Tag Archives: Pretty Things

Here comes the bride…

Posted on April 26, 2011 | 4 comments

Traditional but modern, simple but extravagant, classic but youthful, a homage to Diana but absolutely nothing like Diana’s at all… it seems like everyone has an opinion on what THE dress should be like. THE dress being (obviously! what else!) Kate Middleton’s wedding gown.

As you might already know, I am impossibly excited about the Royal Wedding – seriously, I’ve been welling up just watching the archive stuff in the documentaries that every channel over here is showing – and I can’t wait to see what Princess Catherine will be wearing down the aisle. It seems I’m not the only one though; there have been dozens of designers queuing up to offer their take on a suitable outfit – well, I guess it’s not every day you get to dress a real princess!

Two of my favourites by Alberta Ferretti and Valentino (inspired by a Botticellian Venus)

Since you know I’m also a fan of pretty things, dress sketches (like those gorgeous Robert Best Barbie ones), weddings and the idea of being a princess in general, these wedding dress drawings are like a culmination of everything that gets me cooing with pleasure. Some were done for a feature on WWD, others by Project Runway alumni for My Lifetime.com (the folk behind William & Kate: The Movie), others for The Times fashion section (scanned in thanks to the paywall, sorry for the quality) and Mad Men designer Janie Bryant (banner picture) seems to have done it solely for her own pleasure!

There were some wacky ones – black, yellow, red, Gothic, futuristic, Boudicca-inspired, denim, feathers, knitwear – and some interpretations of Princess Kate’s face leave a little to be desired but these are a collection of my favourites. Enjoy!

Series of three amazing gowns designed by Pronovias from Confetti.co.uk

From the WWD feature (see all dresses here)

Two of my favourites, J. Mendel and Jason Wu

Two of the most romantic designs by Nina Ricci and Lela Rose

‘A patchwork lace dress reminds us all that a true princess can mend and make do!’ Nanette Lepore

Yigal Azrouel, Tommy Hilfilger


Tory Burch, Lyn Devon (one of the more successful minimalist designs), Rachel Roy

Reem Acra, Rebecca Taylor

Monique Lhuillier

Doo.Ri, Vera Wang (whose bride looks angry! I found Vera’s a bit disappointing as she’s renowned for her bridalwear)

Prabal Gurung

Chado Ralph Rucci (‘NO GLITTER!’), Maria Grachvogel (from The Times)

From the My Lifetime.com feature (see all dresses here)

Simone Le Blanc, Ivy Higa

Irina Shabayeva (more of a runway dress but still stunning) and Carol Hannah Whitfield, which features a removable overskirt for the ‘par-tay!’

Mila Hermanovski with my favourite minimal design of the lot, Leanne Marshall (I love how it looks like a blooming flower or like it’s rising from the ocean froth)

Heidi Nora, Shirin Askari

Two of the more conceptual dresses that actually worked, even if I can’t imagine Kate actually wearing them! Gordana Gelhausen’s Maid Marian-esque gown and Michael Drummond’s fusion between ‘ancient folklore’ and two of his favourite British fashion houses, Marchesa and McQueen

Wesley Nault, Vincent Libretti (love that abstract drawing style, even if the design itself doesn’t amount to much!)

Daniel Franco, Christopher Collins (that skirt looks like a butterfly wing!)

Scanned from The Times

Suzanne Neville, Mark Fast (famous for his use of knitwear)

Viktor & Rolf: quirky and obviously not suitable, but too cute not to include!

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Sweet Valley High just got sweeter!

Posted on April 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

What’s this – photographs not taken during a season of Next Top Model making the pages of my Pretty Things section?! Yes, you read right, but this summer ad campaign for American brand Wildfox is too delish not to drool over.

It’s based on 90s teen book and tv series Sweet Valley High – I know, awesome already, right?! It’s all sleepovers, crushes, sunshine and secrets, basically an all-American summer encapsulated in one photoshoot by Henrik Purienne. Rather than delivering the typical ‘buying these clothes might make me as pretty as the models’ aspirational campaigns that many brands go for (cough Abercrombie & Fitch cough), there’s a sense of ease and fun to these images that means the models look like genuine BFFs.

I particularly love the sun-bleached look these photos have – you can practically feel the heat radiating off them! – and it all adds to a slightly vintage feel (check out that retro Pepsi can!) that makes you feel like you’re flicking through an old family album. Admittedly, one in which the girls seem particularly ill-disposed to wearing anything over their underpants (it’s a shoot for tees, who can blame them?!).

My favourite photos are the ones with the phone (above), which instantly make me think of racking up my parents’ phone bill on late night calls to my bessies It also reminds me of this amazing 90s board game called Dream Phone where you had a giant pink phone that played voice recordings of boys, so you could work out who had a crush on you (‘You’re right! I really like you!) – very apt, given the slogan on the tee!

I also love the pizza ones above, which call back to all those sleepovers where you all end up in hysterical laughter about nothing in particular, and the models perfectly capture that conspiratorial sense of fun in a way that just looks effortless.

So grab your sunnies, shorts and SPF – summer is here! [Wildfox tee optional]

Photos from Wildfox’s blog via Rock N Rose HK blog

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Barbie: still the Best

Posted on January 17, 2011 | 20 comments

Obviously, if I had known about this calendar instead, Heiner Meyer would be sitting gathering dust in a bookshop in Hong Kong.

For those of you too lazy to click the link, the coveted calendar in question is a Barbie one. No, wait, come back! Not just any old Barbie calendar but one featuring gorgeous fashion sketches of everyone’s favourite blonde bimbo. Except she’s not always blonde and her outfits are way too classy for anyone to be calling her the b-word. [Banner picture: 50th Anniversary Glamour and Generation Of Dreams Barbies – the latter’s skirt is a collage of images of Barbie throughout her fifty years.]

My absolute favourite – The Artist. Totally my colours, totally my style… If only I could look this good in a beret!

They’re by Robert Best, a former Project Runway contestant, who has been designing outfits for Barbara Millicent Roberts for the past 15 years. He is the main designer behind the highly coveted Silkstone Collection (also known as the Fashion Model Collection), which use the retro face, hair and make-up style of the original 1960s dolls, and the occasional special edition Barbie, like those in the banner picture, too. The beautiful couture outfits and attention-to-detail are amazing – these certainly aren’t dolls for practising your hair-cutting and decapitation skills on!

Violette & Tribute Barbie (celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Silkstone Collection)

I am absolutely head over heels for these sketches. I tend to love the style of  girlie fashion sketches anyway but these are even more stunning than most. Firstly, the clothes are amazing and the detail is exquisite. You can feel every ruffle, see every flower. The sense of movement, texture and weight created by just pencil and watercolour (I think!) is astounding. We’re not just talking about the dresses though – it goes as far as fabrics, shoes, hair accessories, jewellery and just about everything else you could think of. Everything just goes together so wonderfully. I want Barbie’s wardrobe!

Second favourite – Market Day Barbie. Love the colours, love the flowers, love the eyeshadow!

Secondly, lots of fashion illustrations skimp on the face, often omitting eyes, nose and mouth all together. Not Best. As you can see from some of the gorgeous close-ups, there’s more expression going on in some of these sketches than in Nicole Kidman’s last few acting roles. A tilt of the head here, a seductive pout of the lips there, a sultry sweep of the eyes – these drawings give a better modelling masterclass than Tyra herself! I love how he even does matching eyeshadow too – Best does a better smoky eye than me!

I do have some history with Barbie (my parents were beginning to despair of the sight of her when I was ordering collectible ones on a near weekly basis from Ebay) but she has literally never looked better than when drawn with Best’s pencil. It’s something about the perfect slant of the eyes and the way their hair falls just so. In fact, I think most of the drawings look prettier than the dolls themselves and I’ve thrown in a few like-for-like comparisons for you to make up your own minds!

The Siren – drawing vs doll comparison

Finally, there’s just some magic about them. The below sketches of Hollywood Honey and Red Hot Review (“On The Set”) best epitomise how evocative Best’s work is; you just know these are glamorous divas from the Golden Age of Hollywood, with just a few strokes of the pencil. All of these sketches feel like they’re from some other time but without looking old and dated, settling for supremely classy and elegant instead.

I think I’ve banged on enough. All of these pictures are taken from mawphoto.com’s excellent Flickr set ‘Robert Best Illustrations’, where there are hundreds more drawings for your viewing pleasure. You could be a cheapo and frame pictures from the calendar once 2011 is over but if you can’t wait that long, you can buy framed limited edition prints here and here. Now I’ll try and keep schtum whilst you enjoy the rest of these beauties and remember to click for enlargements – it’s worth it!

Third favourite. This is getting silly now…

Delphine (the first proper Silkstone Barbie) – from a sketchier drawing to a more polished one. This dress reminds me of the one Grace Kelly won her Oscar in.

Parisienne Pretty – drawing vs doll, round 2. I want these shoes!

Haut Monde; Southern Belle

Garden Party & Barbie as Betty Draper from Mad Men (I can totally see Betty working the other look too!)

Secretary; Tout de Suite; Nurse. I really love how stylised all these looks are (and does anyone else think sexy Nurse looks a little Chinese?!)

Black Enchantment – this dress with Parisienne Pretty’s shoes. Please?!

Fashion Editor, Showgirl, Fashion Designer

Stolen Magic, In The Pink (hello Liz Taylor!), Stealing The Spotlight

Capucine in 3 ways

Congrats! You made it to the end of my most picture-heavy, time-consuming post since the Qi Pao. You have my permission to eat a chocolate digestive as reward.

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Dexter gets arty

Posted on December 17, 2010 | 1 comment

These amazing fan-made posters for Dexter have been floating about the Interwebz for a while, but it’s never too late to show a little love.

If you’re gonna have fan-made artwork, it helps if they’re created by the head honcho at a design studio (Ty Mattson of Mattson Creative), right?! Certainly puts fan forums’ MS Paint efforts to shame!

You don’t have to be a Dexter diehard to appreciate the beautiful design. I love the strong graphic style of the artwork and that the same striking colour palette is kept throughout – choosing red was always going to be a no-brainer for depicting a serial killer! I’ve only recently got back into the show so it’s fresh in my mind and Mattson’s done a great job of picking out the iconic moments for each season and representing them in quirky, inspired ways. (As ever, click for enlargements).

Mattson was so taken with Dexter’s awesomeness (clearly a man of discerning tastes) that he created the posters as a little project in his free time. But after the blogosphere blew up with news of Mattson’s brilliance, Showtime (the channel that airs Dexter) got in touch to say they loved the posters, took Mattson on a tour of the set where he got to meet Dexter himself, and offered him a role as extra for next season! It’s enough to warm even a cold-blooded serial killer’s heart, isn’t it?

Oh, to be an artist and create stuff like this in your free time! I just get to write about it instead!

The posters are now available as limited edition prints on Showtime’s website, $49.95 USD.

(via designworklife)

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Orchard Garden Café & Restaurant review – bloomin’ marvellous?

Posted on December 16, 2010 | Leave a comment

If you thought the crockery at Crabtree & Evelyn’s Tearoom was pretty, be prepared for chintzy china overload at Orchard Garden Café & Restaurant. Fans of floral prints rejoice – this lot practically puts the Chelsea Flower Show to shame!

We popped into Orchard Garden Café on one of my frequent (as you’re rapidly discovering!) pit-stops for afternoon tea. The cuisine is Japanese Western and, yes, there were the as-usual bizarrely heavy tea set options, but their desserts and drinks menus appeared to be as long (if not longer) than the one for main meals – meaning it’s clearly my kinda place!

I’d already had the inkling that it would be my kind of place when my magpie instinct kicked in upon entering the premises. Similar to my experience at Pomme, I wanted to steal almost everything inside – from the sprigs of flowers on the tables to the colourful splashy artwork, the squishy white sofas to the telephone number of their interior designer. It almost makes the steep climb up several flights of stairs to get there worth it; amongst the mayhem of Mong Kok, it’s a refreshingly light bright modern space, best enjoyed in the quiet lull of the afternoon.

I chose my Honey Apple Tea ($35) simply because it had the prettiest crockery in the menu – a teacup and saucer emblazoned with royal purple pansies. I spent so long cooing over it that I barely had time to be impressed by the fact it was served with slices of genuine fresh fruit and a jar of golden runny honey (rather than being made with a shop-bought formula out a pot, a Hong Kong speciality). It was a sweet, summery tea, made all the more so by the delightful ware in which it was served. My auntie’s Ginger Lemon Tea ($32) was similarly splendid – an exquisitely decorated teacup, a dish of fresh fruit and a piping hot, fragrant cuppa.

Meanwhile, the size of the desserts (a vast array of waffles, pancakes and sundaes were available) was somewhat at odds with the dainty china; the portions seemed designed for hulking sweet-toothed giants whilst the crockery arrived straight from a pixie’s tea party. I went for the caramel custard (known by the more discerning diner as a crème caramel, $28) simply because it looked like the only dessert I could polish off on my own. That was true enough but on tasting it, I didn’t want to. Overly-sloppy, overly-sweet, a bobbing slobbery mass marooned in a sea of syrup with an odd powdery aftertaste to boot, it didn’t even have flowery crockery to redeem it.

Much better were my auntie’s Crispy Fruit Rolls ($48) – think sweet spring rolls and you’re halfway there. Crispy filo-pastry encasing a medley of fresh strawberries, blueberries, banana and mango with a squirt of whipped cream, served warm, with a bizarre dip of custard sauce. The flaky crunch of the golden pastry matched with the gooey fruity mess inside made for an inspired combination but it was still too big and too filling for even the pair of us to finish. On the plus side, the contemporary cornflower plate may have been my favourite yet.

Whack on a 10% service charge and it’s frankly a little too dear to justify not being more delicious (in fact, it cost more than our lunches combined, which can’t be good). It would probably be better if you’re sharing as a group… or if they installed a lift… or if they allowed you to simply purchase the pretty plates instead of the superfluous desserts that came with them!

See all Orchard Garden Café & Restaurant locations in Hong Kong here

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Around the world in 10 travel posters

Posted on December 16, 2010 | 10 comments

The Daily What is always good for a wander and just occasionally, it throws up something really rather spectacular. These gorgeous colour-soaked travel posters are the really rather spectacular that I’m thinking of.

fernado volken 24 hours in doha hanoi

Designed by Brazilian illustrator Fernando Volken Togni for Oryx Magazine (Qatar Airline’s in-flight read), they encapsulate ‘24 Hours In…’ various cities around the world. Bold, vibrant and bursting with energy, they’re like groovier Where’s Wally pictures – look closer and there’s all sorts of cute details hiding away. So there’s a Swiss Army knife in Zurich, a skyscraper-sized hamburger in New York and a panda poking out the trees in Shanghai.

It’s almost like Pick n’ Mix at your local sweet shop – impossible to pick a favourite, you just want to feast on them all! On the one hand, I love the ones that work with a particular colour palette – the lucky reds of Shanghai, the cool blues of Moscow, the faded vintage hues of Doha, the tricolour of Paris and the sun-soaked oranges of Madrid. But on the other, I also adore the vivid brights of New York and Barcelona, whilst there’s something about Casablanca’s colour scheme that feels so irresistibly Moroccan without me being able to quite put my finger on it. Wasn’t able to spot Humphrey Bogart lurking in any corners though!

Eagle-eyed viewers may spot a slight similarity with some other travel posters I went similarly goo-goo eyed for (from Ikea, of all places). Togni’s style is a little cuter and a lot more action-packed, but I still love them both. You can check out plenty more of his candy-coated artwork, all fabulous incidentally, on his website, which is where all the pictures are from (don’t forget to click for enlargements). He promises they will be for sale soon, leaving just one problem: which one to buy?!

Next stop… Hong Kong, please!

fernando volken 24 hours in sao paolo ngorongoro

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Smitten with Sugar Kisses

Posted on November 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

I promised Pretty Things for this blog so I’ll introduce you to one of my (many) weaknesses – greetings cards. Specifically, ones that are just too pretty to give away.

I have been known to buy these with absolutely no intention of ever ‘greeting’ anyone with them other than myself. I have also been known to purchase whole sets of any designs I get particularly taken with. These cards – a series called Sugar Kisses by Jeannine – are the result of one such smitten bulk-buy.

I just love this artwork –– the colours, the style, everything! – and find it reminiscent of the similarly gorgeously-girlie stuff by Jeffrey Fulvimari.

They were bought many years ago from a yummy mummy boutique called Indigo on Bramcote Lane in Wollaton, Nottingham, which was always good for a gander, setting your heart and hungry eyes to ‘covet’ mode fairly quickly! Alas, the Internet has failed me by yielding no information about the artist or the designs so if anyone knows anything more about these gorgeous prints do let me know. Otherwise, just enjoy!

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You’re Wellcome

Posted on November 12, 2010 | Leave a comment

Who says good art in Hong Kong is hard to find? (I don’t think anyone has actually ever said that but…)

We picked up these super-pretty canvas paintings in Wellcome. Yes, that’s Wellcome as in the supermarket. Somehow I don’t think you would be finding stuff like this in Tesco.

For just $49.90 each, these proper hand-painted pieces are a bit of a bargain. They’re supposed to represent seasons – I’ve decided these two are summer and autumn (spring was green whilst winter had more implausibly-coloured blue trees). They have a sprinkling of gold glitter on them and I love how the brush-marks are still so obviously visible. The subtle differences between the two mean they look great displayed together. They really brighten up the room and have such a fresh, charming quality. Bargain!

It’s not just Swedish pop music I love. Ikea is my homegirl. I’d guess that 1 out of 3 restaurants over here has Ikea stuff in it and with good reason. They just do fantastically-designed, high-quality stuff at really reasonable prices and further prove my notion that everything Scandinavian is amazing by default.

These art prints of Sweden by Maria Dahlgren are just gorgeous. Funky, brightly-coloured geometric designs, they pop wherever you put them and again, look fabulous displayed together. This set of five postcards (entitled Kort) costs just $29.90 (you can see the other design that I couldn’t fit in, Norrland, here). They also probably represent the closest I’ll be getting to Scandinavia for some time!

Finally, not found in Hong Kong, but I couldn’t resist posting these striking international teaser posters for the new Darren Aronofsky flick, Black Swan. For those that haven’t seen the trailer, it seems to involve a tormented ballerina morphing into a swan.

There’s a bit of a communist art vibe going on with these designs but, as well as being stunning pieces of art in their own right, don’t they also really whet your appetite for the film? Intriguing, captivating and downright beautiful.

Whilst not available to buy commercially yet, you might as well pimp up your desktop in the meantime. Certainly makes your average film poster look rather lazy, right?

As ever, click for enlargements.

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Mid-Autumn Festival Hong Kong 2010, The Rhapsody of Hong Kong Memories: Lights, camera, lanterns!

Posted on October 6, 2010 | 4 comments

The lanterns didn’t stop there. Over in Tsim Sha Tsui, there was an absolutely amazing lantern display entitled The Rhapsody of Hong Kong Memories. These cute and quirky lanterns, depicting nostalgic scenes from 1960s Hong Kong, were designed by Leo Tang and I thought they were just lovely. Perfectly capturing the spirit of Hong Kong with a fond heart and light touch, it’s the sort of ephemera that’s unlikely to go down in the history books but provokes all sorts of loving rose-tinted memories. Now I’ll let the photos do the talking; as ever, click for enlargements.

Hustle and Bustle

These show scenes from 1960s city life, including many traditional businesses that have since died out, like shoe-shiners, calligraphers and rickshaw drivers.

A policeman in his pagoda directing traffic in the days before traffic lights. (Vintage photos from HK Police Force website and HK Man’s Flickr).

A tai-tai at the tailor’s – check out that retro hair-do!

I loved the attention to detail. Here the little boy at the barber is reading a comic-book to keep him entertained – and you can actually look inside the box and see what comics are on offer (hello Astro Boy!).

This little fellow is Lap Sap Chung, a monster created in a campaign to stop HKer’s from littering. He’s being chased by Miss Super Clean, remembered by lots of pre-pubescent teenage boys for her mini-skirts and go-go boots! Mischievous Lap Sap Chung proved so popular that he soon found himself being recreated as merchandise and inflatable toys! His memory was so enduring – a survey found that over 90% of respondents had heard of Lap Sap Chung! – that he was revived for a recent Keep Hong Kong Clean campaign. He even has a Facebook Group in his honour! (Posters from Chan.police’s Flickr and Gwulo.com)

Also note the red, white and blue striped lanterns in the background. These are based on the infamous plastic ‘amah bags’ that you see at wet markets or lugged around by Filipinos, burst to breaking point. I even saw one woman trying to post a full one! (Photo from Red, White, Blue, Here, There, Everywhere Flickr)

Delicious Memories

What would HK be without its food?! Here’s someone enjoying a meal at a dai pai dong (food stall in the street) – love how you can see the pak choi in the owner’s wok!

A spinning cup of milk tea (ngai cha), so beloved of HKers, being serenaded by a teddy boy.

A street hawker, carrying wicker baskets full of vegetables suspended on a bamboo pole on his shoulder. I love how the lady buying from him even has a shopping list in her hand!

An ‘airplane olives’ (fei gei larm) hawker with his distinctive brown paper bag. If you saw him in the streets, you would call down and he would throw the olives up to you several stories high! You would then drop down your money – only paying for what you caught, mind!

Not sure what this guy’s offering us. Hotpot? Congee? An ashtray? (OK, the last one seems unlikely). Answers on a postcard please.

Starfruit-shaped lantern!

Home Sweet Home

This one confused me – was there some strange game in the 1960s where kids had to run to and from a tap?! My auntie had a look and thinks it refers to the days when children would have to go to the village tap to collect buckets of water for the whole family back home. (Those slippers are so Hong Kong as well!)

In the old days, apartments were very small and people slept in simple metal or wood bunk beds to save as much space as possible. Here, the little girl is making plastic flowers by hand, a part-time job many people had in the 1960s to generate a little extra income.

The mum, carrying her baby in the typical Chinese papoose-sling on her back, seems to have rollers in her hair. No GHDs in those days!

The little girl is holding a traditional rabbit lantern for Mid-Autumn Festival; these stem from the rabbit’s presence in the myth behind the Moon Festival and are still sold nowadays.

Traditional paper lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival – none of that inflatable singing and dancing tat in those days!

Do I need to tell you this is a retro thermos flask?!

Play & Playground

You might notice that some of these happy children are running about in what appear to be the old-school colourful wooden building blocks that children from yesteryear used to play with.

The circle-shaped counters with different coloured airplanes on, seen floating in the background or decorating the giant lanterns, are from a popular Chinese board game, Flying Chess (飛行棋). I say board game, it’s actually played on a fold-up piece of paper and works similarly to Ludo or Frustration. I only noticed this when I was looking back on my photos afterwards and it’s the little touches like this that Tang totally nails; I actually remember playing this when I was little and seeing that detail really made me smile, which is exactly the sort of response I think he hoped for. (飛行棋 photo from DChome forum – I swear I have the exact same game at home!)

The centrepiece to the whole display was a giant rabbit lantern, stuffed with old-school lamps, shop signs and birdcages. The amount of work that must have gone into it! Almost seems a shame that it will all have to be taken down : (

Cute, charming and quintessentially Hong Kong. What’s not to love?

The Rhapsody of Hong Kong Memories, Hong Kong Cultural Centre Piazza (near Star Ferry), Tsim Sha Tsui. 10 September until 17 October 2010, 6.30-11.30pm.


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Mid-Autumn Festival Hong Kong: It’s a marvellous night for a mooncake

Posted on October 4, 2010 | 3 comments

Mid-Autumn Festival may just be one of my favourite festivals in Hong Kong because just about everywhere makes the effort to look pretty. Admittedly, all it takes is a few paper lanterns scattered about, but at night time especially, it looks charming and uniquely Chinese.

Also know as Moon Festival, it’s held on the 15th day of the 8th month (of the lunar calendar, so roughly late September) when the moon is supposed to be at its brightest. There are many variants of the legend behind the festival, but I’ll tell you (in the best Chinese tradition!) the one that my mum told me.

A long long time ago, there used to be ten suns in the sky, which burnt away terribly at the Earth. The emperor commanded the most skilled archer in all the land, Hou Yi, to shoot down all but one of the suns – which he did, leaving us with the one sun we have today. As a reward, he was given a magic potion that would grant him eternal life and he hid it away at home. According to my mum’s version, Hou Yi became a tyrant, corrupted by power and ambition; on seeing this, his beautiful wife, Seung Orr, decided to eat the pill herself to prevent him from living forever (other versions have the wife finding and eating the pill accidentally). Upon eating the pill, she found herself becoming lighter and lighter and she began to float. Eventually, she floated out of the window, up into the sky and onto the moon where she lives today. She also has her rabbit with her, who you can sometimes see outlined on the moon.

If you’re a virgin to Moon Festival, there are only two things you need to know – lanterns and mooncake! Seung Orr adorns many a mooncake box and the traditional cakes are made with a yellow duck egg inside, representing the moon. Nowadays, there are all kinds of modern takes on the mooncake, including chocolate, mango, green tea or even ‘snowy’ ice-cream ones. We bought one that was shaped like a pig! It came in a miniature version of the traditional basket that real pigs used to be carried to market in the olden days and I love how he even has a little curly tail. Alas, he had to be decapitated and eaten – the filling was green bean paste – and my auntie said he looked a lot nicer than he tasted!

Lanterns are lit to accentuate the brightness of the moon and on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival itself, paper ones are lit and floated off to the moon. This year, one managed to land on an MTR train, sparking a small fire, panic, evacuations, delays and talk of regulating lanterns more closely next year. As with mooncakes, lanterns have evolved with the times and you can get them in practically any shape, size or colour you desire, with inflatable musical cartoon character versions proving particularly popular with youngsters (so if it’s late September and you’re hearing a tinny tune in the dim and distant, it’s probably a toddler holding a blow-up Doaremon).

We went to the special market in Tsing Yi’s Maritime Square Mall, which is basically your one-stop Mid-Autumn shop. As you can see, the lantern stall was a riot of colour! We bought two ($35 each) – a pretty lotus flower and a gorgeous goldfish. You can see them in action in our flat below!

However, these are mere small fry compared to the lanterns that the government has built to mark the occasion. For all of Mid-Autumn weekend, Victoria Park in Causeway Bay is transformed into a luminous lantern extravaganza. It costs a small fortune but hey, who cares when it looks this spectacular?!

Check out my posts on more beautiful Mid-Autumn lanterns in Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong here and here

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