1.) Although some people are lamenting the closure of Shanghai Tang’s iconic Pedder Building shop, I can’t help feel excited about the Shanghai Tang Mongolian Village soon to be perched on the rooftop of Central Pier 4. Each authentic, Mongolian Ger tent will offer a different shopping experience with festive gifts, ready to wear clothing and homewares, as well as their bespoke tailoring services. From 4 November to 31 December.
2.) This week is the launch of Justin Bieber’s – soon to be platinum no doubt– Christmas album Under The Mistletoe which will have every tween reaching for their pocket money. Including duets with Usher, Boyz II Men and the Band Perry, it also sees the Biebs duetting with Mariah Carey on my personal favourite, her always-glittering holiday standard All I Want For Christmas.
3.) The newly opened Heirloom Eatery & More situated across the street from The Cat St Gallery ticks all the right boxes. With delicious food to tickle everyone’s taste buds, the girls behind this joint like: retro food – cookies and a glass of milk, anyone?, picnics in the park with the most divine baskets to go, sustainable living which means organic produce with every meal, but most of all they like drinking champagne and dancing on tables. So… it’s my kind of place then. 226 Hollywood Road, Sheung Wan. Tel: 2547-8888.
4.) Fans of the cult British beauty brand The Organic Pharmacy were none too happy when it disappeared from the IFC mall a few years ago. But now Hong Kong’s natural brigade and lovers of their Double Rose Rejuvenating Face Cream and other products can stock up at their counter at the newly opened Harvey Nicks in Pacific Place.
5.) The romp that is the mini series Camelot might not match up to The Tudors for a lot of people, but with hot young Brit actor Jamie Campbell Bower playing Arthur, your teen daughters will love it, while Joseph Fiennes as Merlin reminds mothers of when they were younger and he was the hot young Brit actor in Shakespeare in Love.
6.) Sofia Coppola’s innate style has been plundered for Louis Vuitton’s fab resort collection which allows anyone obsessed by the way Coppola looks to at least buy clothes with her imprimatur. The line offers bracelet length sleeves, Peter Pan collars and the most amazing blue-leopard print, silk pajamas which scream grand hostess at home, circa 1960.
8.) Pawn to Rock November 9th will donate 20% of the proceeds to Ronald McDonald House, so don your leathers and rock out to corporate big wigs playing rock stars for the night. The Pawn, 62 Johnston Road, Wan Chai
9.) Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong will show a unique show of paintings and scultpure devoted to Heinz Mack at the end of the month. Artist Heinz Mack is one of the founding member of the hugely influential ZERO movement, an artistic group which crystallised in Germany in the second part of the 1950s. Heinz Mack: Colour Light Rhythm, November 30-January 2012. Private viewing on 29 November.
10.) Moustache on Aberdeen Street has to be the place in Hong Kong for men to buy off the peg clothes and have a bespoke suit made. Known for their quirky take on menswear, the slim cut suits, voile shirts and the fact that each customer will have their own pattern cut and fitted specifically for them, means this is an essential Sheung Wan shopping stop. And the good news for us girls is that ladies are not excluded – the men behind Moustache, Ellis Kreuger and Alex Daye, also design bespoke womenswear. 51 Aberdeen Street, Sheung Wan.