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. :)

Forever 21 x Raffles KL PreFall "Back-to-School" campaign !

Hello peeps! <3 If you've noticed my social media posts lately on my Instagram & my Facebook, you'll probably notice that I kept mentioning or hashtaging #RafflesxF21 or #Forever21MY. Well, the day of the event finally arrived and not sure if we felt excited or relieved that we were so done with that campaign as we had to do PR & Media work that will be graded on that day. Well, I'm just  so glad that's done. Anyway, I was quite surprised that the event was quite lively and better than I expected because our lecturer never really mentioned the whole thing, we only knew what we had to do. So enjoy the photos guys! :)

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Raffles staff setting up the DJ table and setting up the speakers for some good ol' music!

My lecturer sternly delegating people hahah! He's not as fierce as he seems in real life than in the photo la..

Our posters! We were separated into 3 groups of PR & media team and these were the end product of our posters.

The juniors in our course were in charge of the Visual Merchandising which in this case there wasn't any window display space so for them it was just dressing the mannequin! I so wished that I could do this... :(

Towards around 9:30am when more crew members arrived, we began setting up the booths under our infamous big tree! The tree isn't really super big but the shelter you get is big enough to shade you from Block A to Block B! Okay la, the distance isn't thaaat far but it's still a great shade!

Soon the mannequins were moved to the front alongside our posters! Fall-ish feel right? Even though Malaysia doesn't have the four seasons but I bet we all can so totally wear this out! You know where to get these clothes la.. (Forever 21)

Was kind of guilty for just snapping photos and not helping in filling in the tote bags, I went and helped along as well. Ahhh I've seen a lot of POPCULTURE magazines in cafes and I finally get to lay my hands on one myself! Just love the whole layout of this magazine and the fact that its made with thick paper and not the typical smooth thin ones that tear easily. The only bad thing was you can easily get paper cuts from them which I got it yesterday when filling up the tote bags.. :( Oh yea, the thing in the white envelope is actually a RM20 voucher from Forever21! I kinda wish we got something more special compared to everyone else since we helped out and did a lot of other things as well. But it's okay la, the experience was priceless.

P.S.: my lecturer told me to snap photos and shoot videos so technically I'm doing something :D

Tote bags! I thought the tote bags we'd get were the really cheap and thin kind like the ones in Cotton on that can easily rip apart but these were really thick and just the type I was looking for to put my laptop in when I bring it to college. *using one right now already!*The size was slightly smaller than regular canvas tote bags but fits my laptop perfectly! So happy that stole another one for my mum LOL

By the way, did you know that students get to recieve a 10% off when shopping at Forever 21 from Mondays to Thursdays? They never really put a sign about it and I only knew about it yesterday... >:(

Documenting myself helping out hahaha! *macam yes tapi bukan*

Ended up getting a paper cut which sucked and my mum always said that I'm just too "siew jie" (little missy) cuz most of the times when I'm asked to do something, I'll probably injure myself... Clumsy me from young until now I'm still as clumsy... xD

The real people that were actually REALLY helping hahaha!

More people REALLY helping out ahahah and I'm just here documenting them :D

The FOREVER21 people came over as well to help set up a photo wall to make this event come to life! What is an event without a photo booth or photo wall nowadays when technology and social media is literally in the realm of our hands? A sleep fest la obviously..

The juniors were also selling freedom wristband that had Korean words and symbols printed in the inner layer as well. First time seeing wristband with double prints leh! Kinda liked the inner print but too bad they were too loose for me.

Freedom :)

Me faking a candid shot pretending to be interested in the wristbands when they're totally not my type and not my size either :P

Darlene blocking my panaroma shot. Thanks :P

Finally at around 10:30, everything was perfectly set up and all set for the campaign! YAY!

Me, awkwardly standing beside the poster with me on the far right. Compare that photo and me in actual. Okay la I upload a clearer pic below.  

No photoshopping on both photos but man, with sunglasses I'm so chio, without it, I'm just so kiddo.. :( I really wish I looked more like my age sometimes..

Anyway, moving along! As you can see from backdrop of the first photo, you can see a part of the photo wall! So our job as the PR and Media group is in charge of approaching people and letting them know that once they've snapped and then uploaded a photo of them on Instagram with our photo wall and #Forever21MY, they're eligible of a tote bag that has a RM20 voucher and a POPCULTURE magazine! 1 upload per user so snap away while stocks last! 

Still don't get it ah? Okay la, step-by-step visuals for you :P

STEP 1: SNAP A PHOTO!

Group or individual, up to you but if you're snapping a solo pic you do look kind of lonely when everyone staring at you while waiting for their turn ahahah! Tip: when snapping this kind of photos, do it with your friends la, it's just more fun that way :P

STEP 2: UPLOAD IT ON INSTAGRAM & #Forever21MY!

STEP 3: SHOW THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE TO CLAIM YOUR TOTE BAG! :)

So so simple and easy and I also did one myself as well!

#squadgoals hahaha kidding. We are way way far from being a slight close to Taylor Swift's famous girl squad because none of us are eligible to be a model ahahah! okay except mummy Darlene who's more than 4 inches taller than the 3 of us.. >:(

Oi guys why so stiff la? Make me look like a silly one only.. :P

Horrible quality front camera iphone selfie is a must for these kind of photo walls! :P

Adele who came over to photobomb my photo hahah Sorry Adele, I chose this cuz I look cute here :P

Solo shot is a must! :D

Bae visited me even though he didn't have class and was having a flu plus sore throat. Awww can you see my super happy face while he's just so pale. :D

More people giving their go on the photo wall and even getting pictures with the lecturer.

Pretty coursemates snapping away!

Towards around 11am, we had to present our posters to the judges and trust me it was nerve wrecking because most of them are lecturers from other courses...

Me giving my best, presenting on behalf of my group. Even though we didn't get best poster and also knew that ours wasn't as nice compared to the others (super rushed work), we still took the whole project as a great learning experience. Was quite surprised that the Singapore Forever 21 marketing manager said my presentation was the best among the teams as I was super nervous and shaking throughout the whole thing hahaha! The job was only passed down to me minutes before we had to present as my friend wasn't loud enough to present her design.

Overall, this was a great learning experience and even though we didn't win, I was still happy in the end of the day. Sometimes you've got to lose some in order to learn from your mistakes, not repeat them again and do better the next time. :) It's actually quite hard for me to accept failure as I'm naturally a perfectionist which really breaks me sometimes but we all know that it is impossible for a person to succeed every single time. Just a message to myself and every other perfectionist like me to remember. 

Lastly, if you're interested in going to the Forever21 PreFall "Back-to-School" campaign, you still can! The campaign's last day is tomorrow at Forever21 Sunway Pyramid and 1Utama, view the pic below for the time!

Go join the fun! <3