GUEST POST: Get Your Juices Flowing!

Two in one week!


Earlier in the week we brought you our very first guest blogger post - Kim's top tips on how to be more creative. Today we have another lovely guest blogger for you, this time HK It Boy, John Szymanski. If it's happening in Hong Kong and John doesn't know about it, it's not worth knowing... Among this week's array of glittering parties was a pretty awesome shop launch which John very kindly agreed to cover for us, so without further ado, we'll hand over to John...

As most of you have no idea who I am, I thought it would be nice to tell you a little about me. I was born with many different qualities. I like to think that I am easy going and have a good sense of humour. On the other hand, God also saw it in his divine wisdom to bless me with a very, VERY short attention span. I personally believe I am on the cusp of being medically diagnosed with ADD but others aren’t so sure.

Having such a short attention span can cause problems for a person. Focussing on one project requires vast levels of concentration, sitting through films that don’t have an explosion every third minute usually result in channel flicking and maintaining a conversation with someone without chasing a passing butterfly demands incredible levels of willpower.

This minuscule attention span also causes problems when shopping. Schlepping from shop to shop, store to store is almost impossible. In this respect I take after my father. One or two shops maximum, buy everything you want and then get the hell out of there because you have something to do that is vastly more exciting. Because of this shopping style, I love it when I find a store where I'd happily buy everything (if I had the funds) in one go.

In Hong Kong, for me, there aren't many of these kind of stores. Pull and Bear is pretty good for no-frills basics, but the one that hits the nail on the head for me is Juice.

Established in 2003 by Hong Kong actor/musician/producer Edison Chen and his business partner Kevin Poon, Juice now has stores in Shanghai, Taipei and KL and has just opened its second HK store in TST, Kowloon.

Juice is perfect for me because it offers an extensive range of labels that I know and trust like Nike and Stussy, but also introduces me to new labels that I wouldn’t see in the likes of Lane Crawford or SOGO. Those people with their finger on the urban fashion pulse will already know about Juice and their primary label CLOT. Their clothing has enough of an edge to be different but isn’t so far out there you look like a cast member from the movie, Fifth Element.

So, as I mentioned, they've just opened their second store in Hong Kong and I was lucky enough to be invited to the official launch party on Wednesday night. Located in the Woodhouse mall on Nathan Rd, the party was attended by Edison, Kevin and host of other ‘well knowns’ from the worlds of fashion photography, music and retail, as well as the various Hong Kong socialites and urban junkies you would expect at such an event.

There was a distinct urban yet glamorous feel to the party with Veuve Cliqot champagne and Grey Goose vodka flowing freely. The mall passageways were dressed in black fabric and loud hip hop music blasted out as a number of different DJs took to the decks. In stark contrast to the strong urban feel, the air was filled with the smell of fresh flowers from all the congratulations and good luck bouquets that are a big Hong Kong tradition.

The new Juice store itself is a great place to be. Simple and raw with natural wood walls and polished concrete floors. Items are easy to see and search through and when your mind wanders like mine does, there are cool images and Bearbrick figures to keep you amused until your attention comes back to the task in hand, shopping.

As well as launching the new store, they were also launching a new collaboration between CLOT and Garfield’s Odie. Limited edition T-shirts and mugs are available and pictures of Odie appear around the store. For the launch they even had Odie cupcakes, sticks of rock and giant lolly pops.

All in all it was a great event and Kowloon residents can only be happy that they have access to such a great brand on their side of the water.

For more information on CLOT and Juice head to their website http://clotinc.com/

Follow John on:
Twitter - @johnszymanski

Instagram - johnnyszymanski