Fashion's China Syndrome:
When Asian Styles Hit Home
From Gucci's cherry-blossom embroidered dresses to Giorgio Armani's mandarin-collared shirts, Asian references are everywhere in the world of global fashion . From designer jackets to jewelry, handbags and home furnishings, Chinese themes 'exploded this year,' says Roberto Cavalli, the Italian designer whose summer collection this year features a cheongsam dress adorned with a fire-breathing dragon.
High fashion's tribute to Asia just happens to coincide with a major push by Europe's global fashion houses into the Chinese market. The styles are making a splash all over the world, except for one place: China.
Inside Gucci Group NV's elegant boutique in Hong Kong's Pacific Place shopping center, Rachel Leung walks right past the intricately embroidered Chinese-style blouses. 'This kind of thing isn't what I'd look for at Gucci,' explains Ms. Leung, a marketing executive. 'When I come here I expect to see something more European.'
In Shanghai, Ellen Nie, manager of a Prada boutique, says foreign customers seem more interested in the Asian styles than the local Chinese. 'It's probably because native Chinese have seen and worn too many such clothes,' Ms. Nie says. 'So they'll prefer the Western designs here.' A sales clerk at a Gucci shop in Hong Kong concurs: Chinese customers 'aren't really interested in this stuff,' she says.
The cultural snub comes at an inauspicious time for European luxury firms, which, despite fears of severe acute respiratory syndrome, are courting China's emerging rich like never before. Eager to expand outside mature markets in Europe, Japan and the U.S., fashion companies are planning a major drive into China over the next several years. Many intend to go beyond the cosmopolitan cities of Shanghai and Beijing and penetrate interior provincial capitals, such as Chengdu and Chongqing.
Armani SpA plans to open as many as 30 shops for its various signature lines in the coming five years, while Gucci Group NV is scheduled to open two stores for its core Gucci brand by 2004. Gianni Versace SpA plans to open eight stores for its main Versace line and 16 shops for its younger Versus brand in the coming three years. For many of these firms, China's booming economy and status-hungry consumers represent the future growth engine of the luxury goods business.
'This is a particularly interesting time for China, and everyone's looking to the Chinese market,' says Miuccia Prada, who designs the Prada and Miu Miu lines for Prada SpA. Ms. Prada, like several other European designers, notes that the timing of the Asian-inspired designs is more than coincidental. 'The two trends are moving in parallel directions,' she says.
Shoes and handbags, these from Armani, show signs of designers' collective fascination with the Far East.
Fashion companies insist that the more consumers travel, the more they follow the same fashion trends, regardless of their nationality. That's why, for example, ads from New York to Beijing feature the same blue-satin Chinese-style dress from Gucci. Still, branded kimonos and cherry-blossom print jackets haven't been a hit in Asia when they've been introduced before, says Yuko Oshima, publicity director for Versace's Far East operations. 'My impression is that they are still more popular in Europe than in Asia,' adding that she doesn't have specific sales figures.
Several European fashion houses say the Asian designs have been selling mainly to tourists, foreigners and young people. Ms. Oshima says Versace's Asian-themed products sold well in Hong Kong, mainland China and Tokyo. Consumers liked them because they had floral designs and colorful patterns, not because they had Asian themes. 'Consumers in Asia are buying these products because they are fashionable in the West, not because they represent their own culture,' she says.
A Prada spokesman says Chinese designs sell well world-wide but are most popular in Europe. Gucci says its Asian designs are selling well around the world; it doesn't disclose regional sales.
Designers encounter many of the same cultural hurdles that other global marketers find in new markets. European and U.S, fashion houses had to introduce smaller sizes when they came to Japan, for example.
Western designers interpreting traditional Chinese styles must be careful to avoid any hint of cultural condescension, Chinese designers and consumers warn -- especially because designers' brand images in China are still being formed.
Barney Cheng, a Hong Kong fashion designer, cautions against simply adding Chinese characteristics to European designs. It is 'totally the wrong way' to entice the mainland market, Mr. Cheng says. 'It's a very Westernized, fantasized chinoiserie that really isn't relevant to everyday life in this part of the world.' Referring to a micro-mini cheongsam by an Italian designer, he says: 'You don't see Chinese people wearing a cheongsam like that.'
时装界的"中国风"
《华尔街日报》--从古驰(Gucci)设计的绣着鲜艳花朵的服装
