SHANGHAI Fashion week

Shanghai Fashion Week is betting on the home team when it comes to the future of its fashion week.

It is looking inward at local talents it thinks, with the right support, will be able to make a global impact on the fashion industry. And with over 101 shows and presentations, 1200 brands with stands at one of the more than half a dozen massive trade fairs this fashion week clearly has the power to do exactly that.

Over the past five years Shanghai Fashion Week has grown exponentially, but the fashion week’s founder Madam LV is now determined to take stock and build its realm of influence in Asia first. She feels this will then, in turn, naturally draw more international press and buyers to China. “We are not aiming to become the 5th stop [after New York, London, Milan and Paris] but instead, we want to create a unique Shanghai eco-system of fashion week,” she said. Additionally, Madam LV also pointed out that the fashion week is still relatively young, having only been in existence for 17 years and is “very energetic and vibrant”, however it must continue to “promote the best of Chinese design”.

The draw of Shanghai Fashion Week could also be measured in the number of industry events that took place in the city to coincide with the event.

Kering, in collaboration with the innovative Silicon Valley company Plug and Play, hosted a conference on the topic of sustainability. The company launched the first ‘K Generation Talk & Award Ceremony’ in China with François-Henri Pinault, the Chairman and CEO of Kering, stating “there is no luxury without China, there is no sustainability without China.” when referring to the future of the industry.

Also, during Shanghai Fashion Week, French designer Alexandre Mattiussi, the founder of the brand AMI, decided to present his first fashion show outside of France in the “Paris of the East”.

Stella McCartney was also in Shanghai for a dinner to celebrate the launch of an 11 piece capsule collection in collaboration with Mytheresa.com that launched during Shanghai Fashion Week. Additionally Marni’s creative director Francesco Risso hosted a talk at the Xintiandi fashion show venue to promote his brand’s collaboration with the Miao people from the Guizhou region of China.