EVENTS
Fashion Week Champions the Influence of Shanghai’s Style
This is the featured image caption
Credit: This is the featured image credit
Felice Jiang of Jing Daily examines the influence of the east demonstrated in the Spring Summer 2011 collections, as particularly evidenced at Hermès and Givenchy Felice Jiang of Jing Daily…
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
Felice Jiang of Jing Daily examines the influence of the east demonstrated in the Spring Summer 2011 collections, as particularly evidenced at Hermès and Givenchy
Felice Jiang of Jing Daily examines the influence of Shanghai demonstrated in the Spring Summer 2011 collections, as particularly evidenced at Hermès and Givenchy.
The Fall/Winter fashion shows have come to an end and, once again, China was heavy on the minds of those in the luxury realm. Jing Daily has reported on the China-inspired collections of Ralph Lauren this season, as well as that of Louis Vuitton and Chanel in the past. This growing trend, which mixes business interests with creative output, showed itself at a number of other shows as well.
Givenchy’s 2011 Spring Couture Collection (Givenchy)
Givenchy
Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci’s Asian-inspired haute couture collection in January featured an all Asian model cast, with Chinese models making up the majority. The Chinese models included Ming Xi, Liu Wen, Shu Pei Qin, Fei Fei Sun, Du Juan, and Jiang Xiao Yi.
The French luxury house is part of the LVMH group (previously on Jing Daily), which counts Asia as one of its top markets, accounting for 34 percent of the group’s sales last year, equal to Europe. Givenchy plans to open ten new stores across Asia this year, with six being in China. Wilfred Koo, President of China, Asia Pacific at Givenchy, recently told Reuters that Givenchy “started early in China,” and already has 64 stores in China that span first- and second-tier cities. Continuing, Koo said, “what’s interesting now is the trend is looking toward third-tier cities,” with the brand planning a store in the little-known city of Baoding, in the northeastern province of Hebei.
Givenchy’s chief executive officer told Reuters that “today what’s interesting in our business is to be able to express and please a diverse group,” and part of what it will be for the fashion industry will be “to have Asian people in ad campaigns.”
Anne Valerie Hash Fall/Winter 2011 (Style.com)
Anne Valerie Hash
On Day two of Paris Fashion Week, French designer Anne Valerie Hash chose her Paris atelier as the venue to show her new collection, which featured meticulous tailoring and relaxed and soft fabrics. Hash told AFP after the show that she focused on “softness within the changing world,” particularly as it looks increasingly Eastward.
Anne Valerie Hash’s design team is predominantly Japanese and entirely East Asian. In addition, Hash collaborated on this season’s collection with Beijing-based Taiwanese artist Huang Zhiyang, whose paintings are featured in the prints. While elaborate prints were a feature of many collections, Anne Valerie Hash filled her show with an Eastern elegance inspired by Huang Zhiyang’s paintings.
Hermès
Hermès opened a new chapter at this year’s Paris Fashion Week with new designer Christopher Lemaire’s debut collection. Previously at Lacoste, Lemaire presented a Fall/Winter 2011 collection with a hint of Native American inspiration, while nodding to the equestrian heritage of Hermès.
Unconventionally, Christopher Lemaire set a serene mood by including a live performance on the guzheng by Beijing composer Wu Fei. Hermès has, of course, garnered a great deal of attention about its “created-in-China” sub-brand, Shang Xia, staffed and designed by a Chinese team and displaying a distinctly Chinese aesthetic. Though Shang Xia is independent of the Hermès brand, we can see how Hermès’ appreciation for Chinese craftsmanship and heritage seem to have seeped through, however minimally.
Mary Katrantzou Fall/Winter 2011 (Style.com)
Mary Katrantzou
London-based designer Mary Katrantzou eschewed last season’s interior design-inspired images for prints reminiscent of Fabergé eggs, porcelain, cloisonné enamel and Ming vases. To display the luxurious objects that inspired the prints, shapes and outlines took on stiff artificial canvases, as well as soft silhouettes that usually post difficulties for placement prints. Mary Katrantzou’s Fall Winter 2011 collection presented the “woman as connoisseur,” placing Ming vases in demand not only for art collectors but also the fashion world.
