On 10 April, French designer fashion label Ami Paris staged its Fall Winter 24 show on the City Wall in Suzhou. This marks the brand’s second-ever China show, after its Shanghai event back in 2019. The show came after the brand opened its first Suzhou boutique late last year.
The co-ed fashion show displayed a strong East-meets-West contrast as models donned the Parisian style new collection and walked on the equally Chinese setting of the historic remains of the wall. Ami also invited friends of the brand such as Hong Kong actress Kara Wai, Canadian singer-songwriter Henry Lau, Japanese model Mika Hashizume, Chinese actress Li Qin and Taiwanese singer and actor Jerry Yan.
Netizens on Chinese social media welcomed the event. On China’s Twitter equivalent Weibo, the topic “Ami Suzhou fashion show” (#Ami苏州时装秀#) reached number 38 on the Hot Search list with 83.73 million views. On WeChat, Ami’s post of the show highlights gained a sizeable 21,300 views. The number of notes about the fashion show exceeded 2,600 on the lifestyle app Xiaohongshu (RED).
Ami Paris was founded in 2010 by Alexandre Mattiussi, who also serves as creative director of the brand. On the topic of the show, Mattiussi remarked that the fashion show is a milestone for the brand and stressed that Chinese and Asian markets are an indispensable part of the brand’s growth. In 2021, Chinese venture capital firm HongShan (previously Sequoia Capital China) reportedly acquired a controlling stake in the brand for an undisclosed amount. Ami CEO Nicolas Santi-Weil shared in an interview in 2023 that among the overseas markets, China is the single most important market. This fashion show further demonstrates the brand’s focus on China and Asia, and its continued expansion in the country. This is also a trend seen in other fashion and luxury brands.
