Shanghai Fashion Week’s Online Format Thrives With Douyin Partnership
SHANGHAI — Despite a two-month delay due to Shanghai’s prolonged COVID-19 lockdown measures, Shanghai Fashion Week managed to launch online last Friday.
Shanghai Fashion Week was one of the first fashion weeks to go digital in March 2020, two years later, this is Shanghai Fashion Week’s second foray into online showcasing to promote local talents to the general public and boost market confidence.
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Featuring 36 fashion brands including Shuting Qiu, Shushu/Tong, Feng Chen Wang, and Private Policy, the three-day online event was livestreamed on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, for the first time.
The festival featured a plethora of content, including fashion films, behind-the-scene stories, fashion commentary and virtual reality showcases. Viewers can also tune in via a host of social media platforms, including WeChat, Bilibili, Sina Weibo, YouTube and Instagram.
Some two million Douyin users tuned in for the three-day online showcase. The hashtag “digital Shanghai Fashion Week” logged 66 million impressions, as of Monday, the short video platform revealed.
“This will be a chance to inject new energy into the industry,” said Xiaolei LV, deputy secretary-general of Shanghai Fashion Week’s organizing body Shanghai Fashion Week Organizing Committee. “Even in the face of challenges, Shanghai Fashion week can forge ahead.”
“Although the timing isn’t perfect, this is the first time that we encouraged designers to show their collections entirely through the digital medium,” said Tasha Liu, founder of fashion retailer and emerging talents support program Labelhood, which is part of Shanghai Fashion Week’s official calendar.
“In the future, these digital creatives that partner with designers will be greatly inspired, and viewers will be more eager to connect with brands,” she added.
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Antwerp-educated, Shanghai-based designer Shuting Qiu opened the event with a dreamy fashion film inspired by feminist artist Florine Stettheimer. She produced her video in Hangzhou when she left Shanghai in May.
“I think we’ve gone much further in sustainability since the epidemic,” Qiu said. “For example, the reuse of deadstock fabric increased about 20 percent, including the use of eco-fur and eco-leather. We also started paying more attention to cooperating with local craftsmen.”
Shushu/Tong showcased a fashion film that was produced days after Shanghai eased lockdown measures. The collection drew inspiration from forbidden love and featured floral fabrics in subdued palettes.
“Even though we could not host a physical fashion show, I think it’s still important to present in some way or form, to tell this collection’s story in full,” said Liushu Lei, one-half of the design duo behind Shushu/Tong.
Menswear designer Feng Chen Wang took the chance to launch her made-to-measure collection. In collaboration with virtual-reality start-up Inert Plan, the brand created eight virtual looks that showcased the brand’s real-life savoir-faire.
“Originally planned on launching this collection in March, we were blessed that the project got pushed to June, this gave us more time to finesse the details of the visual presentation,” said the designer.
“Our lockdown challenges were slightly different from most designers, we had to work on our spring 2023 collection remotely, so we could make it to Paris Fashion Week next week,” she added.
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Double Fable, MTG, Ting Gong and Ao Yes are some of the brands that made their debut this season.
After studying art and design in Holland, Gong returned to China to launch her first womenswear collection inspired by imported sustainable textiles and life on the road. Her fashion presentation was completed in Xiamen after leaving Shanghai recently.
“The concept of the brand will keep on evolving, but I want to make adjustments so I don’t have to follow the seasons too much, with a more edited collection,” said Gong. “Since we didn’t do showroom orders this season, I want to host an independent showroom when I return to Shanghai.”
Ao Yes cofounder Austin Wang started prep work for the genderless brand with his partner Yansong Liu in October of last year. They were aiming to make a splash during the April edition of Shanghai Fashion Week.
The brand ended up participating in Ontimeshow’s Roomroom Showroom, but Wang said “as a new brand, it’s more important to deliver the brand image than selling.”
Ao Yes hurried after lockdown to produce a video featuring the brand’s take on modern oriental design, with a visual collage of urban China throughout the times.
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For Hangzhou concept store B1ock’s buyer Jiajun Wang, the digital fashion week can “help designers gain exposure online” and “have more means to interact with consumers, fashion enthusiasts, and allow them to participate and interact.”
For example, Douyin launched a hashtag competition called “styling the fashion week” that invited influencers and users to create content on the platform.
But Chengdu fashion boutique Clap’s buyer Jony Qiu has a critical take on the effectiveness of a digital fashion week. “I don’t know if a digital fashion week can make up for the lost time. In the end, I think neither hardworking designers nor the curious shoppers are getting much out of this,” Qiu said.
“As for making online orders, my feeling is that there wasn’t much effective communication between the designers, showrooms and Shanghai Fashion Week,” he added.
In survival mode, many Shanghai showrooms have plans to host off-line showrooms in other major cities. For example, Not Showroom is set to showcase brands’ spring 2023 pre-collection in Hangzhou, while Showroom Shanghai, Ontimeshow, and Tube Showroom are also looking into options outside of Shanghai to host showroom events.
“This gives more brands and buyers from outside of Shanghai to connect,” said B1ock’s Wang.
Both buyers believe that as the market goes through a sobering phase, recovery will be gradual. “The epidemic has made the buyers more cautious about market prospects, budgets have been cut,” added B1ock’s Wang.
Clap’s Qiu thinks the whole designer fashion market will go through a phase of correction.
“With the economic downturn, many designer boutiques are in a state of boiling frogs in warm water,” he said.
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