Valerie Luu - Chinatown Pretty: Fashion and Wisdom From Chinatowns Most Stylish Seniors

This project is dedicated to all the grandmas and grandpas who took time to talk to two strangers who were so curious about their clothes that they needed to stop them on the street.

What would start out with us waving and smiling or exclaiming ph poh hu leng! (pretty grandma) would lead to personal conversations about their life journeys and immigration stories, their joys and their pains.

These seniors taught us not only how to dress with joy and abandon, but also how to live a meaningful life. This book is for them.

Text and photographs copyright 2020 by Andria Lo and Valerie Luu.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

ISBN 9781452175836 (epub, mobi)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lo, Andria, author, photographer. | Luu, Valerie, author, photographer.
Title: Chinatown pretty : fashion and wisdom from Chinatowns most stylish seniors / by Andria Lo and Valerie Luu.
Description: San Francisco, California : Chronicle Books, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019056169 | ISBN 9781452175805 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Older Asian AmericansPortraits. | Beauty, Personal. | ChinatownsUnited StatesPictorial works. | Street photographyUnited States.
Classification: LCC TR681.A75 L6 2020 | DDC 779/.2dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056169

Design by Rachel Harrell.

Rose logo design by Valerie Shagday.

Typesetting by Howie Severson.

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San Francisco, California 94107
www.chroniclebooks.com

Spotted in Chinatown: a tightly trimmed silver bob and an 80s print two-piece suit paired with jade green sneakers. Vintage painters cap worn askew, large tortoiseshell glasses, and a plaid fleece jacket layered over a houndstooth vest. Oversize black beanie, square-rimmed glasses, red Fair Isle sweater juxtaposed with a blue plaid shirt.

Sounds like a window display at Urban Outfitters, but its just a few of the outfits weve encountered on Chinatown ph pohs (grandmas) and gng gungs (grandpas). These seniors cause us to do a double, sometimes a triple take when we pass them in the crosswalks on Stockton Street, the catwalks of San Francisco Chinatown. Our hearts race when we see their inventive outfits and melt at the sight of the tender detailsfound ribbons tied onto walking canes and shopping carts, worn clothes that carry so much obvious history.

Chinatown Prettythe term we coined to describe this unique styleis a delightful mix of modern and vintage, high and low, bold patterns and colors, and contemporary streetwearlike Nike sneakers or a Supreme hatthat takes the outfit to a whole new level. There are layers of knit sweaters and puffy coats (even in the summer) as well as five iterations of purple or floralssometimes all in one outfit. These Chinatown fashion icons share some of the same aesthetic sensibilities as hipster bloggersexcept theyre eighty years old! The seniors combine urban utilitarianism with unexpected sartorial selections that set our hearts aflutter.

These outfits weave together the seniors diaspora: where they came from, what they did for a living, how they made the best of their circumstances. Like handmade items using fabric from the sewing factory where they worked, or hand-knit or hand-me-down clothing from friends and family. Their style speaks to their values: Why buy new clothes when you can wear gifted ones? Or custom clothes from Hong Kong, thirty years old but perfectly preserved? Combined with tender personalized touches, Chinatown seniors style contains so much ingenuity, flair, and beauty.

We started Chinatown Pretty out of admiration for this overlooked community, for both their fashion blogworthy outfits and their active and independent lifestyles. We often asked ourselves, What is this grandmas storyand where did she get her shoes? (Specifically Jade Shoes, pg. 20, our Chinatown Cinderella story.)

Andria and I met in 2009 through the San Francisco food communityshe was photographing the burgeoning street-food scene as I was starting Rice Paper Scissors, a Vietnamese pop-up restaurant.