Shanghai's haute couture week to kick off on the Bund next month

Imaginechina

Shanghai's annual haute couture week will be held next month on the Bund to help enhance the city's soft power and achieve its ambition to become a global design capital.

The Shanghai New Customization Week 2021-2022 will be held at the Bund Finance Center on November 12, the Shanghai International Fashion Federation, the organizer of the event, announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

This year's couture week will focus on young haute couture practitioners and further promote quality lifestyle among consumers. A series of events, such as fashion shows, immersive exhibitions and theme salons, will be held during the week.

The event is also part of the series of activities to deal with the "spillover effect" of the China International Import Expo, which is scheduled for November 5-10 at the National Exhibition and Convention Center in suburban Qingpu District.

The couture week will make "oriental aesthetics" its main theme and focus on Chinese culture and fashion consumption. It is expected to help enhance the urban soft power of Shanghai and further promote Chinese culture around the world, according to the federation.

"The 'oriental beauty' is the common language of globalization as well as an excellent carrier to showcase Chinese culture to the world," said Xu Xiaoliang, president of the federation and Co-CEO of Fosun International.

Shanghai is set to enhance its urban "soft power" to match its ambitions to become a socialistic metropolis with global influence by 2035.

As one of its key efforts, the city aims to become an international design capital with prosperous design and innovation sectors and global professionals.

The city's innovation and design industry has grown by 10 percent annually in the last decade. Shanghai now has 137 city-level culture and innovation parks with some 20,000 companies. A large group of professionals have been attracted to the city, including 11 academicians and nine top national arts and crafts masters.

The city's haute couture week was initiated a decade ago to help improve the designing capabilities of young local fashion designers. It has become one of China's and the world's top fashion event.

The haute couture should serve the larger group of consumers pursuing a better life, rather than just the wealthy, according to an expert of the federation.

China's per capita GDP exceeded US$10,000 for the first time in 2019. It not only means a further increase in people's income, but also a solid foundation for the cultural self-confidence of the Chinese people, he added.

The expert said the chinoiserie fashion involving oriental aesthetics has been gaining in popularity globally in recent years. Chinese elements are increasingly being used by the international fashion industry and appearing in major shows.