The second annual New York Fashion Film Festival kicks off tomorrow night at the SVA Theatre in New York. The festival seeks to investigate the new, evolving genre of fashion film and explore its influence and impact on the fashion industry. The event will feature a screening of selected fashion films to be followed by a panel discussion on the nature of the genre and it’s growing relevance to the world, and business, of fashion moderate by Glenn O’Brien.

The best part is that it’s free and open to the public.

La Sera (aka Katy Goodman, 1/3 of Vivian Girls) is preparing for the release of her sophomore album Sees the Light on March 26th through Hardly Art. I’ve always been a fan of La Sera and loved the dreamy pop from her self-titled debut album. From listening to her first single “Please Be My Third Eye”, it’s a little harder and more aggressive pop, but I like what I hear!

Watch her colorfully fun video for the single directed by Vice Cooler.

Ferguson Lane- an enclave of galleries, cafes, restaurants and boutiques- is within the heart of the French Concession in Shanghai. The most chic Shanghainese relax in this calm oasis, as well as Ex pats who are dying for a great cappuccino and biscotti.

Ferguson Lane is home to the Leo Gallery, where my close friend Leslie Kuo is the art gallery’s manager.

Inside Leo… A terracotta Olympian diver created during the Beijing Olympics.

Cherubic Mao Angels- now these are definitely ironic.

I owe all my great Shanghai experiences to Leslie!  She lets me stay at her cute apartment and takes me through the glamourous parts of the fastest growing city as well as deep into its remarkable underbelly.

Here’s the plastic taxi, a modern day rickshaw that drove us around the city.  No seat belts, no solid windows, just us bouncing off the pavement!

A quick video of our tour- as you can hear in the audio, we assured ourselves “we’ll be fine”.

Leslie Kuo standing outside of the Leo Gallery- in my opinion she is the Chicest in Shanghai!

If you haven’t viewed our Spring 2012 line yet, we’re coming to you Chicago!

To make an appointment contact: Jessica Rush or Joshua Muthart.

What: 80%20 at STYLEMAX

Where: Merchandise Mart, BOOTH 9035
222 Mercandise Mart Plaza
Chicago IL 60654

When: Saturday, Jan 28th  9am-6pm
Sunday, Jan 29th  9am-6pm
Monday, Jan 30th  9am-5pm

Let’s Play House is teaming up with MARCOS CABRAL’s Hamilton Dance Records on the 27th for the release party of HDR003.  All of the artists featured on the 12” will be spinning all night long- MARCOS, BILLY W. (Nordic Trax/Robotique, Philladelphia), MARK INGRAM & BRENDEN WESLEY (Boston), and SUSAN DOMELSMITH (a.k.a. Time Reveals).

Five bucks all night long! It sounds like a good time to me! Hope to see you on the dancefloor.

Cameo Bar & Gallery
93 N. 6th St.
Brooklyn, NY 11211

11:30PM -4AM
$5 entry

While I produce my shoes in China, 80%20 doesn’t currently sell there (except perhaps in the black market).

I’m always thinking about how I want to enter the Chinese market, and how their contemporary customers buys fashion. After all, the Chinese market is huge and counterfeiting is like, a way of business life over there. They’ve got their own massive shopping website called Taobao, which is a combination of Fresh Direct, Amazon and Ebay. On the streets, many of the stores are over crowded with merchandise and poorly lit- making everything look like the merchandise on Canal street.

How does one find the unique items when there’s just so much junk? How does an independent shoe brand distinguish themselves, and how can we establish the right presence? Just when I was exhausted from my research, I found SEVEN DAYS, a multi-line boutique.

Oh I am loving their brand philosophy!

I bought this grey shawl neck sweater- been so cozy wearing it on cold ways. And the poppy rain coat- so fun!

SEVEN DAYS carries all independent brands mainly from Japan, Korea, China and Hong Kong.  But I could see 80%20 making our debut here. After all, I’m Chinese right? I love their brand fixtures- tradition inspired blue and white Ceramic tiles to mark each label and location of the designer.

These shorts were also at the store, very cool.

Oh…this gives me some ideas for Spring 2013…Wow, are we talking about that already?

While exploring the streets of the French Concession in Shanghai, I recognized something very familiar in a boutique window…80%20′s Bee shearling and suede boot. I did a double take and looked down at my own feet- I was wearing the same pair that day.  I thought well, …do we sell to any accounts in Shanghai?  Not that I could recall.  Upon closer inspection I realized that these were copies…and the label on the shoe was “Chloe”!  That was a first for me- being knocked off in China… and upgraded to a major designer brand!

I knew instinctually however, that these were not authentic Chloe boots. I always keep up on the designer collections and I would have been well aware if the Chloe had presented a similar boot.

I was concerned that perhaps my factory had done the knocking off themselves.  When I brought this to their attention, they defended themselves by pointing out all the subtle differences (as opposed to obvious similarities). They pointed out that if they really wanted to copy our shoe, they would not have bothered to make these changes.  While that wasn’t exactly soothing information, their argument held logic.

1)  Chloe version has fake shearling and our boot is real shearling
2)  Very subtle pattern differences
3)  Outsole difference

The boutique was actually quite cute and had a great assortment of name brands (all a bit questionable in origin). I left the store feeling just a little bit exploited, but also with a new sense of confidence.  After all, someone in China saw potential in my design and decided that it would carry more weight with the Chloe mark.

Ironically, the store was called WHERE, WHAT, WHO.

We’ve missed Santigold. Luckily, she’s marked her return with her new track “Big Mouth”, the first single from Master Of My Make-Believe. Check out the video directed by Cody Critcheloe and if you like what you hear, head over to her official site and sign up for her mailing list to receive a free download of the single.

PopRally at the Museum of Modern Art in New York kicks off tomorrow night with an evening of transcendent electronic dance music, courtesy of Brooklyn-based duo Blondes (Zach Steinman and Sam Haar). If you’re in the mood for a night of music, light, and sound, including a sound installation and live performance by Blondes and a DJ set by Juan MacLean.

Visitors will also have the exclusive opportunity to view the exhibitions Contemporary Art from the Collection, 1980–Now; Harun Farocki: Images of War (at a Distance); Thing/Thought: Fluxus Editions, 1962–1978; Sanja Ivekovi?: Sweet Violence; and Projects 96: Haris Epaminonda.

The performance begins at 9:30. Admission includes an exclusive exhibition viewing and cocktails.
Tickets ($18 in advance, $23 at the door) are available online.

You must be twenty-one or older to attend this event.

We’re ready to DANCE and hope to see you there!

Red carpet fashion during awards season is my Super Bowl. It’s like any sports game, it can be thrilling but also disappointing, and it’s over before you know it. Like every awards season, there were hits and there were major misses. We’re staying positive in 2012 so we’re going to highlight our faves.

Here’s our top five picks from the night.

Jessica Alba in Gucci
(It’s hard to believe that she gave birth to her second daughter earlier this year – she looks fantastic!)

Emma Stone in Lanvin
From her makeup to her spot-on belt, Emma gets an A+.

Charlize Theron in Dior
There were a lot of blush-colored gowns on the red carpet but no one pulled it off as good as Charlize.

Sofia Vergara in Vera Wang
The dark blue hue is a color trend, I support. And look at that mermaid cut? Heaven.

Claire Danes in J.Mendel
Look at that back? So good! If you haven’t seen Homeland, it’s an amazing show and even through Claire Danes will always be Angela from My So-Called Life in my book, you should watch her new show.