Successful opening event of the CHIC Pavilion FASHION CHINA in Paris
Great reception for the 20 top-level Chinese designers
Further FASHION CHINA pavilion events planned
The Paris fair Who’s Next attracted numerous visitors to the Porte de Versailles from 2 to 4 September to find out about the round 1,300 clothing, shoe, accessories and jewellery exhibitors. The motto of the fair this time was “Back to School”.
Right in the middle of the action, twenty leading Chinese design labels presented themselves for the first time on an international platform under the umbrella of CHIC, China International Fashion Fair.
“By showcasing top Chinese brands and designers at one of Europe’s most famous fashion fairs, Who’s Next, CHIC is taking on an ambassadorial role with the Fashion China Pavilion to achieve greater understanding of the cultural value of Chinese design and Chinese culture in communication between East and West.” Chen Dapeng, President China National Garment Association
CHIC occupied around 900 square metres with the FASHION CHINA Pavilion at Who’s Next and offered an exquisite selection of Chinese women’s, men’s and sports fashion as well as hats. Women’s fashion was represented by Ellassay, JNBY, LUO ZHENG, RAXXY (women and men), KEYONE (hats for women, men, children, unisex), Thread & Story, MAY D.WANG Cashmere & Silk, Yvonne CHOI, SE JIE, VAN SUNSUN, SELAH, EXTENDED, ARYA CASH, JORE BAUDRY, CANMADE and HEMPEL
International. Menswear was shown by KB Hong by K-BOXING as well as the brand JOEONE, one of the most successful Chinese fashion brands at Paris and Milan Fashion Week.
“This selection also has a political dimension and offers a new showcase for the Chinese market, its expertise and craftsmanship. Chinese fashion is often associated with ‘fast fashion’, but our mission is to dive deeper into this Chinese ecosystem,” says Sylvie Pourrat, Director at WSN. The successful debut in Paris represents a positive outcome for these emerging brands, she adds. All the participating brands/designers have success stories and an explicit desire to expand internationally and export in the long term.
“Design made in China” plays among the world’s elite: Luo Zheng and Hong Boming with his brand KB Hong by K-BOXING won the Top China Fashion Designer “Jinding Award”. Luo Zheng was also the first Chinese womenswear designer to exhibit at New York Fashion Week (2008). KB Hong (K-Boxing) has been organising fashion shows at Milan Fashion Week since 2020. RAXXY, China’s top downwear brand and the first fashion brand to wow the international fashion world with a fashion show on the Great Wall, also performs there. Also represented in Milan is Ellassay, one of the most successful women’s fashion labels in China with an annual turnover of 300 million USD.
Cai Yiwen with her label YVONNE-CHOI, Chen Lishan with VAN SUNSUN and Vivian He with SEJIE are among the top 10 fashion designers in Shenzhen, China’s fashion metropolis and boomtown, who were awarded the Fashion Prize of the Shenzhen Fashion Designer Association.
China’s design elite experienced a brilliant kick-off event and very successful first presentation on the international stage of the CHIC Pavilion. The stands were well attended over all three days and numerous orders were written. Van SunSun, for example, placed an order volume of 3.1 million euros at the fair. Chinese design is catching on.
The pavilion is another building block in the internationalisation of Chinese top fashion. Many of the brands already sell worldwide via online shops like KeyOne, a multi-brand label with its own museum for hats in China and organiser of the China Hat Festival. The women’s fashion label JNBY also operates an international online shop, working in parallel with agencies in Japan and Australia. May D. Wang, a specialist in cashmere and silk, is represented in the UK.
The FASHION CHINA Pavilion in Paris is intended as a prelude to the appearance on other international platforms and is to strategically expand CHIC’s offer for Chinese fashion brands in the future.
