Spring-Summer 2011 Menswear Collection Incorporate Chinese, Asian Design Touches
Chinese influence on display
One of the interesting effects of China becoming the second-largest luxury market in the world has been the gradual influence of Chinese design in recent collections by major designers. Late last year, we saw this in Chanel’s pre-fall collection (debuted in Shanghai), and in the run-up to the ongoing Shanghai World Expo saw China-only designs from Prada, Ferragamo and — again — Chanel.
However, the recently unveiled Louis Vuitton spring-summer 2011 menswear collection takes a somewhat different approach than that employed by other fashion houses, adding design cues and materials that are distinctively Chinese while aiming these products at Western, rather than Chinese consumers.
From the AP:
Ignoring for the moment the fact that Shanghai has no casinos (at least none that are legit), Jacobs’s statement that Asian-influenced design would be less compelling to Chinese buyers is interesting. While this sentiment is clearly discussed in indispensable texts on the Chinese luxury market like Elite China and The Cult of the Luxury Brand, the recent collections by Chanel and others that are both Chinese in spirit and desperately sought after in China beg the question: are China’s more sophisticated luxury shoppers ready to embrace Asian-inflected design? Is Jacobs wrong to think the new LV menswear collection won’t be snapped up by China’s “he fashion” devotees?
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection
LV, S-S 2011 Collection