Jing Daily’s Top Posts for the Week#
In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of March 7-11:
Chinese Media: Spring Auctions Will See Wide-Scale “Repatriation” Of Chinese Contemporary Art
“Repatriation” isn’t a word typically associated with the Chinese contemporary art market, being more commonly used in the context of traditional art created by long-dead court painters or antiques from the country’s ancient imperial past. But in recent months, as demand for Chinese art has ballooned among China’s newly wealthy as a destination for their excess cash, Chinese media has started to recast the upcoming Hong Kong spring auctions as an opportunity for buyers to bring back pieces formerly in the hands of overseas collectors. (Or prevent other works from leaving the country altogether.)
Of course, “repatriation” is nothing if not a loaded term, with collectors and art brokers with a nationalistic bent often using the word to refer to their international buying activities.
LVMH Looks To Dig Deeper Into China With Bulgari Acquisition
This week, luxury juggernaut LVMH announced its acquisition of the family-owned Italian watch and jewelry maker Bulgari, a deal which will the Wall Street Journal notes will see senior members of Bulgari’s controlling family take new roles at LVMH. Aside from taking control of a respected and popular brand, LVMH, through its takeover of Bulgari, will further consolidate its China strategy. In recent years, as China has become the fastest-growing single market for many of its brands, particularly Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Hublot, LVMH has invested heavily in the Chinese market, even going so far as to target home-grown brands for acquisition. In 2007, LVMH purchased a majority stake in the Chinese baijiu producer Wenjun in the hopes of competing with premium producers like Maotai and Swellfun. (The latter of which LVMH rival Diageo has fought to acquire for nearly three years.)
With its acquisition of Bulgari, LVMH will look to harness the momentum that Bulgari has built up in the China market over the past several years.
Luxury Brands, Designers Continue To Look East For Fashion Week Inspiration
Givenchy designer Riccardo Tisci’s Asian-inspired haute couture collection in January featured an all Asian model cast, with Chinese models making up the majority. The Chinese models included Ming Xi, Liu Wen, Shu Pei Qin, Fei Fei Sun, Du Juan, and Jiang Xiao Yi.
The French luxury house is part of the LVMH group (previously on Jing Daily), which counts Asia as one of its top markets, accounting for 34 percent of the group’s sales last year, equal to Europe. Givenchy plans to open ten new stores across Asia this year, with six being in China. Wilfred Koo, President of China, Asia Pacific at Givenchy, recently told Reuters that Givenchy “started early in China,” and already has 64 stores in China that span first- and second-tier cities. Continuing, Koo said, “what’s interesting now is the trend is looking toward third-tier cities,” with the brand planning a store in the little-known city of Baoding, in the northeastern province of Hebei.
Nostalgia A Strong Draw For China’s “Post-80s” Consumers
With the release of “Eternal Moment” (将爱, literally “To Love”), a film adaptation of the popular 1998 Chinese television drama “Cherish Our Love Forever” (将爱情进行到底), a new wave of nostalgia is sweeping over the country’s so-called “Post-80s Generation” (80后代), those born and raised in the 1980s.
Directed by Zhang Yibai, “Eternal Moment” reunites the stars of the original 1998 television show, popular blogger and actress Xu Jinglei (last seen in the product-hawking melodrama “Go Lala Go!”) and actor Li Yapeng. Li, the leading man and one of the film’s producers, is also well known among younger Chinese as the husband of pop superstar Faye Wong (王菲). Wong, too, appears (in voice) in “Eternal Moment,” singing its theme song, “Because of Love,” a duet with popular Hong Kong performer Eason Chan Yik-shun.
Chanel Harnesses The Power Of China’s Fashion Bloggers At Paris Fashion Week
This week, The Business of Fashion highlighted the potential of China’s micro-blogging service, Sina Weibo. While the focus has mostly been on brands that have launched accounts and tried to harness Weibo as a market researching tool, it is interesting to note that Chanel invited several notable Weibo personalities to its runway show on March 8 at Paris Fashion Week, a move to harness these individuals’ large followings. The Chanel runway show, which featured an impressive volcano backdrop, included guests like actress Hilary Tsui, contemporary artist Yi Zhou, Sina Weibo micro-blogger Yao Chen and Sina blogger Han Huo Huo.