Happy New Year of the Snake, everyone! May 2025 bring all of us peace, prosperity, and a praiseworthy sense of style and fashion!

With the Chinese New Year celebrations wrapped up, people, hopefully, are feeling inspired to step into the brand-new year full of vigor and passion to become a better version of themselves, despite the coldest month of February still looming over us.

However, Shanghai fashionistas and hanfu enthusiasts are never hindered by such trivial things as cold weather. Our January edition of Shanghai Street Chic is solid proof of that. First, let's check out what the everyday folk (and their puppies) are rocking on the Shanghai streets, plus my trend alert notes on what to wear in the upcoming months; and... as a bonus, we'll dive into the celebratory, cultural wear of the Chinese people during January, particularly at the Yuyuan Garden, in preparation for the NY celebrations.

1. A girl, a boy but no dog?

Ma Xuefeng

Our first couple of heroes are without a furry companion, and... they will be the only ones, as you will see. However, they're not without style; they are my personal favorites. We first see the color matching between the two friends (or lovers?), grey on blue on taupe. It is a great winter combination, and it has also seen plenty on the runways of fashion giants such as GUCCI, DIOR HOMME, and MM6 MAISON MARGIELA.

The best way to combine analogous (similar) colors without looking boring is through clever layering, like the girl, or texture differences, like the guy. If you want to spice up your analogous color story, add an accent pop, such as blue, which both of our fashionistas have demonstrated here. Grey is becoming the new black and white, a much more versatile color that goes well with almost anything. My recommendations would be blue, burgundy, and ochre yellow.

2. Smile- the best accessory, and a Shiba

Ma Xuefeng

The second fashion hero is a lovely lady with her equally fashionable Shiba. The pair are almost color-matching each other, how sweet.

Here, the standout for me is the EMIS cap in a lovely bluish-grey tint. EMIS is a popular Korean streetwear brand that is famous for its hats and t-shirts in various colors. We once again see a pretty color combination of grey and butter yellow. Butter yellow is considered one of the new "it colors," seen at almost every fashion week for the past couple of seasons. If you don't feel confident enough to wear a full puffer jacket in such a color, do what our lady did here, but the opposite. Get a grey jacket with a buttery yellow cap, hat or bag, you're guaranteed to make a subtle fashion statement, nothing crazy, yet still impactful. Also, we can't just not mention the dog in its adorable, knitted sweater. If there is one thing that the Shanghainese people will do, it is to dress their animals the part.

3. Know your good side

Ma Xuefeng

At first, we weren't sure who was posing more fiercely, the little doggy or her just-happy-to-be-here owner. It's a great example of knowing your working side, as we in the modeling industry like to call it; for some, it's a smile; for others, it's a fierce side profile. But back to clothing... Once again, trend alert: butter yellow paired with a neutral color, chocolate brown in this case.

As basic and every day as this outfit may look, it still catches your eye, why is that? Besides the color scheme I already mentioned, it is again a mixture of textures. A fluffy top, denim, and a smooth wool coat are great and easy ways to walk with your dog, but do it casually, just in case someone like me would like to discuss it in an article later; you never know.

4. Shape, volume and another pup

Ma Xuefeng

Last but not least, Fashion Hero is a great example of how to create visual interest through shapes and volumes. A puffy winter bomber with a high neck paired with O-shaped grey denim jeans and a subtle layering underneath? Amazing styling. And once again, grey on grey on grey, with a pop of color being the carefree puppy, how adorable.

Grey denim is so underrated. If you're tired of wearing your good old blue (or even worse, black) denim jeans, consider acquiring a lovely pair of greys. But please, no skinny jeans, unless you want that "Christian girl autumn" look, please stay away from them. Honorable mentions, clear glasses with silver frames can elevate your already stylish outfits greatly, however, you must be mindful of the shape and size of said glasses. Different faces, different glasses.

FeiFei's styling notes:

As already mentioned, this season try switching your blacks and whites to something grey. Be mindful, that there are hundreds of grey hues and tones, pick the one that suits your complexion and style best. Special NY of the snake tip, they say the lucky colors of this year are red, orange, yellow and purple. All can pair very well with grey, by the way. Go wild.

Hanfu here, hanfu there, hanfu everywhere!

While we were shooting at Yuyuan Garden last month, we took notice of quite several people sporting intangible cultural wardrobe wear (accented with butterfly wings, of course).

And..since it's a special January edition, we wanted to feature some of the best traditional wear, aka hanfu (for those willing to pose). Hanfus have been worn more often in recent years, signifying the earning of the young Chinese to embrace conventional garments not only for unique photoshoots but also for swapping out their modern holiday sweaters and pants for something beautiful with long historical significance. In the West, wearing a cultural garment is a sensitive topic, a lot of people fear their intentions to be misinterpreted or labeled as cultural appropriation. However, in China, people have a different view on embracing different cultural wears by various people. As long as you understand the garment and what it entails, Chinese folk (at least most of them) would be delighted to see anyone (foreigners included) strutting in a gorgeous hanfu.

Often Chinese people pick a hanfu to celebrate various traditional holidays, luckily, they are in abundance here, Chinese New Year being the biggest. From observations, the period from which hanfu comes from is not very important, though Song and Ming dynasties are the usual pick. As well as the colors, however, for events such as CNY, red is the go-to choice, but pastel and muted blues and greens are also prevalent. Here are some of my favorites from the Yu Garden, taken by our team.