Cheap fashion, cheongsam shopping in Shanghai

Coming back from my Shanghai trip I just can't believe how good the shopping there is! No wonder my friends from Shanghai say girls there can never save money. I even saw offers as low as ¥10 (RM6) for clothes!! Seriously?! Yes, seriously. Of course you get what you paid for la. For ¥10, you'll probably be getting low quality stuff that you can wear at home. If that floats your boat, great on you! :) But there were stuff that were relatively cheap which I'll be showing it below.

So I went to two places for shopping, one was already planned in the itinerary while the other was accidentally stumbled upon.

CHEAP FASHION SHOPPING (APPAREL, SHOES, BAGS & LITERALLY ANYTHING YOU CAN WEAR)

New QiPuLu Clothing Market 上海新七浦服装市场 (Address: 179 Qipu Rd, Zhabei Qu | Operating hours: 06:00-18:00)

Yes, they open at 6am!! Not all shops but those doing wholesale open around that time. We went at around 9am & most of the shops were already open by then. There are many malls along QiPuLu & that street read in Chinese literally means "Cheap street". Lucky for us, the new QiPuLu just opened & they had a separate other building solely for Korean fashion which was heaven for me who's a Korean fashion lover!

A lot of the malls along that area do wholesale but they do sell individual pieces at a great price. Haggling prices are possible for buying a few pieces but usually they won't lower prices when it's an offer item. If you live far from here & it's inconvenient to commute via public transport, I'd advise you to bring along a luggage bag in case you end up buying a lot like we did. Fortunately for us, we stayed about a 10-15 minute walk from QiPuLu so taking a cab back wasn't that expensive. *READ HERE for more info about my accommodation & travelling tips in Shanghai

Since there were many malls along QiPu street, we first headed to the Korean fashion house 圣和圣韩国馆 because I wanted to see the my Korean stuff first hahaha! The layout of the malls are relatively alike, with narrow walkways & endless rows of shops. If you're travelling in a small group, best to walk & explore each row together to avoid getting lost. It's up to you which mall you'd like to start off with, as for me I was looking for more to better quality, affordable items so starting from the Korean fashion store was the best choice. But if you're only looking for cheap stuff then of course any other mall along the street to start off with is good enough.

I got most of my shopping from the Korean fashion house! Although the prices there are not super duper cheap as compared to Taobao 淘宝 but at least you'll get to touch & feel (at some shops even try) before you buy them. The Korean fashion house was at one end of the "Cheap" street but it was easy to walk with spacious walkways.

Now onto the stuff I got! Let me apologize in advance for the weird contrast in the pics as I was still not used to the functions on my camera & I think it wasn't the right one. :( Also, some pics were taken with a tripod stand so excuse me for the weird cropped angles hahaha!

Outfit #1: Checkered shirt (¥50/RM30) & white denim shorts (¥25/RM15)

I love how this checkered shirt isn’t the very hot, unbreathable kind of material, instead it was soft, absorbent & very comfortable to wear. Plus, the colour is in a very cute dusty purplish pink! Got this at the Korean shop.

& don’t get me started on these white denim shorts! It’s usually quite hard to get a pair of shorts that fit my butt as usually when it fits my butt, it doesn’t my waist. Thankfully it was perfect on these shorts. The shorts weren’t even at an awkward length that most cheap shorts would be, & the material is pretty decent, stretchy & not too thin. Got this at some random mall along Qi Pu Lu.

Outfit #2: Yellow ribbed front adjustable top (¥10/RM6) & white flare shorts (¥30/RM18)

OMG I can’t believe I got the yellow ribbed top for RM6 only!! :O I mean it wasn’t like the cheapo, reject pieces you’d think that be selling for so cheap. It was even somewhat in trend at the time when I bought it so happy me! 平靚正, 买！This wasn’t bought at the korean shop though, it was at a random mall that has blue glass, red signboard & was right at the beginning of street, facing the Qi Pu Lu signboard.

These white flare shorts were cheap too! I randomly found them at the same mall on a sale rack. It was a nice thick material & it had pockets! I have 2 shorts with similar silhouettes, both more expensive than this but none with pockets... 

Outfit #3: Stripes denim jacket (¥150/RM90) & checkered skirt (¥60/RM36)

Okay, the jacket was one of my not very cheap price compared to the others but I really loved how unique it was, with the stripes & super cropped design. I just love an over-sized cropped jacket & have always wanted one. Apparently striped denim is popular & trendy according to the lady boss at the shop. Got this at the Korean shop.

The skirt isn’t that cheap, as you may find cheaper on Taobao. But I really love the material of it, it was thick, not the warm winter weather kind but the kind that could hide your fats. Perfect for every girl!! Usually when you get cheap low quality stuff, the material is pretty thin & if you had a little fat, it’ll show pretty clearly. I buy cheap but good purchases & not cincai cincai one okay.. 😂 The skirt was really stretchy but the good quality kind of stretch as you know it wouldn’t easily become looser after a few washes. Got this at the mall facing Qi Pu Lu sign. 

Outfit #4: Tropical shirt (¥40/RM24) & boyfriend jeans with belt (¥170/RM102)

The tropical shirt isn’t the best material ever, it’s something like fake linen if there’s something like that. 😂 But I liked that it was great for the hot & humid weather in KL. The downside that it would be pretty wrinkly after wash, same as the outfit #1 checkered shirt. Got this & the following jeans & pyjamas from the Korean shop.

Another one of my more expensive purchases. Ok I know it’s even more expensive than some jeans you can get in KL stores but I’ve been wanting a boyfriend mix mom jeans like this that doesn’t make my legs look fat & short like that boyfriend jeans usually does. & the shop staff was nice enough to allow me to try it since I bought the tropical shirt & the next outfit (pyjamas set) from her. The thing that sold me immediately is when she had me wear some brown vintage style loafers to complete the look (my white button down shirt, the jeans + belt, loafers). It was a complete & super my style kind of look! Unfortunately they didn’t sell the shoes but it made my decision easy. The jeans fit me perfectly as well so what more can I say? Ok buy!

Outfit #5: Pyjamas set (¥80/RM48) & moon neck rest (¥30/RM18)

So cute right?! I’ve always wanted a matching pyjamas set like this & it has super cute flamingoes! It’s not the very breathable material, maybe it hasn’t been thoroughly washed when I tried it on so it hasn’t soften yet. But it’s super cute that I can definitely wear for my next sleepover or holiday instead of my usual, typical aunty, ugly AF pyjamas.

This super cute as well, moon neck rest was a surprisingly cheap buy for me as it was at a high end mall on the days we were trying to find Xin Tian Di. I got this at a store that was like a premium-ish gift shop, & they the pillows were some limited edition collection thing. It was 2 for ¥60 (members only), but the cashier was nice enough to give us that member price anyway since she saw that we were tourists. It’s so cute, soft & even has a pink star as a buckle!

Shoes: Zara boots dupe (¥219/RM131)

My most expensive purchase at Qi Pu Lu were these gorgeous Zara boots dupe! It's not the exact same with a slightly different heel but I feel like these heels look edgier & nicer. I actually tried the Zara ones before & snapped them on my IG stories but it was too pricey to buy! I saved a picture anyway in case I found a dupe, in which I did. I got this at the mall facing Qi Pu Lu sign & the shoe shop was on the ground floor. It had other pretty shoes, some were luxury brand inspired but the quality was there. I got the last pair as they actually don’t stock up much for every size. Since it was meant to be, then buy again! 

Headwear: Beret (¥40/RM24), scarf (¥5/RM3) & bucket hat (¥30/RM18)

I got the beret & bucket hat from the streets outside YuYuan & the ¥5 scarf from Qi Pu Lu. The lady that sold me the beret & bucket hat kept showing me pictures that the beret is a trendy item & the swirly thing was on purpose. Ok lo cute mah so I buy again.

The scarf shop was facing the streets of Qi Pu Lu with a huge sign showing ¥5 scarves. It was  like treasure hunting & I only bought one because the rest looked quite aunty in my opinion or had some defect.

CHEAP CHEONGSAM SHOPPING (+ LINGERIE, SLEEPWEAR, HAIR ACCESSORIES)

福佑门 (OUTSIDE YUYUAN OLD STREET, just Baidu maps that name)

We stumbled across this place on our Yuyuan Garden visit day as we noticed a lot of stores selling pretty cheap items. This mall is walking distance from Yuyuan station & has a huge lady wearing a cheongsam on its mall billboard. The mall only had like 2-3 cheongsam shops facing the main road while the shops inside were mostly wedding or CNY things, lingerie, sleepwear & accessories. Other than the cheong sams, the other stuff were not very cheap but it was more for wholesalers or you’d have to buy in dozens. There are actually some cheongsam shops in Yuyuan Old Street but they are mostly pricier due to its touristy location. There was a shop right at the exit of Yuyuan garden within Yuyuan Old Street that had offer cheong sams for ¥99 (RM60) though! Not many sizes & choices as compared to 福佑门.

Cheongsam #1 (¥135/RM81)

Cheongsam #2 (¥99/RM60)

Cheongsam #3 (¥99/RM60)

It’s hard to find a cheap, yet flattering cheong sam online because my mum has bought them on Lazada once but most of them had a weird fit & were more expensive than this. We got to try on the cheongsams which was great! I’ve got 3 while mum bought 6 or more lol.. 

2 cheongsams I got were made from some linen like material while the other was some stretchy fabric. I’m so happy with my purchases because they were all of different vibes - traditional, young & vintage. I had another one but it was in a slightly bigger size & my mum went to sell it off to her friend because it was a little loose on me... I really liked that one lor... But fine, she bought me the cute checkered vintage one which was more exp so okay la AHAHA.

So what did you think of my haul? Does it make you want to go to Shanghai now? 😂 Sorry if I influenced you to spend money. There’s actually more purchases from my mum’s side but just thought I’d show what I got.

READ HERE for my Shanghai travel diary.

Feel free to email me at kimmiemaey@gmail.com if you’re interested in my itinerary or you’d simply like to ask me about Shanghai. :)