Labubus, fashion, opera: Jing Daily’s Spring Festival showcase in Dubai

A mall after midnight is a strange thing — especially one as sprawling as Mall of the Emirates. It’s half-past two a.m., and I’m leaving the overnight installation of Jing Daily’s fashion pop-up featuring designers PRONOUNCE and Susan Fang in celebration of Chinese New Year. More than 2 million square feet of retail space, designed to be packed to the brim with shoppers, is now filled with another kind of life. Visual merchandisers in white gloves adjust a Hermès display, ensuring the brand’s signature Togo leather is perfectly supple. Nearby, a large beige tarp protects the floor as an illustrator adds the final touches to a soon-to-be Tiffany display. It’s a window into fashion’s iceberg. Most people see only the tip above the water, the glitzy final product. But beneath lies an entire ecosystem working tirelessly to keep the industry polished and afloat. To me, this seems to be one of the industry’s faults. We’re still betting on separating fashion’s grit and effort from the finished product. Meanwhile, consumers crave human connection more than ever. The privilege of being a B2B publication like ours is that we get to give airtime to the people behind the scenes and reveal the full humanity of the industry. Jing Daily’s unique proposition has always been to keep this lens focused on China. Through bilingual reporting (Chinese and English), we’ve connected China’s fashion industry with a global audience. As a result, our publication has organically built a network of the market's leading designers, executives, influencers, and creatives. Bringing this community to life through real-world events feels like a natural extension of our mission. Our partnership with Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment allowed us to do just that, showcasing the best of Jing Daily. Our goal was clear: to celebrate the full spectrum of Chinese creativity, from traditional to contemporary. I’m confident only our team could have pulled together the moving parts for this activation as we did. At the core of the program were two standout contemporary Chinese designers — Susan Fang and PRONOUNCE — marking their Middle East debut in Dubai. Beyond their individual pop-ups, a joint fashion show took over the entire mall, culminating in a finale set to a tanggu drum. We built an entire world of content for both our immediate and broader audiences, spanning global executives to Chinese fashion lovers and travelers. The bilingual campaign was distributed across platforms, including Instagram and LinkedIn, as well as WeChat and Xiaohongshu. Amplification came through a cohort of China’s leading KOLs, including Angelene Sun, Ava Foo, and Mark Long. In a tribute to China’s rich cultural history, we also invited an eight-person troupe of leading performers from Anhui to stage a Huangmei opera for a crowd of thousands, right in the heart of the mall. And while there was spectacle, the most meaningful moments unfolded quietly: a crowd gathering ahead of the opera performance, phones raised to capture the incoming grandeur; a mother and daughter visiting the mall on holiday, shy but excited to meet our lineup of KOLs in all their glamour and approachability. “来来来！拍照” (“Come, come — take a photo!”) Honoring these moments feels essential in a commercial landscape defined by metrics. Of course, performance matters, but I’ve learned not to let it overshadow what fashion should foster at its core: connection. This awareness is even more critical when you’re a global brand aiming to earn trust in China, lest haste and superficiality lead to the missteps we’ve seen time and time again. This collaboration owes special thanks to Mall of the Emirates and Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment; to the talented Huangmei opera performers; to our team at Jing Daily, who brought together every component of the activation; and, of course, to Susan Fang and to Yushan Li and Jun Zhou of PRONOUNCE. Below is a recap of the weekend’s event. We hope this marks the first of many large-scale public activations for Jing Daily and would welcome the chance to partner on future initiatives connecting culture and commerce. As always, feel free to reach out to me directly at enrique@jingdaily.com. Enrique Menendez Editor-in-Chief A fashion show takeover of the Mall of the Emirates The highlight of the three-day program unfolded as the runway moved through the mall’s open architecture. Models passed storefronts, along balconies, and across multiple floors as spectators lined the railings, phones raised and screens tracking silhouettes across levels. PRONOUNCE’s architectural tailoring — double-layered jackets and extended shirting — held its clarity even across escalators and glass walkways. Susan Fang introduced texture and dimension, with beaded surfaces and sculpted volume catching the light in motion. The show closed with traditional Chinese drums. Afterwards, Angelene Sun, Ava Foo, and Mark Long joined the designers for a meet-and-greet, extending the spectacle into direct engagement. A new stage for Chinese design: Susan Fang and PRONOUNCE PRONOUNCE and SUSAN FANG opened the Chinese New Year celebration in Dubai with an exclusive pop-up inside Mall of the Emirates, one of the region’s most luxurious retail destinations. The presentation brought the collections into close view. Guests examined tailoring, fabrication, and surface details at close range, engaging directly with the technical language of both brands. PRONOUNCE’s structured silhouettes emphasized precision and proportion, while SUSAN FANG’s intricate embellishments highlighted craftsmanship and texture. Positioned alongside flagship boutiques from global luxury houses, the pop-up placed contemporary Chinese design within Dubai’s top tier of retail. The context was commercial as much as cultural, introducing the collections directly to a market defined by scale and spending power. Fashion voices from Shanghai to Dubai gathered for a VIP welcome dinner The opening VIP Dinner continued at XU at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, where an intimate gathering unfolded over a special holiday menu. Designers Susan Fang, Jun Zhou, and Yushan Li were joined by KOLs Angelene Sun, Mark Long, and Ava Foo, as well as Dubai Tourism officials, media, and Mall of the Emirates partners, for conversations spanning performance, culture, and regional growth. Traditional meets contemporary: From Huangmei opera to modern fashion The opening evening began with a curated Lunar New Year program in the Central Galleria, featuring a local kung fu school and a children’s choir from the Chinese School Dubai. A rare Huangmei opera performance followed, with The Heavenly Match (Marriage of the Fairy Princess) staged in its Dubai debut. One of the most beloved classics of the Anhui- and Hubei-origin folk form — known for its lyrical melodies and emotionally direct storytelling — the work brought a storied Chinese tradition into the heart of the mall. PRONOUNCE and SUSAN FANG extended that lineage into contemporary fashion, where heritage surfaced through silhouette and construction. - For partnership inquiries, please contact mediasolutions@jingdaily.com.

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Labubus, fashion, opera: Jing Daily’s Spring Festival showcase in Dubai