Chanel Sports Car

Check out this Chanel sportscar called the Chanel Fiole. Don't get too excited, it doesn'ta actually exist. It was created as a project by South Korean design student Jinyoung Jo. Still, it's pretty sexy and I think Coco would approve. (Images taken from www.manchic.com)

Hunk of the Week: Jason Beitel

This week's man of my dreams, and many of my friends, is none other then the blonde and toned hottie Jason Beitel. Jason who? You ask. Well Jason has been making a name for himself as a professional backup dancer for the likes of Madonna (him dancin with a horse bit in his mouth...HOT!) and Kylie Minogue. The Shanghai crew were lucky enough to see him in action back in November 2008 when he performed as part of the Kylie X Tour.

This 28 year old Illionois native, now based in London, has been working his way up the dance circuit for many years. In addition to touring with the great Madge and Kylie, he's been featured in popular dance videos such as Ida Corr vs. Fedde Le Grand's "Let Me Think About It" and The Egg vs. David Guetta's "Walking Away". Check them out below, and check him out in his Speedos for Kylie's most recent music video, "The One". For more information and juicy pictures pop over and visit http://www.jason-beitel.net/.

Ida Corr vs Fedde Le Grand - "Let Me Think About It"

Ministry of Sound, 2007

The Egg vs. David Guetta - "Walking Away (Love Don't Let Me Go)"

Gusto Records, 2005

Kylie Minogue - " The One"

EMI, 2008

Shirts My Way, Yes!! My Way!!

For any fashion conscious professional in Shanghai, it’s all about tailoring when it comes to dress and work shirts. From about RMB300 (₤30.00), you can get a pretty decent quality work shirt tailor-made to your exact measurements, or splurge on an RMB800.00 (₤80.00) one at one of the more high-end bespoke tailors. At 6ft 3in tall, I have to get work shirts tailor-made or shipped over, since all the off-the-rack shirts (heaven forbid) are made for Chinese sizes, meaning the bottom cut is wee-bit too short for my long torso.

Unfortunately the tailors in Shanghai, as skilled as they can be, just don’t have the creative flair to design truly amazing dress shirts. However, I recently came across www.ShirtsMyWay.com, this site set up by a bunch of Danish fellas (gotta love those Danes!) provide a start-to-finish online custom order dress & work shirt service.

Not only can you choose the fabric, collar, placket, cuffs, etc. You can mix and match colours and fabrics for different sections of the shirt and give them that little extra something. The number of options is so great; they claim that there are 7 million different combinations.

It truly is amazing service in tailoring for the 21st century, and at US$65.00 (₤43.50) a shirt, and free international shipping (yes on ALL orders, regardless of quantity) you can't loose. There interface allows you to see the finished product and you can choose from either standard sizes or input exact measurements for a truly bespoke, tailored shirt. What’s even better is you can name your design and keep it stored in your account for when you want to order it again.

Currently I’m working on this grey shirt, with white outer collar & cuffs and salmon inner collar & cuffs, plus a salmon conceald placket (God I love a concealed placket), which I’m calling "Urban Calm". I think I'll be easily addicted to designing a number of shirts for the rest of this week.

First Impressions

Welcome to the very first first post of THE JADED LIFE, likely only to ever be read by myself (how jaded is that attitude?).

All I can say is that I hope that this blog starts getting some readers (who would without a doubt have the most impeccible of tastes...and I know you're out there) and I don't end up just blogging to myself and making this entire tyraid a waste of my precious time.

Anyway, stay-tuned for reports and gossip on everything sleek and stylish from the perspective of a spoiled, pretentious, slightly elitist, but incredibly fabulous expat based in Shanghai.