LEADERS

SHANGHAI, China’s Luxury Gateway

by

Shaway Yeh

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
According to Shaway Yeh, editorial director of the Modern Media publishing group Here in China, it really does feel like the challenges of the financial crisis are “so last year”.…

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

According to Shaway Yeh, editorial director of the Modern Media publishing group

Here in China, it really does feel like the challenges of the financial crisis are “so last year”. The general mood is super positive, particularly in this industry. As many of you probably know, luxury boutiques and outposts are mushrooming around the country. Most brands have opened in the 2nd tier cities and leading brands like Louis Vuitton have opened in most 3rd tier cities. But knowing this can never quite prepare you for the energy and contagious confidence you feel when you do business in some of these cities. The luxury market has played a part in utterly transforming them. It’s extraordinary to see just how quickly they’ve been reinvented. The frenzy on the ground corroborates the numbers. Luxury sales just keep on rising.

In Shanghai, where I’m based and many luxury brands are headquartered, the impending World Expo serves as an extra booster. LVMH is the key sponsor for the French Pavilion and it will stage a major event later this month. Most of the major global luxury brands have signed leases in Shanghai’s new IFC and Hong Kong Plaza commercial complex to coincide with the excitement. The social calendar will be jam packed with galas, dinners and extravagant parties bringing international stars like Eva Mendes and Marion Cotillard to the city as part of luxury brands’ promotional strategies to mark the occasion. Consumers here are fast becoming really clued in to the latest celebrities and movements associated with their favourite luxury brands.

Our company, Modern Media, is doing quite well. Luxury brands are an important source of advertising revenue for the highbrow, high-end segment that many of the group’s magazines occupy. Ads are buoyant along with circulation. China is probably one of the very few markets where print media still enjoys good growth. Our portfolio is growing too. The flagship title, Modern Weekly, was recently nominated for several awards. We launched another female weekly magazine called U+ last year and it’s already profitable and positioned as the market leader. Another monthly title, an art and literature magazine, will be unveiled later this year. We’ve also struck a deal with the critically acclaimed French fashion title Numero to develop a China edition.

Momentum here has reached such a pace that the boom feels unstoppable. The China you might have seen last year is already a different market from what it is today. It’s challenging enough just to keep up with things, let alone keep ahead. But as you’ll have guessed, it’s positively thrilling to be here now.

Shaway Yeh
Editorial Director, Lifestyle
Modern Media

Shaway Yeh

Editorial Director, lifestyle

Bio Not Found

LEADERS

SHANGHAI, China’s Luxury Gateway

by

Shaway Yeh

|

This is the featured image caption
Credit : This is the featured image credit
According to Shaway Yeh, editorial director of the Modern Media publishing group Here in China, it really does feel like the challenges of the financial crisis are “so last year”.…

Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.

PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.

In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”

The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris

According to Shaway Yeh, editorial director of the Modern Media publishing group

Here in China, it really does feel like the challenges of the financial crisis are “so last year”. The general mood is super positive, particularly in this industry. As many of you probably know, luxury boutiques and outposts are mushrooming around the country. Most brands have opened in the 2nd tier cities and leading brands like Louis Vuitton have opened in most 3rd tier cities. But knowing this can never quite prepare you for the energy and contagious confidence you feel when you do business in some of these cities. The luxury market has played a part in utterly transforming them. It’s extraordinary to see just how quickly they’ve been reinvented. The frenzy on the ground corroborates the numbers. Luxury sales just keep on rising.

In Shanghai, where I’m based and many luxury brands are headquartered, the impending World Expo serves as an extra booster. LVMH is the key sponsor for the French Pavilion and it will stage a major event later this month. Most of the major global luxury brands have signed leases in Shanghai’s new IFC and Hong Kong Plaza commercial complex to coincide with the excitement. The social calendar will be jam packed with galas, dinners and extravagant parties bringing international stars like Eva Mendes and Marion Cotillard to the city as part of luxury brands’ promotional strategies to mark the occasion. Consumers here are fast becoming really clued in to the latest celebrities and movements associated with their favourite luxury brands.

Our company, Modern Media, is doing quite well. Luxury brands are an important source of advertising revenue for the highbrow, high-end segment that many of the group’s magazines occupy. Ads are buoyant along with circulation. China is probably one of the very few markets where print media still enjoys good growth. Our portfolio is growing too. The flagship title, Modern Weekly, was recently nominated for several awards. We launched another female weekly magazine called U+ last year and it’s already profitable and positioned as the market leader. Another monthly title, an art and literature magazine, will be unveiled later this year. We’ve also struck a deal with the critically acclaimed French fashion title Numero to develop a China edition.

Momentum here has reached such a pace that the boom feels unstoppable. The China you might have seen last year is already a different market from what it is today. It’s challenging enough just to keep up with things, let alone keep ahead. But as you’ll have guessed, it’s positively thrilling to be here now.

Shaway Yeh
Editorial Director, Lifestyle
Modern Media

Shaway Yeh

Editorial Director, lifestyle

Bio Not Found

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