Yu Garden and Qing Fang Market

During the Golden Week a national holiday in China, back at the beginning of October Trent and I had plans to travel but we didn't make them soon enough because literally the entire country is on vacation so it is really difficult to get flights anywhere! So we decided to do some additional exploring in Shanghai which turned out to be very rewarding. We decided to spend one of the days to hunt for a craft supply store for me  made the mistake of wandering into Yu Yuan Gardens a gigantic tourist trap filled with Chinese people on Holiday. I imagined something with garden in the name to be peaceful and full of trees and flowers, maybe some koi ponds instead it is an area of markets and stalls full of junk in buildings made to look old. We literally could not move it was so crowded and every 5 steps someone was trying to sell us a bag or a watch. It was ridiculous.

However, on this same trip we had the pleasant surprise of finding an entire street with several huddles of Chinese men all circled up intently looking at something, so of course I had to know what it was. We went over and discovered they were betting on cricket fights. It was very amusing and interesting to watch, and I think when they turned around and saw a tall white girl watching/photographing intently they were equally amused with me.

We also went to a different fabric market way on the other side of the city in search of fabric for me to craft/sew with. The metro station was connected to another bird and flower market so we wandered through and looked at their wares. There were more interesting creatures and critters to be seen. I really love the bird and flower markets here, they are so visually stimulating and the people are always happy to see us.

The market we went to was humongous, they sold fabric for upholstery and drapes and the prices for cotton fabric were outstanding, it is a wholesale market so they actually supply tailors with fabric for making clothes but they were happy to sell me 1 meter sections of their beautiful fabrics. We wandered across the street from the fabric market and tried to find a sewing machine in this row of shops. There was a lot of ridiculousness going on outside and nothing to see inside. There were again, tons of people complete with three miserable girls dancing in front of an electronics store advertising something but based on their dance it was not readily apparent what.

We had to go on quite a long walk to try and find the sewing machine shops which offered a lot of interesting scenery. I also found a cat at the one sewing machine dealer who was open during the holiday week, it was really beautiful and tucked into a box but as I got closer it gave me quite a warning meow so I backed off.

South Bund Soft Spun Fabric Market

There were many things I was looking forward to before moving to Shanghai: eating authentic Chinese food, learning a new language, discovering a new culture, teaching English, living with Trent. However, one of the things I was most looking forward to was having clothes custom made at the fabric market. Luckily, the South Bund Soft Spun Fabric Market has been everything we hoped it would be and more! It is three floors of stall after stall of tailors specializing in different items and fabrics from linen and cashmere to tweed and jersey cotton. Trent received a recommendation for a tailor from his relocation consultant so we frequent his booth and another booth that I discovered regularly. Almost everyone here speaks English which makes the process easier, we can demonstrate that we are from here by speaking Chinese to them so they know that the typical foreigner price won't work with us.

We go once a week to pick up the items we were fitted for the previous week and to pick out what we want made the following week. I have befriended a girl named Niu Niu at a stall where her sister makes beautiful modern dresses and skirts from jersey cotton. She gives us the best prices and she considers me to be a friend, which for me means a lot since I know very few people in Shanghai I really do look forward to visiting her and picking up my latest creation! Her sister made the blue, black and green dresses that I modeled for Trent so I could share the designs with you, my adoring fans. Okay, I'm kidding but really a certain Heather Wilson has been dying to see these creations and I'm not going to lie, I'm very excited to share them with you!

In China, the concept of personal wealth is still a relatively new and exciting concept so it is much more meaningful to Chinese people to be able to buy clothes off the rack to demonstrate their wealth or status than to have custom made. As my US readers know, it is an expensive luxury to have clothes custom made in the US so no one here is all too impressed with my custom made clothes, not to mention you can and must barter to get good prices at the fabric market which is obviously not an option at the neighborhood Louis Vuitton store. I'll give you a sampling of what we pay: Trent's dress shirts are RMB 100 or $17, (he refused to model for me but maybe I'll pester him into a fashion shoot later fingers crossed!), I paid RMB 120 for my purple button down for my satin polka dot dress shirt (which as of yet it has been way too hot to wear to work but I can't wait!), I have a deal with Niu Niu for dresses to be made for RMB 200 or $34. So as you can see these prices are better than off the rack US and what keeps us coming back week after week. When it gets cooler out I plan to invest in a cashmere coat, more photos to come as our custom made wardrobe grows!

The last outfit I'm modeling for you is what we fondly refer to as my 'Teacher Taylor' outfit, Trent said it the first day I wore it and then one of my co-workers also said the same thing once I got to work. I love the linen skirt its very comfortable and apparently very teacher-ish. I have been wanting one of the tie neck dress shirts very badly, and Mom you will cringe at the fact that Trent and I had to google a video on how to "tie a bow tie" because we could not successfully do it otherwise. Here's some photos from in and around the fabric market, followed by some of the clothes I've had made so far. Come visit, friends and family and add some custom made creations to your wardrobe!