Though Shanghai held its first international fashion festival in 1995, it is only now that China is ready to turn haute couture into a flourishing commercial enterprise, according to some of the world’s top designers.
Daniel Tribouillard, head of France’s Leonard fashion house and a pioneer who brought a clothing exhibition from the Louvre Museum to Shanghai in 1993, said the time is right to launch his business in China.
Over the past two days, Tribouillard showed off his fall/winter collection for 2001/2002, silk and cashmere pop-art-influenced outfits that were paraded in Paris only two weeks ago.
Tribouillard, in town for the 2001 Shanghai International Fashion Culture Festival, said he is now confident about expanding his business in China.
“We're very successful in Asia. We have more than 100 exclusive stores in Japan,” he said. “I think the same story can be written in China.”
In an interview with Shanghai Daily, Tribouillard recalled his first visit to China in 1975, when he was surrounded by a sea of people dressed in navy and olive green.
“You couldn’t imagine talking about high fashions here at that time,” he said. “We waited for people to appreciate Leonard, and now they do.”
His company has begun with a boutique in Beijing, and plans to open nine new stores elsewhere in the country. Tribouillard would not reveal his schedule, but he admitted he's scouting locations and agents during his Shanghai visit.
Another international designer, James Ferragamo, grandson of Salvatore Ferragamo, founder of the Italian leather house, visited the city on Saturday to “learn more about the Chinese market” and vowed to return later this year.
His father, Ferruccio Ferragamo, was in town last spring, evidence of a strong interest in China by the family.
“China still needs to grow, compared with other regions where we have larger sales volumes,” said James Ferragamo. “But this growth phase is a very important time for us to create the best image so we can gain a stronger position when the market improves.”
The fashion house has opened 11 boutiques in China since 1994 when it set up its first of three shops in Shanghai. It will launch four new stores in the country by the end of the year.
It’s not just the haute couture houses that are showing new interest in China.
A British trade delegation of consumer fashion companies for the first time attended the Shanghai International Fashion Expo, which closed on Saturday at ShanghaiMart.
“You can see all the world’s top fashion houses bringing their boutiques to Shanghai,” said Lorraine Ellison, international marketing director of the Mid-Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, which is leading the visitors. “Since British style is considered high-edge in the international fashion com-munity, why not come and show local consumers what we have?”
(eastday.com 05/02/2001)
