Ni hao, wo jiao Annie!

Shanghai is not like Hong Kong. People might not necessarily understand the importance of personal space here, people stare at me like I'm the only Indian person they have ever seen, and riding the METRO...let's just visualize a 'sardine can' and amuse ourselves with the image of an indian girl dead in the middle of it!

What brought me here? We exhibited Kanchan Couture's finest demi-couture and bridal collections at the Shanghai Expo, 2010 - with a foot traffic guestimate of over 400,000 people per day! Since we were here, we decided to meet with boutiques, shopping malls, designers, work on some collaborations and also do some good old fashion market research.

Some of Shanghai's best fashions are found in the nooks and crevices of artsy districts, hidden away inside buildings, or out boasting onto the streets of the French Concession, Xin Tian Di, Nanjing, Peoples Square, Pudong..the places are limited and endless at the same time...Go to Shanghai, you'll know what i mean!

Coming to Shanghai for work has been a great learning experience. I know a few things didn't go the way that we had planned, but the people I've met and the sights I've seen along the way, will continue to bring me back to Shanghai...

Favorite Restuarant: Nanxiang- Shanghai Dumpling Restuarant, Crystal Jade has some competition!

Favorite Area to Hangout: Xin Tian Di
Favorite Shopping Centre: Raffles City

Favorite Street-wear: The Source

Fun local brand of clothes that I wish was in Hong Kong: ONLY

Morning Ritual: Coffee Bean!

Enquiries: 2117 1782 info@kanchancouture.com

http://www.kanchancouture.com | http://www.kanchancouture-bridal.com

The wait is over!

After a bustling opening night party, Kanchan Couture Bridal has now launched with a beautiful collection of wedding dresses in store for brides-to-be to try on.

The launch night was a buzz of journalists, wedding planners, supportive guests and soon to be brides, all enjoying the beautiful dresses on show in the Kanchan Couture Boutique. Everyone had their favourite dress as each of the four unique designs naturally appealed to different women. Kanch’s creations are designed with women in mind, with each dress crafted with perfect fit, contour and shape to flatter women of all shapes and sizes.

As well as the dresses on display, the launch night was the first time anyone was able to browse through the brand new Kanchan Couture Bridal website! The team at uforepublic has done an absolutely fabulous job creating this beautiful new website, which features the pictures from the first ever Kanchan Couture Bridal photo shoot! We absolutely LOVE the new website and the new pictures and we know you will too so make sure you check it out! www.kanchancouture-bridal.com

The final flourish of the night was provided by the 4 unique cakes also on display, which were inspired by each dress, created by Sweet Secrets. These mouthwatering pieces of edible artwork complimented the beautiful dresses perfectly. Guests were treated to bite sized chocolate and cheesecake delights from Sweet Secrets, finishing it off nicely with a wide selection of wines from Sip N Savour.

All together it was a highly enjoyable occasion and the perfect welcome for the new collection.

www.kanchancouture-bridal.com

Build up to the Big Day!

Kelly, Marketing and Events Executive at Kanchan Couture:

With our Bridal Collection launch night this week (Wednesday 24th March), I thought it was a perfect time for a reflection on the build up to the big day.

When Kanch first proposed the Bridal Collection to me I was thrilled. This would be my first opportunity to follow a collection and see its progression from initial idea to final release. And no matter who you are, Bridal-wear is something special so my connection to this collection was always going to be strong.

As well as the new dresses, the new brand and everything that came along with it had to be developed. The wonderful people at uforepublic made this stage really easy. Their beautiful and creative branding was absolutely perfect and we knew instantly that this was the start of something wonderful.

Putting together all the material for the website and getting the organization for the event sorted was the next challenge. The time and energy that goes in to planning and organizing the launch of a new brand and new collection is not something to be taken lightly. For us, our motivation came from the passion we have for this collection and the excitement of being able to play a part in making brides’ dreams come true.

We checked our calendar everyday for a week in the lead up to the first samples arriving! When they were delivered, we dropped everything and unwrapped them all, eagerly anticipating the beauty and elegance that was just waiting to be unleashed. The ‘wows’ and ‘awwwws’ quickly ensued, with both of us excitedly trying on each piece! I couldn’t help but chuckle at what followed as I realized that it was almost an exact replica of the scene in Friends where Rachel, Phoebe and Monica all get dressed up in wedding dresses and prance around the living room.

Next was the photo shoot, which has been touched on in a previous blog. Let me just re-iterate how much fun we all had on the shoot. The beautiful dresses were finished off wonderfully with hair and makeup to fit a princess.

As much as the journey to the aisle is a process of learning for the Bride, with passion and energy thrown in, our journey to launching this collection has been filled with the same excitement, energy and enthusiasm (with a healthy dose of learning on my part)! Ultimately we just want to provide Brides-to-be with dresses that they fall in love with…..

Make sure you come to our launch night on Wednesday 24th March at 6.00 to help us celebrate the start of the next stage of our journey.

The new website will be launched at the same time so check it out on Wednesday 24th March: www.kanchancouturebridal.com

Event Details

Location:
Kanchan Couture Boutique
4/F, 108-110 Wellington Street,
Central, Hong Kong

Time:
Press Launch - 4.00 pm
Open Launch – 6.00 pm

RSVP required: kelly@kanchancouture.com or 2117 1782

Backstage pass to bridal bliss!

With the launch of a brand new collection and brand, and with this being Kanch’s umteenth shoot, we wanted to switch the perspective and write this behind-the-scenes account from fresh eyes. New brand… new blogger! Having just started working at Kanchan Couture, Kelly wanted to take up the reins as queen bridal blogger and this is her account of the shoot!

....

With clouds in the sky, drizzle falling and sub-zero temperatures (approximately) our dreams of a sunny photo shoot in a beautiful flower garden or warm beach were quickly thrown aside! A last minute decision was made to be more realistic with venue decisions and our boutique cum photography studio started to take shape!

As the variety of creative geniuses that made up our shoot team (including the fabulous and extremely talented hair and makeup guru and photographer extraordinaire, Angel and Joyce) gathered in our boutique, we eagerly awaited the arrival of the cakes and the muse, also known as model Shreya.

Anticipation was building as the cake team arrived to assemble the elaborate and beautifully crafted edible masterpieces and the model, with hair and makeup complete, changed into the first dress.

The whole process ran without a hitch and with perfect timing. Each dress looked more beautiful than the last and the cakes were extremely tempting! Kanch helped us hold back the urge to scoff down the entire 4-tiered cake by providing a hearty lunch of pizza and dough balls followed by delicious cupcakes!

We received quite a few stares and had a mini audience of budding photographers surrounding us at one point, perhaps the sight of wedding dresses caught people off guard. Personally I think it was the slightly odd combination of multi-coloured mittens, grey scawl and wedding dress parading round the backstreets of Central.

The afternoon’s festivities (ehem… sorry, hard work and exhaustion!) were joyfully topped off during the final shoot of the day when the fruit stall lady, commentating throughout the shoot, openly remarked that our model had excellent bone structure and great potential. Fruit stall owner and part time model agent perhaps!?! The day brought it’s fair share of drama, excitement and a lot of laughter and I am incredibly proud to have had the privilege of working with such lovely, talented artists.

To be among the first to see these photographs, make sure you RSVP to the Kanchan Couture Bridal launch night on Wednesday 24th March!

RSVP: kelly@kanchancouture.com or 2117 1782

- Wishing you all much bridal bliss, Kelly x

www.kanchancouture.com