SHANGHAI - When Shen Wei smokes a Cuban cigar and plays big-band music through his decades-old American radio, he’s whisked to a bygone era.
“The sound — it brings you back to that age,” says the 38-year-old artist and entrepreneur. “You can imagine, 80 years ago maybe, a gorgeous lady sitting over there, listening to some beautiful music. You have some connection with it.”
The cavernous ground-floor showroom where Shen traverses time is filled with U.S. military memorabilia he’s collected over the years: uniforms, helmets, hats, sunglasses, gloves, jewelry, and watches. Under a wall-mounted American flag and model fighter plane sits the large tube radio Shen bought on eBay six years ago, produced by General Electric in 1940.
As for the replica World War II-era Air Force jackets hanging on racks, they’re Shen’s original creations. To emulate the look and feel of historical jackets, he uses vegetable tanning for the leather and attaches oxidized copper buttons. If customers wish, Shen can also stitch on military patches, or paint the backs with images of aircraft, pinup girls, and cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny — just like American pilots used to do. Such customized jackets can sell for over 20,000 yuan ($2,900) apiece.
“People are getting richer. They have money to spend on this,” says Shen. “My customers are willing to pay this price to have something very unique.”
As the owner of Shanghai-based vintage brand Lucky Forces, Shen is one of a growing number of Chinese entrepreneurs faithfully re-creating Western items from the 1930s to 1960s. He sells to a burgeoning community of newly minted vintage fans in the country — typically men in their 30s and 40s — who see in the objects a timeless aesthetic, an air of prestige, and an escape from the pressures of work. But while the group is developing fast, artisans say vintage culture is still misunderstood and that the market, with its small size and competition from copycat merchants, can be a challenge.
Shen developed a particular interest in U.S. Army vintage after seeing high-grossing period films like 2001’s “Pearl Harbor” while in university. He remembers falling in love with the soldiers’ clothing, moved by the use of painted jackets as a creative distraction from the realities of war.
Over a decade later, Shen now sees his vintage collecting as a means of glimpsing into a past he never experienced but feels nostalgia for nevertheless. While his view of yesteryear might be rather narrow and romanticized, he muses, it reflects a profound desire to be somewhere other than the present. (...)
Lucky Forces may be all-American in its style, but the craft philosophy behind it originated in neighboring Japan. Shen was initially inspired to start his brand after learning of the Japanese fashion movement amekaji, or “American casual,” on websites like the influential vintage forum 33oz. Nearly 40 years ago, Japanese brands began re-creating American clothing and designs dating from the 1940s to the ’60s with a high degree of authenticity, with some even using looms and other manufacturing equipment from the era to make denim. Amekaji brands have since gained international attention for their take on old U.S. clothing, while department stores, thrift shops, fashion magazines, and events catering to the style have made Japan a mecca for Chinese vintage fans.
“After digging deeply into amekaji and vintage culture, a lot of 33oz forum users have ended up starting their own brands,” says Li Ying, manager of 33oz. Li Ying says that although China’s vintage subculture is rooted in amekaji, it has developed its own scene with a growing number of grassroots undertakings. 33oz has itself evolved from an online forum for denim fans into China’s leading promoter of vintage culture, selling clothes, organizing community fairs, and churning out social media content on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. (...)
Cui Wei, a catering entrepreneur who organizes vintage-themed events in his spare time, has seen many Chinese artisans come and go from the domestic subculture — often failing because their meticulously handcrafted goods can be cheaply imitated and mass-produced by merchants on e-commerce platforms like Taobao.
“It’s similar to the pop music I used to do,” says Cui, a former professional singer. “Being original is hard, but making commercial music is easy.” Cui hopes his events, which he pays for at his own expense, will nurture vintage culture in China and protect brands like Lucky Forces and Han’s Pipes.
The spread of the hobby is slow, partly because it’s costly. Cui says his understanding of vintage culture — particularly amekaji — developed over the 15 trips he has taken to Japan since 2016. Even replicas of vintage clothing are pricey, leading to an expression popular among local vintage fans: “You have to be really rich to look really poor.”
by Kenrick Davis, Sixth Tone | Read more:
“The sound — it brings you back to that age,” says the 38-year-old artist and entrepreneur. “You can imagine, 80 years ago maybe, a gorgeous lady sitting over there, listening to some beautiful music. You have some connection with it.”
The cavernous ground-floor showroom where Shen traverses time is filled with U.S. military memorabilia he’s collected over the years: uniforms, helmets, hats, sunglasses, gloves, jewelry, and watches. Under a wall-mounted American flag and model fighter plane sits the large tube radio Shen bought on eBay six years ago, produced by General Electric in 1940.As for the replica World War II-era Air Force jackets hanging on racks, they’re Shen’s original creations. To emulate the look and feel of historical jackets, he uses vegetable tanning for the leather and attaches oxidized copper buttons. If customers wish, Shen can also stitch on military patches, or paint the backs with images of aircraft, pinup girls, and cartoon characters like Bugs Bunny — just like American pilots used to do. Such customized jackets can sell for over 20,000 yuan ($2,900) apiece.
“People are getting richer. They have money to spend on this,” says Shen. “My customers are willing to pay this price to have something very unique.”
As the owner of Shanghai-based vintage brand Lucky Forces, Shen is one of a growing number of Chinese entrepreneurs faithfully re-creating Western items from the 1930s to 1960s. He sells to a burgeoning community of newly minted vintage fans in the country — typically men in their 30s and 40s — who see in the objects a timeless aesthetic, an air of prestige, and an escape from the pressures of work. But while the group is developing fast, artisans say vintage culture is still misunderstood and that the market, with its small size and competition from copycat merchants, can be a challenge.
Shen developed a particular interest in U.S. Army vintage after seeing high-grossing period films like 2001’s “Pearl Harbor” while in university. He remembers falling in love with the soldiers’ clothing, moved by the use of painted jackets as a creative distraction from the realities of war.
Over a decade later, Shen now sees his vintage collecting as a means of glimpsing into a past he never experienced but feels nostalgia for nevertheless. While his view of yesteryear might be rather narrow and romanticized, he muses, it reflects a profound desire to be somewhere other than the present. (...)
Lucky Forces may be all-American in its style, but the craft philosophy behind it originated in neighboring Japan. Shen was initially inspired to start his brand after learning of the Japanese fashion movement amekaji, or “American casual,” on websites like the influential vintage forum 33oz. Nearly 40 years ago, Japanese brands began re-creating American clothing and designs dating from the 1940s to the ’60s with a high degree of authenticity, with some even using looms and other manufacturing equipment from the era to make denim. Amekaji brands have since gained international attention for their take on old U.S. clothing, while department stores, thrift shops, fashion magazines, and events catering to the style have made Japan a mecca for Chinese vintage fans.
“After digging deeply into amekaji and vintage culture, a lot of 33oz forum users have ended up starting their own brands,” says Li Ying, manager of 33oz. Li Ying says that although China’s vintage subculture is rooted in amekaji, it has developed its own scene with a growing number of grassroots undertakings. 33oz has itself evolved from an online forum for denim fans into China’s leading promoter of vintage culture, selling clothes, organizing community fairs, and churning out social media content on platforms such as Weibo and WeChat. (...)
Cui Wei, a catering entrepreneur who organizes vintage-themed events in his spare time, has seen many Chinese artisans come and go from the domestic subculture — often failing because their meticulously handcrafted goods can be cheaply imitated and mass-produced by merchants on e-commerce platforms like Taobao.
“It’s similar to the pop music I used to do,” says Cui, a former professional singer. “Being original is hard, but making commercial music is easy.” Cui hopes his events, which he pays for at his own expense, will nurture vintage culture in China and protect brands like Lucky Forces and Han’s Pipes.
The spread of the hobby is slow, partly because it’s costly. Cui says his understanding of vintage culture — particularly amekaji — developed over the 15 trips he has taken to Japan since 2016. Even replicas of vintage clothing are pricey, leading to an expression popular among local vintage fans: “You have to be really rich to look really poor.”
by Kenrick Davis, Sixth Tone | Read more:
Image: Kenrick Davis/Sixth Tone
