Style cousel
- Source: Global Times
- [10:45 July 27 2010]
- Comments
The effects of a charmed life.
Mia Kin tries on a necklace. Photos: Cai Xianmin
By Mao Jiayu
As one of Asia's leading style icons, Mia Kin is expected to give Shanghai's fashion scene a shot in the arm during her stay here. The Korean-born socialite has just moved to the city from Taiwan where she earned a reputation of being at the cutting edge of new retail trends. In 2002 she was awarded the Best Dressed Woman award by Hong Kong retailer Joyce Boutique. Although she is at pains to point out that her philosophy of fashion isn't simply about a slavish devotion to brands.
"I would never buy clothes, bags or shoes just for their logos," Kin says. "When I go shopping for clothes, my criteria are quality and design, not logos."
For Kin, style is all about "respect," and the importance of being able to pick the right outfit for the right occasion. "In today's society, it doesn't matter how new or expensive your clothes are; what is important is that you dress neatly and appropriately."
To prove her point Kin gestures to the dark blue pants she is wearing during her interview with the Global Times. "These may still look fairly new, but would you believe I've had them for nearly 15 years? You can buy fashionable clothes, but you can't buy style. Everyone has to learn her own style first; she needs to know her own body and then adapt those trends which suit her best." Kin recommends mass fashion brands such as H&M, Zara and Uniqlo as cheaper labels that have "good fabrics for basic clothes."
More of her top tips for the style-conscious include never wearing a cocktail ring with a bracelet; a revealing dress for an interview; or a long skirt to attend a cocktail party. And for business women she suggests avoiding colorful nail polish, exaggerated outfits and heavy make-up when meeting clients.
For the woman who is in doubt about what to wear for a particular occasion, Kin suggests it's hard to go wrong with black and/or white - in her eyes "the most timeless match in fashion."
A man who would doubtless have agreed with this assessment was Yves Saint Laurent whose love of monochrome became one of his defining trademarks. The French designer used black and white in almost all of the haute couture collection he personally designed for Kin. Although her passion for high fashion was ignited a lot earlier than this. From the age of 16, she worked part-time for a number of fashion houses while still studying, including Celine, Armani and Versace. And at the age of 17 she acquired her first haute couture piece - a Hermes Kelly handbag. In recent years, she has acted as the vice president of a family-owned retail business with revenues of more than $200 million. And she also became the first official trainer to be certified by the Emily Post Etiquette Institute in China, the renowned etiquette institute established in 1946 in the US.
Her love of the fashion industry is undiminished, and Kin can still be spotted at many of the leading runway shows in Paris.
But ultimately she believes that fashion is about a lot more than magazines and trendy outfits.
"It's not a superficial thing, but something deeply rooted in self-cultivation, like appreciating Joan Miro's paintings, watching a movie with Audrey Hepburn or traveling to different countries," she says. "For example, Paris has over 200 museums and from a very young age, children are brought to them every week. In Asia people are usually taught to remember facts and statistics about art, but in Paris they are taught how to analyze, appreciate and to share their opinions with others."
