2020/01/30
"Made in China" may still evoke
more off the rack than catwalk, but Chinese designers are slowly installing
themselves in Paris, the fashion capital, as a part of an upscale march towards
the lucrative luxury market, a segment that is increasingly made up of Chinese
shoppers.
As Paris gears up for its next run of shows
early in the new year, it is clear that Chinese designers have made it into the
rarefied world of fashion. Think Guo Pei, the Chinese-born and trained
couturier best known for the massive canary-yellow coronation cape worn by
Rihanna that stole the show at the New York Met's 2015 gala.
Guo, who has a Paris boutique, will present
her haute culture collection. Several other Chinese designers, such as Uma
Wang, Masha Ma, Yang Li, Jarel Zhang, Dawei and Shangguan Zhe, will show their
collections at the ready-to-wear shows in February.
"We're starting to see fashion coming
from China aimed at the entire world and which is creating new ideas about the
country -- a new 'Made in China' of quality and refinement," said Isabelle
Capron, head of Chinese fashion group Icicle's Paris office.
Paris a 'springboard'
Founded in Shanghai in 1997, Icicle has 270
shops in China and generates 250 million euros (275 million US dollars) in
annual sales. Under the label's back-to-nature ethos, it favours natural
fabrics like cashmere, silk, cotton, wool and linen. It uses natural dyes made
from onions, walnut bark, woad and tea to colour the clothes it makes in the
three factories that it owns in China.
The Chinese firm opened its first
international store in September in Paris in the heart of the city's
"Golden Triangle" of luxury boutiques. "It's a springboard for
our internationalisation," Capron said. "Paris is the capital of
fashion, and the goal is to give our brand visibility," she added.
Even though many Western brands are produced
in China, European consumers still view clothes tagged "Made in
China" as being of mediocre quality. "Stereotypes are very tenacious:
seven years ago when I said I was joining a Chinese group, some people looked
at me and it was clear that 'the Chinese have no taste' and 'the Chinese are
poor-quality manufacturers' were running through their heads," Capron
said.
"But today, there has been a real swing,
this new wave of Chinese brands is a tidal wave."
'Quality more important'
Designer Shangguan Zhe, founder of the
Sankuanz label based in the Chinese port city of Xiamen, made his international
debut in London in 2015. Now a regular at the Paris men's ready-to-wear shows,
Shangguan said he has not encountered stereotypes or challenges based on his
nationality from fellow designers.
"People from outside the industry are
more likely to have these stereotypes," he told AFP in China. "People
from within the industry are fully aware of the level China's manufacturing is
at," he said, adding: "The quality is actually getting better and
better."
Speaking to AFP from China, he said:
"Paris is a very international stage. People don't really care where you
came from... The product itself is more important."
'Neo-Chinese chic'
Shiatzy Chen, a fashion house founded in 1978
in Taiwan, produces its clothes in Shanghai and Taipei. It has staged shows in
Paris for a decade and has a boutique in one of Paris's most exclusive streets.
Why Paris?
"Paris is the centre of Western fashion
and the birthplace of the couture. A design studio in Paris, the heart of
couture, helps us to explore complex Western construction techniques as well as
stay on top the latest trends," Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia, who founded the fashion
house and who has been dubbed the Coco Chanel of Taiwan, told AFP.
The label, which set itself a mission to
create "neo-Chinese chic" through a fusion of East and West, has 70
boutiques throughout Asia. The collections marry traditional techniques with
contemporary cuts.
"To be attractive, including for Chinese
clients, a Chinese label cannot limit itself to boutiques at home, it must also
be present in Paris, which fascinates" the Chinese, said luxury goods
expert Eric Briones, noting that China today represents some 35 percent of the
global luxury goods market. This "rise of a new 'Made in China' is just
the start of a revolution, initiated by a young generation that wants to
consume Chinese," said Briones, who co-founded the Paris School of Luxury.
"It is a return to favour for local
brands which began with streetwear and is now spreading to luxury
clothes," he added.
Source: AFP, Photo: Twicepix, Creative Commons
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