China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Chengdu gets Chanel touch
Global fashion house brings latest show to Sichuan province
When China becomes an important market for luxury companies, some of them invite Chinese customers to fly abroad for their shows, while others bring their shows to local customers.
After presenting its Metiers d’art show on the Huangpu River, in Shanghai in December 2009, and then staging its Paris in Rome Metiers d’art show at 751D-Park, Beijing in May 2016, Chanel recently brought its latest show to Chengdu, in the Southwest China’s Sichuan province.
In May, Chanel presented this collection The Modernity of Antiquity by Karl Lagerfeld at the Galerie Courbe in the Grand Palais in Paris.
Then, the fashion world was amazed by not only Lagerfeld’s designs but also the setting, a replica of the Parthenon in Athens and the Temple of Poseidon in ancient Greece.
On Nov 7, Chanel replicated the show in Chengdu for local customers and celebrities including the brand’s Chinese ambassador Zhou Xun.
For the event, an old factoryturned gallery was turned into the Greek ruins, while guests sat beneath the Greek columns made of special stretched fabric.
Models, both Chinese and foreigners, were dressed like Greek goddesses.
Supple draping and elegant, fluid lines shaped silhouettes in tweed and jersey, silk and linen, lace and crepe.
And raw fringes mingled with precious embroidery, while column-heeled gladiators elevated the traditional Greek sandal. Olympic laurels became head ornaments while sautoirs, bracelets and golden cuffs adorned neck and arms.
Lagerfeld wrote in the notes provided by Chanel: “The criteria of beauty in ancient, then classical, Greece still hold true. There have never been more beautiful representations of women or more beautiful columns. The entire Renaissance, in fact, was based on antiquity. It is really about the youth of the world in all its power and unpredictability — just like the unforgiving gods.” But why Chengdu? Bruno Pavlovsky, the president of Chanel Fashion, says it is because the boutique it opened in Chengdu in June 2014, is “successful”.
“The local customers love the brand. They understand the creativity of the brand. We want to celebrate the success, we want to continue and to develop the relationship with local customers,” he says.
Doing the Paris show in Chengdu with Chinese celebrities is a good way not only to influence existing customers, but to develop new cus- tomers, he says.
To connect with the show, from Nov 8 to 19 Chanel redecorated its boutique at the Chengdu IFS.
The “Greek columns” in the store had Lagerfeld’s sketches of the designs projected on the them. There, customers could watch the videos of the show in Paris and the brand story.
Though shopping online has become a trend, European luxury brands still care much about the customers’ shopping experience in stores.
“Social media is a way to communicate, to create a dream,” says Pavlovsky.
“We are not doing fashion e-commerce. E-commerce maybe efficient to sell products, but is not a good way to build brand image.
“We don’t sell huge amount of bags or shoes on line. We need the customers to understand the products.
“We invite customers to come to the boutique to see the design, the fabric, the quality, the finishing, to try, to touch and to talk to our fashion adviser.
“Believe me, when they see a celebrity post a bag or shoes on social media and if they want the products, they come to the boutique.”
He says ever since Chanel introduced its price-harmonization strategy in April 2015, there has been no big price gap between products in China and abroad. It means that Chinese customers don’t need to go to New York or Paris to find products.
Now Chanel has 11 boutiques in 8 Chinese cities.
Pavlovsky did not reveal plans for new store.
“It takes time because whenever we open a new boutique, we need to find the right location, provide good service, sell products well ... We are building a strong customers base, loyal customers in every city,” he says.
“Chanel is about emotion, and we want the customers to understand the emotion.”