China Day at New York Fashion Week celebrates new ideas
XU ZHI's Spring/Summer 2020 series
The fourth China Day took place during New York Fashion Week on September 8, featuring leading children's sportswear brand ANTA Kids, LILY, and independent designer label XU ZHI.
The theme "70/40" paid a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up.
On March 19, 1979, French designer Pierre Cardin held the first fashion show on China’s mainland at the Cultural Palace of Nationalities in Beijing. In August of the same year, American Vogue featured Nancy Kissinger's first official trip to China, the first time that the contemporary China had been spotlighted on an international fashion magazine. Two months later, British Vogue gave special coverage of China in its October 1979 issue. Then editor-in-chief Grace Coddington came China for the first time to mastermind the shoot.
There then followed the first cohort of fashion designers, apparel factories, models, a home-grown fashion media and the first appearance by China on the global runway.
From almost zero four decades ago, China has grown into the world's biggest fashion consumption market.
ANTA Kids springs from the ANTA Group, one of the first Chinese fashion companies in the 1990s, while LILY is the backbone of designer brands that came into being around the turn of millennium. XU ZHI emerged after 2010, as an independent designer brands with international vision.
ANTA Kids made its debut as part of the prelude to the 2020 Beijing Winter Olympics. Filled with Olympic spirit, the brand relies heavily on new materials and functions.
"Landing in New York Fashion Week is our attempt to letting the world meet ANTA kids," said CEO Lin Xianghua.
As China's first women's "business fashion" brand, LILY uses sharp and clean silhouettes, creative colors and patterns. LILY has more than 900 retail outlets in China, selling products worth more than 3 billion yuan (US$422 million) last year.
"The new generation of Chinese women need to tackle more obstacles and challenges, meanwhile embracing more opportunities and options. As a trailblazer in office fashion, LILY gives a new voice to Chinese women," said Chen Chuan, General Manager of Shanghai Silk (Group) Brand Development Co Ltd.
In this collection ZHU XI used float prints and braid embroidery a to blend Greek mythology with Southern flair, releasing its Spring/Summer 2020 series in collaboration with China's leading home furnishings mall operator Macalline, to reflect rising environmental awareness among Chinese people.
