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    Romeo Gigli Stages Fashion Comeback With China-Focused JOYCE Collection

    Always a step ahead of its competitors, the Hong Kong-based multi-brand luxury retailer JOYCE recently teamed up with a name from which we haven't heard much in the past several years -- Italian fashion designer Romeo Gigli.
    JOYCE by Gigli
    Jing DailyAuthor
      Published   in Finance

    Collection Comes In Tandem With Month-Long Exhibition Of Works On Show At JOYCE#

    Always a step ahead of its competitors, the Hong Kong-based multi-brand luxury retailer

    JOYCE#

    recently teamed up with a name from which we haven't heard much in the past several years -- Italian fashion designer Romeo Gigli. Renowned for its hand-picked collaborations with up-and-coming designers and established names alike, JOYCE most recently launched an online-only capsule collection with young designers such as Yang Du, Charles Frederick Worth, and Rad Hourani and hosted a pop-up shop for Alexander Wang.

    To promote its new "JOYCE by Romeo Gigli" partnership, JOYCE unveiled the collection to a crowd of A-listers this past week, organized a lecture by Gigli for fashion students at Beijing's Tsinghua University, and announced an accompanying exhibition of curated pieces from the designer's archives that will remain on show at JOYCE for the next month. Encompassing women's and men's lines, the collection (which includes over 30 pieces in all) is made up of reworked and reissued signature pieces, which echo back to Gigli's trademark silhouettes and drapery.

    As JOYCE CEO Andrew Keith said of the collaboration, "We're honored to work with Romeo Gigli, who has had a very far-sighted, far-reaching impact on the fashion industry. We look forward to exposing a new generation of fashion enthusiasts in China and around the world to his fashion philosophy."

    As Vogue writes of the "JOYCE by Romeo Gigli" collection:

    After a 20-year hiatus, Gigli is re-entering the fashion arena with a collection for Joyce. Why now?



    "Women are soft, beautiful creatures," the happily married 63-year-old almost whispered. "Chinese women have a beautiful demeanour, they are very humble and I am drawn to this as a designer."



    It's true, his duchess satin buttoned cape looks especially ravishing on pale eastern skin with soft shoulders. Used to working with European models, Gigli explains the collection posed a new challenge, being designed especially for the physique and stature of eastern customers.



    Gigli famously street-cast many of his models, including Kristen Owen, of whom he arguably launched the career of after approaching her in the street. Likewise, for this Joyce collaboration, Gigli was keen to use real people -recruiting designer Charlie Casely-Hayford and fashion blogger Denni Elias - as well as established models Ju Li Li and Matthew Avedon, grandson of Richard Avedon. The group were photographed by Chinese photographer Chen Man (Jing Daily interview) in Bejing.

    Gigli's collection for JOYCE is available now through the JOYCE online boutique as well as at JOYCE locations in Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai. At the end of this month, the collection will travel to Venice, where it will be available at a JOYCE pop-up store. While supplies last, customers who order the JOYCE by Romeo Gigli exclusive collection online will receive a digital print of an autographed sketch by Romeo Gigli.

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