The China Luxury Briefing is a weekly newsletter from The Luxury Conversation. You’ll receive a weekly bulletin of latest China luxury news across different sectors. Below you’ll find a monthly roundup including updates from each of the weekly briefings during the month. To ensure you’re receiving all of the latest China luxury updates, make sure to sign up for the weekly newsletter here.
FASHION
Prada’s Beijing runway show views reach almost 100 million
Prada showed its Fall/Winter 2022 collections in Beijing on 5 August. The women’s and men’s runway shows were live-streamed on Weibo, Douyin, Tencent Video and Xiaomi TV. With nine famous Chinese celebrities as models, such as brand spokesperson Jessie Li (春夏), Yifeng Li (李易峰) and Kara Wai Ying Hong (惠英红), the show had nearly 100 million views.
Burberry kicks off a three year environmental program in Hainan
Burberry is cooperating with the Hainan Reform and Development Research Foundation on a three-year Burberry Hainan Ecological Restoration and Conservation Program. The program aims to restore a range of functional ecological areas, and protect tropical rainforests, mangrove ecosystem and biological habitats, and educate citizens about ecological conservation.
Steve Wang becomes Hugo Boss spokesperson
Hugo Boss announced Steve Wang (汪顺) as its spokesperson. Wang is a swimmer with more than 4 million followers on Weibo. He won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Gentle Monster opens its world’s largest flagship store in Beijing
Gentle Monster opened its largest flagship store globally in Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing. The three-floor store envisages the future in different space and time dimensions following the “Dataized Future” visual narrative.
BEAUTY
Aesop to open first mainland China store
Vegan and cruelty-free skincare brand Aesop is to open its first China store in Shanghai. The retail space is in a heritage red brick villa near the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
Carita enters China market
Carita, a professional skincare brand of L’Oreal Luxe, has entered the China market. On 1 August, it opened its first Asian boutique in Deji Plaza in Nanjing and a cosmetics counter in SKP Beijing. Carita has launched on multiple social media platforms, including Weibo, RED, and WeChat.
Maison Francis Kurkdjian launches in China
Maison Francis Kurkdjian, the French fragrance brand owned by the LVMH Group, has opened its first China boutique in Deji Plaza, Nanjing as well as a Tmall flagship store.
HOSPITALITY
The House Collective by Swire Hotels to open in the Greater Bay Area
Swire Hotels will open an ultra-luxury hotel of the House Collective in Shenzhen, its first in the Greater Bay Area. The hotel is unnamed and is targeted to open in 2025. Currently, the House Collective has four properties across Beijing, Hong Kong, Chengdu and Shanghai.
The Lux Collective to build its first Tier 1 city hotel
The Lux Collective signed a management agreement with Jumbo Group, a seafood restaurant group, to build its first hotel in Guangzhou as it looks to expand into China’s Tier 1 cities.
RETAIL
K11 to open its first flagship project in Shenzhen
K11 ECOAST in Prince Bay Area, Shenzhen, will be its first flagship project and will include K11 Art Mall, K11 HACC multi-purpose art exhibition space, K11 ATELIER office building and Promenade waterfront promenade. K11 ECOAST is expected to open at the end of 2024.
JEWELRY & WATCH
Bvlgari’s art exhibition lands in Beijing
Bvlgari opened a pop-up art exhibition “Serpenti Rhapsody” in Beijing’s China World Mall. It is the second stop for the China tour following Shenyang. Inspired by Bvlgari’s Serpenti collection, a Chinese architect designed the exhibition space and six Chinese artists created new pieces of art. The exhibition will also be shown in Shenzhen and Xiamen.
De Beers supports Miao embroidery
De Beers kicked off a Miao embroidery program in August. Part of China’s intangible cultural heritage and a distinctive art form of the Miao people, the embroidery program aims to support Miao women and boost the development of the craft. De Beers cooperated with Zhenghua Liu (刘正花), the heir of split-thread-stitch, to co-create a Miao embroidery jewellery bag inspired by De Beers Portraits of Nature.
Luxury watch brands increasingly leverage WeChat functions
Swiss high-end watch brand Zenith launched an extended warranty service on its WeChat Mini Program last month. It joins other brands, such as Vacheron Constantin, Panerai, Piaget and Longines, that are now offering price estimation, watch care information sharing, VIP appointments, and online manual libraries.
CORPORATE
Chinese economy’s recovery momentum continues in July
The Chinese economy maintained its recovery trend in July with major economic indicators posting steady growths despite domestic COVID-19 outbreaks and heatwaves. China’s consumer goods retail sales climbed 2.7% year-on-year last month, with sales of consumption-upgrading goods like jewelry and household appliances expanding fast.
Pandemic situation in China’s Hainan reaches a turning point, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases declining
The current round of COVID-19 in south China’s Hainan has reached a turning point, with new infections falling for four consecutive days. Hainan has continued to help stranded visitors return home. Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan said during her recent inspection trip to the southern island province on August 21, adding that the epidemic prevention and control situation in Hainan is improving steadily. A total of 7,144 local confirmed cases have been reported in the province since this round of outbreak on August 1.
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The Luxury Conversation is a platform curated by Gusto Collective for luxury professionals to connect, share and discuss Asia’s luxury industry and its rapidly evolving affluent consumers.
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