The fashion world has a new obsession, which is influencing aesthetics, inspiring design and driving business: China. With Europe and the United States still shaking from the economic recession, vast fashion budgets are heading east, funding highly sophisticated launches, shows and store roll-outs as marketing and business strategists aim their sights on a country with a population of a billion and a half.
It is an unimaginably large and increasingly lucrative market. Prada, which opened its first store in mainland China in 1995, witnessed a 75 per cent increase in turnover in 2010 alone, and will open nine new stores next year.
Miuccia Prada staged her first fashion show in Beijing last month, rejigging her acclaimed spring/summer 2011 show, first held in Milan last September, for the starry audience that included Chinese actresses Maggie Cheung and Tang Wei. On learning that the Chinese dislike plain cotton and anything that feels "uniform", or has echoes of the strictures of the pre-revolutionary era, Prada substituted the bold, bright cotton dresses and suiting presented in Europe in favour of an array of dazzling sequinned, striped emerald-and-black flapper styles and flounce-hem brocade cocktail dresses that spell flamboyance and glamour. In a neat twist, the unique Beijing dresses will now be available for special order in key flagship stores including Milan, London and New York.
Despite unemployment and extreme poverty, China's young, affluent consumers have enjoyed a fast rate of growth over the past five years, making it the fourth largest in the world, according to a Mintel report. It is a tiny fraction of the population (an estimated 0.036 per cent), but a powerful one in terms of the luxury market. There is a sense of catch-up and excitement, with a marked taste for the fineries of life, including Burgundy wine, contemporary art, jewellery, watches - and fashion. Hermès counts China as its single largest market, and Richemont, which owns the Chloé and Cartier labels, saw sales increase threefold in five years.
The Chinese market is now incredibly sophisticated. Gone are the days of salarymen asking for the "Armani" or "Boss" labels to be left on their designer jacket cuffs. In this work-hard, play-hard, aspirational culture, taste and style count - as does "the real deal", not backstreet knock-offs.
Diane von Furstenberg has four stores in China, and in April, the 63-year-old fashion veteran will be taking the DvF roadshow to Beijing. A roller-coaster four days of fashion and cultural events have been planned, starting with the Red Ball in Shanghai, followed by a reception at the US embassy in Beijing, and finishing with the opening of Journey of a Dress, a retrospective exhibition at the Pace Beijing Gallery, featuring works by Andy Warhol and Francesco Clemente and rising Chinese artist such as Zhang Huan. The events (with numerous Western guests flying in) will ensure von Furstenberg's position as a brand with which to bond.
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"I have always been fascinated by China," says von Furstenberg. "As a teenager, I was obsessed with the cultural revolution, with stories of the Silk Road." She first visited Shanghai in 1990. "The mode of transport was still bicycles. I have visited numerous times subsequently - the speed of change is incredible. When I was a girl, my mother used to say: 'Eat your soup, think of the starving in China.' My children grew up with a China that made everything, and now my grandchildren with a nation that buys everything. The people are sophisticated and highly educated, with very refined tastes.
"This isn't an act of colonising, but an enterprise of understanding to see how we can fit into Chinese culture today. It was my New Year's resolution to be known in China."
Rather timely, since her 1998 autobiography, Diane: A Signature Life , is being translated into Chinese.
This interest in China follows recent intensive investment by the luxury market. Armani, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Dior have all announced their presence in extravagant fashion. In 2007, Karl Lagerfeld staged an extravagant Fendi runway show on the Great Wall of China, while Dior created the "Lady Dior Shanghai", a version of its signature bag, promoted with a film shot by David Lynch which made news in both the East and West. Such is the demand for polished, conceptual launches that Alex de Betak, the influential Paris-based show producer who has worked with Louis Vuitton, Dior and Tiffany, recently opened a Bureau de Betak in Shanghai.
"There's a huge difference compared to the luxury expansion into Russia 10 years ago, which was gold, bling and fabulous in a very obvious way. In China, because of the cultural history, the interest is in refinement, craftsmanship and quality. The customer wants to learn why these brands are special. Expectations are high in this way - but for us it's a blessing to have such a receptive audience."
China is shaping commerce, but Asia as a whole is inspiring aesthetics. There has been an ongoing East/West dialogue in fashion since Poiret in the Twenties, but it is again taking hold of the imagination in a manner not seen since the late Eighties. There is a distinct feel of orientalism in the spring/summer collections that some have interpreted as a play for the power of the yuan. But what underlines the inspiration in many cases is a fascination with the cross-section of ancient culture and the modern, new subcultures.
Givenchy's Haute Couture collection, shown in Paris in January, featured 10 exquisite looks inspired by Japanese dancer Kazuo Ohno and the futuristic world of Gundam fighters. Creative director Riccardo Tisci presented the entire collection on Asian models, whose ethereal beauty mesmerised the audience and marked a breakthrough: Asian models have rarely crossed the Western threshold, being seen as too short and slight. China has its own supermodels, such as Liu Wen, the first Asian face of Estée Lauder and the first Asian model to become a Victoria Secret's girl.
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In a trend not seen since the late Seventies and Eighties, the obi, kimono and cheongsam are also back. Marc Jacobs referred to that era in his Louis Vuitton collection, remembering the time he worked for Kansai Yamamoto in Paris. His iris and orchid-print silk cheongsams are pure polished glamour, the subtle eroticism and exoticism a welcome antidote to the Balmain-influenced micro-length cocktail looks that have dominated the last few seasons.
In the US, the fashion world is abuzz around a new generation of young Asian-American designers. Thakoon (Thai-American), Jason Wu (Taiwanese-American), Prabal Gurung (born in Singapore) and Alexander Wang (Chinese-American) are all enjoying boom businesses fuelled by talent, a fierce work ethic, and a "can-do" approach. If fashion has one direction in business and aesthetics right now, it is heading east.
