{"id":16041,"date":"2013-12-05T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T08:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=16041"},"modified":"2013-12-05T00:01:27","modified_gmt":"2013-12-05T08:01:27","slug":"shanghai-chic-where-a-womans-style-starts-with-her-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/shanghai-chic-where-a-womans-style-starts-with-her-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Shanghai Chic \u2013 Where a Woman’s Style Starts With Her Shoes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chinese<\/a>
Shanghai chic: Chinese shoppers and sightseers crowd the Yu Gardens Bazaar on a Sunday afternoon in Old Town Shanghai. Photos by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Seen<\/a>
Platform shoes today . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

I thought I was traveling to China to explore the mysteries of China\u2019s storied past: The big dynasties with their poetic one-syllable names \u2013 the Qin, the Han, the Tang, the Song. The Ming and the Qing.<\/p>\n

I thought maybe I\u2019d be spending my two weeks in China ogling porcelain vases and Shang bronzes.<\/p>\n

Which I did.<\/p>\n

\"qing<\/a>
. . . and in 19th century Qing dynasty days.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what really caught my attention \u2013 and Jon\u2019s \u2013 during our September tour of the country was China\u2019s storied present: The skyscrapers of Shanghai. The open air markets and airport shops bursting with merchandise. The ubiquitous one-child families. The traffic jams. The fashionistas . . . Especially the fashionistas.<\/p>\n

Shanghai Chic<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Our Viking tour guides made sure that we hit the big historic places \u2013 we contemplated the Terra Cotta Warriors and we sailed the Three Gorges.<\/p>\n

But for me the most compelling feature of our trip were the Chinese people. The living, breathing, twenty-first-century men, women and children going about their business on the streets of some of the most populous cities in the world.<\/p>\n

Lucky for the foreign tourist, the fun part of being a sightseer in China right now is that ninety-nine percent of the other sightseers climbing the Great Wall and promenading Shanghai’s Bund seemed to be \u2014 Chinese.<\/p>\n

Which made it really easy for me and my trusty point-and-shoot to quietly capture the fashion shots you see here.<\/p>\n

Most of these pictures were taken at the Yu Gardens Bazaar<\/a> in Old Town Shanghai —<\/p>\n

\"bare<\/a>
New Balance. Nike . . . Made in China — stayed in China? Photos by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
Red, white and blue . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
. . . a popular Chinese . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
. . . fashion statement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Calf-clinging pants . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"lavendar,<\/a>
. . . and bare ankles . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"woman<\/a>
. . . key to the stylish look.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

where Jon and I spent a sultry fall Sunday afternoon strolling and shopping.\u00a0Jon found some candy to buy, and a pair of cut-paper kittens in little frames, but after a couple of hours of pushing through the crush of weekend promenaders, Jon’s feet got tired and his eyes glazed over.<\/p>\n

He was done for the day.<\/p>\n

I had on my sturdy shopping shoes, however. I wanted to keep on going. So Jon (thank you, Jon) caught a cab back to the hotel and gave me the gift of a couple of hours of shopping \u2013 and people-ogling \u2013 all to myself.<\/p>\n

Just me and the fashionistas. And their trendy shoes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For another fashion story, go to “When the Bride Doesn’t Wear White — And Neither Does Anyone Else.”<\/a> \u00a0 For more\u00a0 about China, see “China’s One-Child Families — They’re for Real, for Now.”
\n<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\"red-soled<\/a>
Bare feet . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"strappy
. . . for Shanghai’s . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Seen<\/a>
. . .sultry climate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"ballet<\/a>
Shanghai chic in days of yore: There was no crowd around this display at the bazaar. Embroidered shoes of this type were worn by 19th century Manchu women, who were forbidden to bind their feet. Photo by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"red<\/a>
A shoe for a bound foot . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a<\/a>
. . . the shorter the sexier in Ming era.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"worn<\/a>
Shopper Barb’s sturdy shopping shoes and her ten-inch feet, which can shop all day. I left this scuffed up pair of shoes in China, but no worries, another identical pair is on its way. Photo by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a<\/a>
Jon, the lone Westerner in a candy store at Yu Gardens Bazaar. Photos by BF Newhall<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Seed<\/a>
I brought home a bunch of photos. Jon brought home . . . candy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Canvas<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I thought I was traveling to China to explore the mysteries of China\u2019s storied past — the big dynasties with their poetic one-syllable names: Ming, Tang, Han. But what really caught my attention was China\u2019s storied present: The skyscrapers. The ubiquitous one-child families. The traffic jams. The fashionistas . . . Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[28,34,566,1105,29,55,82,1068,963,814,33,872,1106],"class_list":["post-16041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","tag-china","tag-dont-miss","tag-fashion","tag-fashionistas","tag-jon","tag-family-stories","tag-on-the-funny-side","tag-shanghai","tag-shoes","tag-shopping-stories","tag-travel","tag-travel-adventures","tag-yu-gardens-and-bazaar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16041\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}