“Made in China” might 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 toward 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 the Chinese-born and trained couturier Guo Pei (郭培), best known for the massive canary-yellow coronation cape worn by Rihanna that stole the show at the New York Met’s gala in 2015.
Guo, who has a Paris boutique, is to present her haute culture collection. Several other Chinese designers, such as Uma Wang (王汁), Masha Ma (馬瑪莎), Yang Li (李陽), Dawei Sun (孫大為) and Shangguan Zhe (上官哲) are to 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.
Founded in Shanghai in 1997, Icicle has 270 shops in China and generates 250 million euros (US$279 million) in annual sales.
Under the label’s back-to-nature ethos, it favors natural fabrics such as cashmere, silk, cotton, wool and linen. It uses natural dyes made from onions, walnut bark, woad and tea to color the clothes that 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 internationalization,” 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,” she added.
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 reporters.
“People from within the industry are fully aware of the level China’s manufacturing is at. The quality is actually getting better and better,” he added. “Paris is a very international stage. People don’t really care where you came from ... The product itself is more important.”
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 on one of Paris’ most exclusive streets.
“Paris is the center 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,” said Shiatzy Chen (王陳彩霞), the company’s founder who has been dubbed the Coco Chanel of Taiwan.
The label, which set itself a mission to create “neo-Chinese chic” through a fusion of East and West, has 70 boutiques throughout Asia.
“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, adding that China 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 cofounded the Paris School of Luxury.
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