above image:
One Day World
Often I go to fabric market to get inspiration. Sometimes I go for a ride on my bicycle to relax. I use a lot of time on internet at home, and I read bible before bed time. 

Words from above image:
My dream when I was little and now are the same: work in fashion design!
Dear Yingting,
It is very nice meeting you.
Andrew.

Going to the gym is boring no more with the right personal trainer with the right exclusive program, while the Shanghai Bund view is giving you a visual treatment.

Alexandra Zhao is a well experienced personal trainer in Shanghai. She is now taking her career to the next level by starting up her own business – Zed Private Fitness, which holds the exclusive partnership with Hotel Indigo Shanghai fitness center. With Alex’s one-to-one and step-by-step fun program, fitness is no longer a dull mission but a retreat to your body and soul.

Q: What was your dream when you were little? What about now?
A: I remember I always wanted to move overseas and live a cowgirl life in some rural area. Now I can’t live outside the inner ring of Shanghai….

Q: What is the most difficult thing during starting up your own business?
A: There were a few things that made me struggle. One that bothered me the most and keeps bothering me still is the bureaucracy in China. Some of the government policies make it almost impossible to have a micro-corporation. despite the government regulations of fair trade, many banks refused me for setting up a corporate account with them since my start up amount was not significant enough for them to take me as a client (WTF?!).

Q: Many people thinks personal trainer is very much a physical job, what’s your thought on that?
A: Well, the most physical part is to keep yourself physical. It’s kinda similar to ‘never trust a skinny chef’. In my industry the equivalent will be ‘never trust a fat trainer’. So besides a few hours of keeping myself fit, other part of the job is about intelligence and EQ. You’re not only required to be intelligent enough to track and spot changes in your client’s physical fitness and you have to be able to ‘listen’ to your clients. We go through hundreds and thousands of conversations a day, I have to figure out and try to remember what’s really going on in their lives and be able to react to their mental state, hopefully through exercise and talking, they’ll feel better as the session ends.

Q: Does personal training follow trends?
A: Trends… yes and no. Same as medical industry, researches suppose to lead our industry but media plays a bigger part as in any other industries.

Q: What would you be if you were a type of sports?
A: Unicycle, haha, just because that was my first sport. Yes, it is a sport.

Q: What is your secret of being positive all the time?
A: Secret number one: positive self talk. don’t judge me. I do talk to myself a lot and my soul is my own mentor to my mind.
Secret number two: working out! Basic rule: cardio is good for depression and weight training is good for anxiety.
Secret number three: keep your life organised, yes including your apartment. Messy rooms really depress me.

Natali D is currently a fashion stylist in Shanghai. She is originally from south Africa, and worked as a accountant in London before. However, the dream of being a fashion stylist brought her from the stable life in London to the mistery Aisa. I think Shanghai is a place for the dreamers, and it is so diverse and everyone can come here to find a place for themselves…

Q: What was your dream when you were little? What about now?
A: When I was little I was desperate to be a spy Now I’m living my dream, I work for myself in the fashion industry and meet loads of creative people and actually enjoy what I do…I don’t wake up in the morning questioning my career choice anymore.

Q: I know you used to be an accountant in London, what made you change your entire career path into fashion styling? How did you get started?
A: As I mentioned above, I used to wake up every morning questioning myself and just not feeling happy with my life or the environment I was in. The decision to make the switch was a long process but was based upon what I was interested in and what I was good at. It was pretty daunting, the thought of giving up a stable career and income but I figured it was now or never! After I finished my chartered accounting qualification I started doing an online course through the British College of Professional Styling and this led onto me doing personal styling as well as lining up test shoots in London. When I was in Shanghai, I got a lucky break and met the editor of a new magazine, Vantage Shanghai and I did my first editorial with them. That really opened doors for me and the rest is history!

Q: Why did you choose to move to Shanghai?
A: Since a young age I was drawn to the Far East…as China became a more important player on the world stage it made sense to me in some bizarre way that this was the place I needed to be. I did alot of research and I got the sense that Shanghai was a great city to reinvent yourself if you worked hard enough. It also seemed like it was still developing and that it was a good time to carve out a niche for yourself. Doing styling in London and NYC etc is notoriously difficult, although having said that, styling in Shanghai is certainly not without it’s challenges.

A: Styling is not glamorous!!! I guess there are certain glamorous elements to it but it’s not like you just get to select pretty clothes and accessories. You are constantly running around , carrying things as well as having to manage relationships with PR agencies, brands, clients, photographers and models…there is constant problem solving and hurdles to be overcome. The day of the shoot is probably the most glamorous part, although, that also sometimes requires standing in a freezing cold studio for 14 hours! That said though, I still enjoy it