Dior's new traveling exhibition in China will feature miniature versions of haute couture, such as this dress that Jennifer Lawrence wore to the 2013 Academy Awards ceremony. (Dior) As a growing number of fashion and luxury brands opt to hold exhibits in China in hopes of boosting their brand image with increasingly sophisticated Chinese consumers, some are starting to branch beyond the China’s big Tier 1 cities like Beijing and Shanghai. French fashion label Dior has joined this trend with the recent announcement that its new global traveling exhibition will make its debut in China’s southwestern city of Chengdu, a location that has increasingly been in the limelight as a rising fashion and retail center in the country. According to Blouin Artinfo, Dior’s new traveling exhibition, “Le Petit Théâtre Dior,” will run from May 31st until June 20th at the Chengdu IFS mall and feature doll-size versions of famous Dior gowns and ensembles. According to the article, The exhibition of "miniature" clothes is inspired by The Theatre of Fashion, a 1945 exhibition in Paris that was an ode to the glory of French Haute Couture after the war and presented miniature versions of creations designed by the greatest couturiers of the time. Dior’s choice of Chengdu to debut the exhibit is part of brands’ push into rising lower-tier cities as incomes in these locations rise and Tier 1 markets mature. Chengdu has been rapidly ascending as a luxury and fashion hub in the country over the past year: Hong Kong-based luxury department store Lane Crawford opened a new Chengdu branch in March, and a recent report by real estate firm CBRE found that Chengdu dominates China’s shopping center construction boom, topping the list of shopping development among all of China’s cities.
