The Business of Fashion
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
Givenchy has announced on social media the addition of two new brand ambassadors, both of whom are 20 years-old, and beloved by China’s Gen Z consumers with about 20 million Weibo followers apiece.
Actor and Nine Percent boyband singer, Fan Chengcheng (who is also the younger brother of Fan Bingbing) and musician and actress Ouyang Nana, who first came to public attention as a cellist but has since become one of China’s most in-demand brand ambassadors, representing the likes of Roger Vivier, domestic lingerie giant Ubras and even Taobao, are the new faces of Givenchy.
It’s the second major celebrity announcement from the brand, which is set to show as part of Paris Fashion Week later this week, in recent weeks. In February, the brand took the unusual step of appointing all the members of the K-pop girl group, aespa — Karina (real name, Yoo Ji-Min), Giselle (Uchinaga Aeri), Winter (Kim Min-Jeong) and Ning Ning (Ning Yizhuo) — as brand ambassadors.
In combination, these moves signal the importance of the Asian market to luxury brands like Givenchy in 2021 — and in particular to the market’s younger consumers, people for whom the appointment of creative director Matthew Williams last year created a great deal of buzz, given his streetwear credentials.
With consumers tightening their belts in China, the battle between global fast fashion brands and local high street giants has intensified.
Investors are bracing for a steep slowdown in luxury sales when luxury companies report their first quarter results, reflecting lacklustre Chinese demand.
The French beauty giant’s two latest deals are part of a wider M&A push by global players to capture a larger slice of the China market, targeting buzzy high-end brands that offer products with distinctive Chinese elements.
Post-Covid spend by US tourists in Europe has surged past 2019 levels. Chinese travellers, by contrast, have largely favoured domestic and regional destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.