Lane Crawford probably doesn't mean a whole lot to people outside of Hong Kong or who have never visited Hong Kong, unless you're a designer hankering after a buyer from Lane Crawford to swoop in and buy up your whole collection.  I'd describe as the equivalent to Barney's in Lane Crawford and probably in recent years, it has branched out in terms of being at the forefront of bringing labels exclusive to Hong Kong.  HK may be a shopper's paradise but for those seeking out Western labels, there's still not a wealth of stock out there.... Jonathan Saunders, Vanessa Bruno, Proenza Schouler and RM by Roland Mouret are some of the designers that Lane Crawford have exclusively...

I was more intrigued to find though, that Lane Crawford for the first time have launched an international ad campaign (US Vogue readers might have already seen the ads...) for SS08 entitled 'Transitions'.  It's certainly not a slap dash affair and you can tell from the microsite (why call it 'micro' when really it's the opposite....?), Lane Crawford have built especially for the ad.  I am scratching my head a little thinking why a Hong Kong store is advertising in US Vogue but then if it is going to be thought of in the same context as Printemps, Selfridges, Barney's, why not? 

'Not slap dash' would probably be an understatement seeing as the campaign was shot by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin and styled by Camilla Nickerson in New York and more importantly the concept is quite thought provoking.  Featuring a fantastic array of China creatives (I use 'creatives' as opposed to 'celebs' because I feel THAT particular 'c' word cheapens them somewhat...), the ads presents two facets of that person and how their clothes represent that facet.  With a quote accompanying each ad, it makes it all the more personal and it' a rare occasion where the person and clothes balance each other perfectly (as opposed to one outshining the other....).  Fashion as a transformation tool.... doh.... seems like such a fundamental thing, yet I've never seen it so literally expressed as it has done here...

So we have Du Juan, probably no introductions needed....but she's a model... 

Fu Jia, independent film producer...

Maggie Cheung... again, needs no introduction.... (the few times when I get hold of HK gossip mags/newspapers, I smile when I see papped pictures of her as she always looks fantastic in whatever she's wearing...)

Tan Yuan Yuan, principle ballerina with San Francisco Ballet...

Huang Jue, actor...