BEIJING — If you wanted to see what the buzz building around China’s luxury consumers is all about, there was no need to look further than the Lanvin fashion show held here Sunday night.
More than 1,000 guests — many of whom are part of the growing group of China’s elite that luxury brands are anxious to court — swarmed the yard of Beijing’s National Art Museum for the show, which served as the finale for “The Year of France in China,” a cross-cultural exchange between the two countries. The designer-clad crowd — which included Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung and Lanvin’s majority owner, Taiwanese publishing magnate Shaw-Lan Wang — gathered in front of an outdoor stage adorned simply with an enormous crystal chandelier and watched as more than two dozen Chinese and foreign models strutted the runway in a variety of Lanvin designs.
At the center of all the fuss was Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz, who had flown in for a whirlwind weekend in Beijing to stage the show. But although the high-profile event certainly provided some enviable buzz in the Chinese market for Lanvin, which is sold in nearly 20 retail locations across the mainland, Elbaz was characteristically much more interested in savoring the moment than a potential profit surge.
“This is amazing,” he said, surveying the hundreds of rubberneckers who gathered at the front gate of the venue to see what the commotion was all about. The crowd might not have recognized the bespectacled designer as he wandered the line of uniformed policemen ringing the entrance, but they certainly knew something big was going on. The significance wasn’t lost on Elbaz either: “To be here in China, as the person chosen to represent French fashion, is such an honor,” he said. “It’s all been a very emotional experience for me.”
The Lanvin show included a mix of pieces from past collections as well as styles created just for the event. “Somehow, it all looks different here,” he said. “It’s definitely not a retrospective; I’m not into that. But when I took a jacket from winter and a skirt from summer and put it together, I suddenly realized that this is what a wardrobe is all about. You don’t throw it away after one season. You keep it, and you change it.”
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Elbaz himself got a rare treat and witnessed the show from the front of the house for the first time, sneaking virtually undetected to a spot behind the seats to watch the display of his designs and the enthusiastic reactions of the crowd. It was a satisfying end to a busy weekend that also saw several parties thrown in his honor, including a fete for an elite group of Beijing artists, entrepreneurs and style-setters Saturday night in the private garden of former Chinese Emperor Qian Long. The party was hosted by Melvin Chua, managing director of China-based communications firm Ink Pak, which coorganized the fashion show.
But as much as Elbaz seemed to enjoy the moment, it was fleeting: He was back to Paris on Monday to continue work on the upcoming Lanvin show on Oct. 9. So will Elbaz — who’s now been to Beijing two times in as many months — focus on China in the future?
“Let’s first see if I’m still alive after my show [in Paris],” he quipped. “We’ll take it from there.”