The Great Catwalk of China

 

It’s nothing new for fashion labels to push for Chinese business and in 1995 Prada opened its first store in mainland china. A lot of flag planting was done in those days on china’s new shopping strips but now, it is a strategic necessity with the American slow-moving economy and Europe’s not much more energetic.

In 2010 Prada’s turnover increased to 75%, it is now twice the size of the label’s US market with only 14 stores on the mainland, Factorizing in tiny Hong Kong where there are only 9 Prada stores and another 30 in the Asia Pacific region. The decision by Prada to open another 9 stores in china by investing 50 million Euros doesn’t seem sensible as Beijing alone has a population of 19 million, even china’s ‘second tier’ cities have 8 million plus populations.

To mark the fashion show major actress Gong Li along with her pop phenomenon husband (from the Pet Shop Boys), Carlo Cracco (2 Michelin starred chef, who’s restaurant in Milan is a Prada favorite), 35 models plus a team of make-up artists, hairdressers, key customers and retailers from across Asia were flown in and had 60% of Beijing’s 5 star hotel rooms paid for.

Actress Maggie Chung wore a glass beaded orange and black dress as she made her (late) entrance and forthright editor of Chinese Vogue, Angelica Cheung was wrapped in a grey mink shrug. Although there wasn’t many eccentric Japanese Fashionistas, one boy willingly was seen wearing an asymmetric Union Jack Shirt and younger guests opted for a 1960’s meets Balenciaga futurism look, whilst a sophisticated 1950’s vibe was favored by older women. Not just among the Prada audience but on all of the women in Beijing there was a noticeable lack of dyed hair, this is because dyeing your hair is associated with prostitutes in conservative China.

The Prada spring/summer 2011 show was thought about long and hard by Miuccia Prada, ‘We my husband especially – wanted to do some special pieces. Especially as this season I ended up designing a collection entirely in cotton. Everyone told me, the Chinese hate cottons. They hate uniforms. The collection we showed in Milan had really plain suits, everything was in cotton, although very expensive cotton, but it had a humble effect. I was also told that anything that reminds the Chinese of the past is not wanted, so nothing from the 1920s or 1970s and no cheongsam necklines… actually, this collection in its original form couldn’t have been more wrong for China,’ she laughed apologetically.

However, what she didn’t want to do in the process of reworking it was make logos and exotic skins stand for luxury, some of the stripy pieces were glazed in clear sequins, printed cotton shirts and tops were recast in silk. Prada added ‘Adapting it was an interesting process, not least because the Chinese are really fast learners’. So fast that specially beaded pieces could be ordered instantly for delivery in a month and some pieces were available the next day.

Thanks to department stores dedicated to designer counterfeits, the more than a billion people with $2,000 or less disposable income in china can still shop in stores like the great mall of china.  Owned by the government which officially disapproves of, but in practice ‘turns a blind eye’ to the production of fakes.

Confirming the luxury customers of today were pleased with Prada’s gesture, the fashion editor of Chinese Harper’s Bazaar commented ‘It’s great that they decided to show in Beijing and it will be much appreciated’, while Miuccia Prada Quoted ‘The way to respond to the rise of China isn’t fear, or protectionism. Of course Chinese manufacturing is a problem for Italy’s manufacturing, but the answer is to educate new generations of Italians, who at the moment don’t want those jobs’. Prada has moved some of its production of nylon goods in the meantime, to China.

Speaking for Mr. Bertelli (Prada’s CEO and husband of Miuccia Prada), Sebastian Suhl unapologetically said ‘Mr. Bertelli has this belief that we’ve reached a point where it’s not about where something is made but how. It’s not a question of Made in Italy or China but Made by Prada.’

The head of world’s famous fashion school Central Saint Martins, Louise Wilson states that the large number of Chinese students who take her course in London will return home not only to make copies but produce their own original designs. ‘First we gave them our manufacturing, now they have our design knowhow’ says Louise.

Suhl, still unflustered puts forward the idea that in a few years China won’t simply be consuming the West’s luxury brands, it will be exporting its own. ‘With a billion and a half people, there’s a big enough market for all of us.’

 

By Jessica