Chris on Clothes: Shanghai Street Style by Toni Johnson-Woods and Vicki Karaminas

Published July 30, 2015
Category: Chris Reviews, Looking Good

Chris Glabb woods_Shanghai Recently, I’ve had the pleasure to review the book Shanghai Street Style by Toni Johnson-Woods and Vicki Karaminas with photography by Fung Chan.

This book was a pleasure to read as it was chocked full of interesting info on ‘The Fashion World’ in Shanghai. Shanghai is extremely fashion forward, compared to the rest of the world, and this is extremely evident in this book! Between the gorgeous photos and rich wording, this book brought me (mentally) to a city that I’ve never visited. Every page was like an amazing adventure to some magical fashion land, and I simply could not get enough!

The writing expresses the importance of making a statement. Anybody can wear khakis and a polo, but when you match that up with a pair of statement shoes you make the outfit your own. While reading and admiring the pictures, I learned about an abundance of styles, from Vintage to Contemporary and Chic to Hipster.

One thing this book really illustrated, which I feel is often overlooked in the fashion world, is the importance of accessories. The book has a playful, but informative grasp on accessories. Some of my favourite features have to be the owl hanging from a Smart phone, or the large pink and red ‘Piece Sign’ necklace that’s slightly on the verge of being tacky. Either way, I absorbed every bit of inspiration possible from these accessories and I feel like I’ll benefit immensely from the statement pieces photographed in the book.

Along with this theme of accessories, I loved the parts of the book that illustrated the works that are bags and shoes. My favourite tidbit that really exposes the use of a bag would have to be this one:

“The Shanghainese put a lot of thought in choosing the perfect bag, and that’s how it should be. Bags tell us so much about a person’s personality, about what they like to do and where they like to go. Teamed up with an outfit, bags are an essential accessory for any city slicker on the move.”

I love this piece of writing because I think it’s so true to the purpose of bags and explains the personality behind the person carrying it.

One part of the book that I thought was a quite comedic was when they were talking about how to choose a perfect shoe. Some of the reasons they gave were things like taste, brand loyalty and of course – price. This piece was just so real that it cracked me up a bit. Of course, I wouldn’t buy a shoe that I didn’t like the look of — taste. I wouldn’t buy a shoe if I didn’t know the brand, or if I knew they were unreliable or not well constructed – brand loyalty. And I wouldn’t spend anything over $200 on a pair of shoes – price. And so, I just really connected with this part of the book!