Fashion Walk x Mr Men Little Miss

## Merchandise

**A Walk in Fashion** was a Hong Kong 2014 street fashion and merchandising campaign commissioned by Causeway Bay's Fashion Walk. It featured a few of the most iconic Mr. Men and Little Miss characters and a total of four new characters designed by Michael Lau.

The collaboration has been listed under various names:

* **Fashion Walk x Mr. Men & Little Miss**
* **Michael Lau x Mr. Men & Little Miss**
* **GUMGUMGUM x Mr. Men & Little Miss**
* **Crazysmiles x Mr. Men & Little Miss x GUMGUMGUM**

The collaboration took place as decorations of the characters on the streets to call attention to the event and had its basis in merchandising from Crazysmiles and GUMGUMGUM, featuring mugs, plates, rubber keychains, tote bags, personalized t-shirts and plush toys.
The characters depicted in merch were Little Miss Sunshine, Mr. Happy, Mr. Bump, Mr. Strong and limited Mr. Tickle (only on custom shirts) with the absence of Mr. Tall, Mr. Funny and Mr. Cool who did feature on the streets.

## Mr. Men & Little Miss by Michael Lau

Michael Lau designed a total of four new characters for the campaign.
Mr. Walk and Little Miss Fashion
Mr. GUMGUMGUM, the mascot for the merchandising
Mr. ML, Michael Lau's self-insert character, abscent in merchandising but did feature on the GUMGUMGUM shop window

Little Miss FashionMr. WalkMr. GUMGUMGUMMr. ML
## Description

Surprising passerbys at Causeway Bay’s Fashion Walk and Food Street are the new Mr. Men and Little Miss characters, including the all new Little Miss Fashion and Mr. Walk by Michael Lau. From now until the 31st of August, the 2m tall Little Miss fashion and Mr. Walk 3D sculpture welcomes summer with traces of themselves around aluminum, adidas Original, Y3 and Pacific Coffee Emporium. Mr. Men and Little Miss products will also be available at “Crazysmiles x Mr. Men and Little Miss x GUMGUMGUM Pop Up store” alongside other street performances happening around the street during 5pm on Saturdays.

(Hong Kong, June 20, 2014) Fashion Walk, the stylish gem of Hang Lung Properties in Causeway Bay, has invited the father of chic toy figures, Michael Lau, to feature in the collaborative creation "A WALK IN FASHION" summer campaign. In this fabulous campaign, Michael will introduce characters from the highly popular British book series "Mr. Men & Little Miss" into Hong Kongs distinctive lifestyle destination. In addition, in order to fully celebrate summer together with Fashion Walks shoppers, Michael has created two new characters, "Little Miss Fashion" and "Mr. Walk", who will make their Hong Kong debut when they join the Summer Music Street Party to be held at Fashion Walk.

From today until August 31, the giant 2.5 meters tall 3D figures "Little Miss Fashion" and "Mr. Walk" will be found at the front door of Fashion Walk and in Food Street. The public can also find traces of "Mr. Men" and his fellow characters in aluminum, adidas Original, Y3 and the Pacific Coffee Emporium as well as at other stores. Whats more, over 100 "Mr. Men and Little Miss" decorations will play hide-and-seek with shoppers or adopt amusing poses around Fashion Walk. Upon spending designated amounts during the promotion period, shoppers can redeem an array of "Mr. Men and Little Miss" limited edition gifts.
As well as designing the decorations for Fashion Walk, Michael will hold a limited "Crazysmiles x Mr. Men & Little Miss x GUMGUMGUM Pop Up Store" hand in hand with trendy concept store GUMGUMGUM. The complete series of "Mr. Men & Little Miss" products including houseware and stationery goods never seen before will also be available in the store. Upon spending HK$1,500 or more in the store, a complimentary limited edition personalized T-shirt will be given out. As well as the five styles of "Mr. Men and Little Miss" to choose from, you can also print "Mr. XXX" or "Little Miss XXX" on to the T-shirt, making a unique shirt for yourself or your friends. The "Mr. Men & Little Miss Pop Up Store" will officially open on June 27 (Friday).
Starting from June 21, every Saturday from 5pm to 7pm, Fashion Walks Food Street will host a "Little Miss Fashion Street Party". Customers with any same-day spending receipt can enjoy free entry to the party. The fun will include "Little Miss Fashion and Mr. Walk" themed game booths, including Rainbow Toss and Football Tic Tac Toe. Popcorn, Coca-Cola, Hoegaarden beer\* and vitaminwater® will also be served in the area. Shoppers spending a designated amount can redeem a limited edition "Fashion Walk and Mr. Men & Little Miss" umbrella and participate in the lucky draw. Please refer to the appendix for details.
Starting from today, shoppers can take photos of Mr. Men decorations and upload them to Instagram by the hash tags #hkfashionwalk, @hkfashionwalk or #fwxmrmen. The top 30 shoppers will receive a Starbucks coffee coupon. Meanwhile, two new trendy sportswear shops, Under Armour and adidas Women, will open by the end of July. Please stay tuned.
To celebrate the birth of "Little Miss Fashion" and "Mr. Walk", The Peak Galleria is also taking part in the fun, holding a charity event attended by 100 people including celebrities, artists as well as members of the public. The Peak Galleria will also join hands with GUMGUMGUM and "Mr. Men & Little Miss" with an exhibition called "I am Mr?" and a weekend street party. More information will be released soon.
* Beer for customers aged 18 or above only.

## Artist

    Michael Lau is widely credited as the founder of the urban vinyl style within the designer toy movement. is the sort of artist who strongly believes discipline is rewarded with success. While being brought up in Hong Kong is his reasoning for his focus on "time" and the source of his creativity - In his words, Hong Kong being a melting pot without ties to culture and traditions - he also assumes it causes his non-hip work to be overlooked. Therefor he held his art show, featuring paintings instead of the desired designer toys, in Taiwan, where people are tied to culture and still take time to search for the deeper meaning behind works.

-Accordingly, Lau's latest project, A Walk in Fashion, a campaign commissioned by Causeway Bay's Fashion Walk, is a look back at a classic: the street installation series, on until August 31, features new characters inspired by the iconic British children's book series Mr Men & Little Miss as designed by Lau. These colourful and all-smiling characters are quite a contrast to Lau's cool and chic Gardener series, but the young-at-heart artist enjoys the creative process no less.

He has always been fond of the Mr Men & Little Miss series, he says, as he sees them as classic characters. "I always like digging into a classic, whether it is old toys or vintage furniture. So when I looked into this project, I saw it as a chance to reinvent a classic through storytelling, design, spacing, colour and so on."

## References and Notes

**References**

1. ↑ stuVVZ, 24/06/2014
2. ↑ Hang Lung Properties article, 20/06/2014
Michael Lau on Wikipedia
4. ↑ South China Morning Post, Interview with Micheal Lau by Rachel Mok, 10/08/2014

**Notes**