On the evening of 3 December, French luxury fashion house Chanel unveiled its latest Métiers d’Art collection of embroidery, jewellery and accessories by the iconic West Lake in Hangzhou, capital of the Zhejiang province in Eastern China. It is the first time in 15 years Chanel has unveiled its Métiers d’Art collection in China, following the Shanghai show in 2009.
The show was held at the Quyuanfenghe (lit. breeze-ruffled lotus and Quyuan Garden, one of the Ten Scenes of West Lake). It is inspired by a Coromandel screen from founder Gabrielle Chanel’s collection which depicts the iconic Ten Scenes of West Lake and was on display at the designer’s study. Chinese elements pop up from time to time in the artisan-made garments and accessories.
On 30 November, the Maison teased the show with a promotional video directed by Wim Wenders and features Chanel’s global brand ambassadors: British actress Tilda Swinton, Chinese actress Xin Zhilei and Chinese singer-songwriter Leah Dou. But the true star of the video was the ebony screen. The video quickly earned 9.91 million views on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform. On Weibo’s Hot Search list, the topic “Chanel in Hangzhou” (#香奈儿在杭州#) reached number 8 with 210 million views. Meanwhile, “Chanel Métiers d’Art” (#香奈儿高级手工坊#) reached number 11 and “Wang Yibo at the Hangzhou Chanel show” landed at number 19.
The show, as expected, was attended by celebrities from across the world, especially in Asia. Interestingly, the topic “Chanel fashion show, lighting of death” (#香奈儿大秀 死亡打光#), reached number 4 on the Hot Search list with 88.58 million views. The “lighting of death” refers to the lighting on the red carpet of the show where all the usually photogenic stars are made to look less than attractive.
Chanel hosted an exhibition in Shanghai, a reprisal show in Hong Kong, before this debut in Hangzhou. It is clear that the Maison is putting much effort into the Chinese market. With speculation of further expansion in China, how the brand plans to leverage the market in 2025 is worth watching.
