We were so excited by the first ever Fashionista photo shoot that we just had to know how our uber-stylist Meili Autumn pulled it off.

Snooze

8:45 a.m. Wake up after hitting the snooze button for 45 minutes. I’m supposed to be at the studio at 9:30, so I call Joy, the City Weekend photo editor, to tell her traffic is really bad, but she says she is running late too-awesome! Hit snooze one more time.
9:33 Meet my assistant Chen Jing at the SPR Coffee next to Yashow. She has a black Americano waiting for me and looks like she hasn’t gotten much sleep. She’s cut her hair again and now looks like a cross between Edward Scissorhands and Roseanne Barr. “Stop cutting your hair,” I advise her.

Candice

10:03 Candice is already at the studio waiting for style advice. She looks like she hasn’t been to bed from the night before. Turns out I’m not half wrong. She has mud on her legs and, judging from her hair, she probably hasn’t showered in a while. Awesome. Just perfect for glamour shots. We tease the hair, slip on one of her infamous ugly dresses and start the shoot. She’s a champ, and the camera loves her as she teeters in her high heeled pumps.
11:00 Wrap Candice’s shoot. Gabe shows up and we take inventory of the props: 1950’s transistor radio, synthesizer, portable hookah, mini TV, Beijing bicycle. Where’s the original NES game system? I guess we’ll have to do without it.

Lunch

12:00 p.m Fully paid business lunch at Alameda courtesy of City Weekend? Not quite. Instead, we have something at a local joint and discuss whether beer should start flowing. We opt for getting more photos underway before any inebriation.

Gabe

1:15 Start Gabriel’s makeup and hair. I love putting makeup on men. Note to self: buy cheap mascara. Using my favorite US$30 Christian Dior mascara to darken Gabe’s mustache is a waste. We keep teasing his hair higher and higher. Finally Gabe himself grabs his own hair and says “Watch how it’s done, ladies.” With the final touches, his hair gets three inches higher. We pump up his favorite dub jams and he works the camera like a pro. Seriously, Gabe is a natural. The photographer can’t click fast enough.

Chozie

2:45 Chozie shows up with two suitcases. One is full of designer jeans, haute couture hats, US$120 T-shirts and snazzy jackets. The other is full of bling. We go through endless combinations of rock star-DJ-meets-Hong-Kong-hipster and decide on three stellar looks. We jam to his new CD as he rocks the camera. Something tells me he’s done this before. AyeMon shows up in the middle of Chozie’s shoot, and I start trying to perfect what is already flawless.

AyeMon

3:17 It’s not hard making up someone who doesn’t need makeup, and a little royal plum eye shadow looks banging on AyeMon. As does her Zara suit and Guess corset. She is so cute. Her co-worker is there to make sure she is upholding the corporate standard and representing her company professionally. It’s hard when she has the figure of an FHM model, but I do my best to tone it down with a conservative French twist in the hair... like anyone is going to notice her hair.

Happy Hour at Face

5:30 I’m planning to go to the gym for yoga, until Chozie says he wants to take us all for drinks at Face. Margaritas (shaken, not frozen) at Face are my absolute favorite, and they must sprinkle crack on their spicy popcorn because I am absolutely addicted. Oh and I guess it’s happy hour as well. One more round everyone! Cheers to Candice, Gabe, AyeMon and of course Chozie for the first ever Fashionista photoshoot. They ask to be in the next one as well.

Dinner at 1949

8:00 Dinner? We decide on the new 1949 venue 1/5 Taverna where we have bottles of wine sent over courtesy of the owners. Roast lamb from Mongolia, paella, tapas and copious amounts of red wine are consumed. Chozie claims I’m to be his default makeup artist, and, even though he might be drunk, I’m holding him to it. More cheers, more toasts... more dessert?

Afterparty?

11:30 SUZIE WONGS!!! Well, that might be the case for the rest of them, but I’m headed home. I write and draw for an hour, still pumped with creativity from today’s shoot. It’s also a good time to Skype with friends. Before I know it, it’s...
2:14 a.m. Arrgghh! I wanted to be in bed by midnight! Oh well. I guess I’m technically in bed. Read a little. Drink lots and lots of water. Take my vitamins. Apply shea butter moisturizer all over, and start to drift off, listening to the lovely sound of the engineered voice of the public bus saying “... qing zhu yi anquan ...”

What we think... We had this idea to do something hip and sexy to liven up our Style section, so we came up with the Fashionista. We had no idea how it would turn out, but under Meili’s brilliant touch, the results speak for themselves. Fact is, now we kinda want to be featured in the next Fashionista column! Tell Meili why you deserve to be the next Fashionista feature at www.cityweekend.com.cn/dayinthelifeBJ.