Highlighting latest jewelry, fashions and eco trends
Panthere Discrete in Cartier's high-end jewelry collection "BEAUTÉS DU MONDE"
Cartier
Cartier is presenting its latest high-end jewelry collection, BEAUTÉS DU MONDE, by creative director Jacqueline Karachi at the Bund in Shanghai.
More than 400 pieces of jewelry, luxury watches and rare vintages provide visitors with a journey of beauty through design, tension of lines, geometry and abstraction.
The necklace Panthere Discrete features the brand's iconic panther with sharp eyes, which has its paws on a 59.32-carat pillow-shaped tourmaline, while the onyx ornament on the necklace echoes the animal's spots pattern.
For more than a century, the dragonfly has been one of the themes of Cartier's creation. The brooch CORDULIA from the collection brings a new design: One wing of the dragonfly is made of a 20.09-carat opal, which flashes a magic glow just like the iridescent halo in the sunlight. The textured white crystals around the opal look like the light shining through the thin, translucent wings.
The necklace Aporia interprets a naturalistic motif: the butterfly. The insect's wings, if observed up close, are fragmented and multiplied into a completely abstract composition.
The design is a play on the different possibilities offered by this single motif. In a color scheme that has been dear to Cartier for more than 100 years, touches of black onyx and rubellite underscore the balance of the whole and add depth, giving the design graphic strength.
Hermès' women's spring/summer 2023 collection
Hermès
Hermès recently launches its women's spring/summer 2023 collection in Shanghai.
With the theme "a rave in the desert," the new collection plays with magnificent desert colors – yellow, ochre, ebony, sandy beige, Thar brown, dawn pink and sunset hues, which speed by with the passing hours of a day in the desert.
Each of these pieces seems to have been cut straight out of a net, a hammock and a mosquito screen to echo with the theme and the keyword "camping." Some leather works feature braiding and crochet skills, giving the pieces a supple and athletic ambiance.
A 3D-printed dress looks shimmering with a pair of 3D glasses, while the gowns in bright pinks and reds are designed to recall flags fluttering in the wind.
Anta Kids' winter collection
Anta
China's sportswear leader Anta recently released its latest kids' winter collection in Shanghai with a total of 55 sets of professional gear for children on the ice and in snow.
It is an ambitious move to carve out a kids wear kingdom in the country.
Statistics from the China Administration of Sports reveal that 46 million people aged under 18 were involved in at least one winter sports by October 2021, largely fueled by the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
Since 2019, ice and snow sports have become optional courses for school students. At the same time, China's policy to ease the burden of excessive homework allows more physical exercises for children.
As the official sportswear partner of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Winter Games, Anta looks to this huge market.
The kids' winter collection covers almost every outdoor scenario, such as camping and excursions, in snow and on ice. It featured futuristic styles, vibrant colors and several Olympic motifs.
The down jacket was inspired by the architectural design of the National Ski Jumping Center in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province. The architecture resembles a ruyi, or a ceremonial scepter, with the cultural connotation: "Everything goes as well as one wishes."
Anta Kids also released its professional figure-skating training suit with body-tightness, breathable fabric and high elasticity.
During the runway show, notable front-row guests included figure skater Chen Hongyi, short-track speed-skater Han Tianyu, freestyle skier Cheng Shuang and Xu Jingtao, a lead player on the Chinese National Men's Curling Team.
Professor Chu Dajian shares his report on sustainable fashion on M Space Forum.
M Space
Customers with sustainability awareness will reach 10 percent of China's total population by 2035 when more people are embracing the green fashion concept, said Chu Dajian, professor from Tongji University and director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and Governance, at the M Space Forum held recently in Shanghai.
The fashion industry in China has undergone three stages – sustainable but not fashionable in the 1990s, fast fashion without sustainability during the past 20 years, and slow fashion with the eco-awareness that is about to arrive.
"Real sustainability is supposed to be friendly to the environment, good to society and profitable to the economy," Chu said. "China's sustainable fashion is still at an infant stage. With the increase of the middle class and people with sustainable awareness, sustainable consumption will reach its climax."
Another lecturer Liu Chan from Duozhuayu (Deja Vu), a second-hand store started in 2017 that focuses on recycling used books and clothes, shared her views and industrial practice.
"Second-hand clothes have a very bad stereotype in China, so we've designed a new system that pays to recycle clothes," Liu said. "The idea is that our clients should not pay more than the cost of dropping garbage downstairs. Fashion businesses need to screen fashion and outdated more effectively."
