What luxury brands can learn from Giambattista Valli’s viral Chinese VIP backlash

What happened A striking black bodysuit adorned with three-dimensional roses from Giambattista Valli’s 2024 Spring/Summer couture collection has recently garnered local netizens’ attention and triggered widespread discussion online, for all the wrong reasons. A disgruntled Chinese haute couture customer, Lu Min, known as Lulu, who has over one million followers across Chinese social media platforms, posted about her dispute with the brand. She accused the Italian label of lending a sample of high-end custom work that she had already purchased and paid a deposit of more than 200,000 RMB ($27,600) for, to British actress Anya Taylor-Joy at Cannes, without prior consent. On Xiaohongshu, the post went viral receiving over 21,000 likes and 1,696 comments (at the time of writing), with many supporting Lulu’s decision to give up the deposit and not buy the couture piece. For instance, the top comment which received 14,000 likes, by Xiaohongshu user @Yinjunhong’s, says: “Don’t buy it, sister. Show them that customers also have tempers. They charge for clothes that are sold everywhere. Don’t buy it.” Another Xiaohongshu user undermined the couture brand’s practice, “The customer spends millions [of RMB] to buy a custom-made couture dress, but she hasn’t even worn it yet, and the brand has already lent it to someone else. Isn’t this just making fun of the buyer? … It’s so disrespectful.“ In the view of this couture shopper, Giambattista Valli’s overly commercial approach violates the industry’s unspoken rules and diminishes the value of collecting couture works. The disgruntled Lulu then called it a “second-tier brand without background.” She goes on to argue that the haute couture collections of traditional fashion houses such as Valentino and Giorgio Armani Privé are unique. Once a piece has been purchased by a customer, it will not appear in the same form on other occasions. If the brand needs to lend the piece to a star, they typically communicate with the customer and make modifications to the color and details to show respect for the haute couture buyers. The Jing Take Unlike low-key traditional haute couture customers in China, Lulu has garnered a substantial following on social media over the years, showcasing high-end custom pieces she owns, such as Valentino's musical note skirt. Her unique collection and interactions with celebrity designers like Giorgio Armani and Pierpaolo Piccioli have contributed to her popularity. She now has over one million followers across all domestic platforms. Last year, Lulu opened a space in Shanghai, Maison Lulu, to display her entire haute couture collection. Lulu’s significant influence has caused this incident to escalate on social media, leading the brand into a serious public relations crisis. The buyer said she would never buy a piece from Giambattista Valli again. Data indicates there are only about 2,000 high-end couture customers worldwide, making each customer vital for couture houses. Given the public outcry, Giambattista Valli might lose a few more significant clients in China, on top of the negative publicity. In an interview, a spokesperson for Giambattista Valli told WWD, “As common practice in haute couture maisons, to ensure exclusivity on a haute runway look, as this was the case, it is imperative to specify your request for such exclusivity at the time of the order. Without such specification and the down payment of the exclusivity fee, the piece may be made available to other clients. As the client knows, this time there was no such request made.” Although the brand responded to WWD, Lulu said online that the brand’s CEO had not reached out to her to deal with the issue, further aggravating her anger towards the brand. Undoubtedly, in this particular case, a sincere response from the brand’s C-suite level, showing empathy and respecting the customers’ feelings could have contained the PR crisis. How to deal with these incidents and minimize reputation damage should be at the forefront of the brand’s priorities, especially in the mainland where clients are more likely to take their case to social media. Morgan Stanley’s analysis shows that in some major high-end shopping malls in China, less than 1 percent of customers contribute up to 40 percent of sales. Therefore, while continuing to expand their base of non-core consumers, luxury brands are strategically focusing on how to enhance the loyalty of their VIC (Very Important Customer) core consumers. The Jing Take reports on a piece of the leading news and presents our editorial team’s analysis of the key implications for the luxury industry. In the recurring column, we analyze everything from product drops and mergers to heated debate sprouting on Chinese social media.

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What luxury brands can learn from Giambattista Valli’s viral Chinese VIP backlash