Tadashi Shoji, a Los Angeles-based dress brand, opened a store in Beijing, China, on April 26th. This is the brand's second retail store in China, following its first in Shanghai in July 2012. The store is located in Parkview Green, a complex built near the embassy area and featuring a shopping mall, luxury hotel, and office space. It also shares a floor with Stella McCartney and Roberto Cavalli. An opening ceremony was held on the same day, followed by a runway show and cocktail party at the shopping mall. The party was attended by Octavia Spencer, who made headlines when she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2012 in a Tadashi Shoji dress, Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, and other actresses and celebrities from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and elsewhere. Designer Tadashi Shoji is a Japanese national with American citizenship, born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. After studying under avant-garde artist Jiro Takamatsu, he moved to Los Angeles in 1970 and worked under Hollywood costume designer Bill Whitton, who created stage costumes for artists such as Neil Diamond, Elton John, and the Commodores. In 1982, he founded Tadashi Shoji. As a dress brand offering everything from evening gowns to separates, he is better known in the US than in Japan, and has shown his work at the New York Collection. In Japan, he has a showroom in Kita-Aoyama, and his work is sold at Mitsukoshi Nihombashi Main Store, Isetan Shinjuku Store, Ginza Mitsukoshi Store, Matsuzakaya Nagoya Store, Hankyu Umeda Main Store, Barneys New York, and other stores.