On 13 April, French luxury fashion house Celine opened the doors to its latest pop-up space at Zhangyuan (张园 or Zhang Garden) in Shanghai. The pop-up shop is inspired by the nostalgia of holidays spent on the French Riviera, with the image of the location on the screen, as well as the summer season, or “été” as Celine calls it in French. It also serves as a warm-up ahead of Michael Rider’s debut collection at the Maison.
From a Celine boutique to a beachside garden inspired by the South of France, a café and areas for classic outdoor games, and a floor dedicated to summer, or “été”, the space captures all the charms of a holiday on the Côte d’Azur. The space will last for 5 weeks until 11 May, and appointments to visit can be made via Celine’s official Mini Program.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter equivalent, the topic “Été Celine” (Celine夏日限时漫游, lit. Celine summer time-limited wander”) amassed an impressive 46.26 million views. It’s worth noting that much of the traffic was driven by the star power at the opening event featuring Celine’s global ambassador Liu Shishi, brand ambassador Sun Qian and actor Chen Zheyuan, supermodel Jiali Zhao, etc.
Like the Longchamp Shanghai vegetable garden pop-up before it, Celine is also manufacturing the aesthetic of Shanghai’s colonial history with the French Riviera and the brand’s country of origin. By bringing the lifestyle to an equally nostalgic location such as Zhangyuan, Celine creates an immersive and site-specific experience for visitors.
By evoking the moving images of the French Riviera on the big screen, the brand not only creates the imagined nostalgia for those unfamiliar with the location but also appeals to the “xiaozi” (小资, lit. Petit Bourgeois) cinephiles of Shanghai.
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