Stella McCartney Makes Her Mark in Asia

An English pub isn’t the first thing one might expect to see in the middle of a luxury mall in Beijing. But leave it to Stella McCartney to bring a taste of the UK to the Chinese megalopolis. Tuesday night, the designer opened her first Beijing store and invited guests to toast the milestone with pints of Guinness and Pimm’s Cups. Partygoers noshed on chips and tapped their toes to nineties Brit pop while perusing the airy two-story boutique. Fittingly, the eco-conscious McCartney chose a green location for the new space. Replete with sustainable oak parquet floors and recyclable aluminum tiles, the shop is set inside the recently opened Parkview Green mall—the first LEED-certified commercial development in China.

McCartney wasn’t long for Beijing, though, as the opening was just one leg of a whirlwind Asian tour. Earlier in the week, McCartney traveled to Tokyo to open her second store in the city, and Wednesday night she hosted a black-tie dinner at the Astor House Hotel in Shanghai. In true McCartney style, the event, which drew local celebrities, as well as catwalkers such as Du Juan and Emma Pei, boasted everything from contortionist acts to live jazz to a presentation of evening looks from the designer’s Fall ’13 collection.

—Jeffrey Ying

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