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.
Vetements chief executive, Guram Gvasalia, told Vogue Runway the brand’s Fall 2021 menswear collection was inspired broadly by “the hell we are all living through”. In some pieces, Gvasalia added, that was reflected in the blue streaks knitted into black sweaters and outerwear in the collected to look like paint splatter in a reference to the blue paint that Hong Kong police sprayed on democracy protestors (in order, in part, to be able to identify protestors later and more easily make arrests).
That interview is now the subject of a Diet Prada post on Instagram which questions whether the pieces are baiting controversy or an insensitive use of the Hong Kong protests as a fashion statement at a time when democracy activists in Hong Kong are being exiled or imprisoned for their part in the protests. Vetements did not immediately respond to BoF’s request for comment.
The reference to Hong Kong protestors is also unlikely to be received kindly by consumers in Mainland China, where any perceived support of democracy activists is likely to be denounced as being anti-China.
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.
While travel to Europe remains muted, Chinese shoppers are flocking to Singapore, Thailand and other Southeast Asian destinations where fashion retailers are hoping Lunar New Year marketing investments will pay off.
Local fashion designers experimenting with puffers and other down clothing have scored collaborations with outerwear companies like Moncler and attracted the attention of prominent international retailers like H.Lorenzo.