THE NONNATIVE

The first order of business was leaving the house & meeting up with shopping buddy aka V. We started off at Starbucks, I am a particular fan of a plain iced coffee with soymilk. Very good warm up session. You know it’s important that you prepare yourself for the excursion into the real world & get any really important discussions out of the way. Shopping should be about the zen experience and talking limited to “What is that?” “OOOOHHH!!!” “AHHH!!!!” and “Do you like it?” Any conversations that are started have an 80% failure rate. It’s nearly impossible to begin a conversation and not trail off, forgetting the topic completely. So it’s best just not to start one.

Walking down Queen’s Road around 2pm on a weekday is like a physical fitness course, it exercises strength, agility, and stamina. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel like people are trying to hit me. My favorite is when someone stops directly in front of you and just stands there and cannot possibly make up their mind how to go around. So you try to get out of their way, but then they step that direction, then you step the other direction, then they put their hands up as if saying, “I surrender!”

Yeah, I totally am polite and… all that other good stuff. This thing I’m currently doing, I think it’s called scoffing. Hahahaha!

Anyway, my main concern of the day was getting to two of my favorite affordable shops in Central, Update Fashion and Maple.

UPDATE Fashion is located on the corner of Stanley Street and Stone Street, they usually have cute summer dresses and skirts at extremely affordable prices. I do have to say that Hong Kong stores should not be given an award for their organizational methods. It’s pretty intimidating going into these stores, everything is everywhere, the stores are cramped, you have to go to the register to ask for a new one of whatever you want. The beauty of these stores is it’s like a reward for finding cute things! I very much like rewards, if the staff would pat me on the head it would just make my day. To be honest I don’t even look at their tops, I’m more of a dress/skirt sort of girl. I’m sure they’re cute, and they have a one size fits all – I am a big fan of safety pins to adjust the fitting on clothes I buy there.

The thing that I particularly like about UPDATE is that while it does seem to be a wholesale fashion store (the only info online I can find directs me to a Chinese fashion wholesaler), they have their own style. Now, that being said I don’t mean it’s always filled with fashion forward pieces. Sometimes V & I walk into that store and we’re overcome with giggles and elbowing each other in the ribs. Just keep in mind when you venture in there that you have to dig deep and you can always modify with a belt or safety pin.

Maple is located on Li Yuen Street East, in between Queen’s Road and Des Voeux Road. I have found MANY treasures at Maple, it is by far one of my favorite centrally located stores to visit. The love affair began over a year ago when I ventured in and discovered an oversized shirt that said “Carbon Neutral”. I am a real science geek at heart so I had to have it, I actually bought two of them in different colors! There have been many purchases since then, I can’t really remember them all. My most recent acquisition and now a wardrobe staple is a stack of three rings.


The bottom ring is a shiny silver with small circular studs $19

The middle ring is a thick “earthy” looking antique ring with rows of little diamantes $49

The top ring is a dark silver with pyramid studs all the way around $19

My shopping buddy spotted this one, I would have never taken a close look at all of the rings. The girls at the store were getting nervous, I think they thought we were shoplifting – little did they know there is a science to choosing stacked rings. The science is… You need 3 rings. 3 is the most artistically pleasing amount, so you need 3 rings that are somewhat varied but have the same general “feel”, I chose an industrial meets antique (Aka Steampunk) collection. Steampunk will be discussed more, it’s just Über nerdy to talk about how much I love my “Carbon Neutral” t-shirt AND ramble on about steampunk in one post.

Between these two stores you can get in a good couple hours of shopping, just make sure to dig deep and have a little imagination while you shop. Sometimes what you buy may not work, so remember that both stores have a strange return policy. I think Maple gives you 3 days to return the items, must have tag, must have receipt, etc. - no exceptions. But you really have to figure when you're buying clothes for under $100 does it really matter all that much to go return? I have bags of things that I'm not fond of on myself but they either become an impromptu birthday gift or are salvaged in the name of DIY greater good. Hopefully soon I will get around to finishing and posting up some of the DIY projects!

Next time you're around central be sure to check these two stores out, happy hunting!