France's Highly Determined Opponent: Advanced Customization With Chinese Characteristics

Liu Jiaxi, who has about 1800000 micro-blog fans, is the daughter of social celebrities and fashion lovers Xia Heting (Lisa Xia). She was affected by her mother from childhood. She spent the summer holidays in Paris and Milan, Natasha. Her sister, Eugenia, was also at the age of 5 when she was on the top row of the advanced fashion week.

For Liu Jia Xi, the "expensive" customization is undoubtedly an investment. This is a work of art. You are the only person in the world who owns it. "

If you have noticed, the high fashion week has become an important gathering place for China's top consumers. On the show, Liu Jiaxi and Yu also included the chief executive of the Yu Holdings, such as Wendy Yu, famous actress Angela Baby and Angelababy. Earlier this week, supermodel He Sui, Hongkong actress Carina Lau and mainland actress Li Meng appeared in Dior's workshop in Paris. On the second day, Chanel's brand ambassador Xun Zhou appeared in the big show on The Grand Palace. No matter whether these women stars are custom-made customers, there is no doubt that the marketing invitation of the brand to show them is intended to expand their visibility and customer base in China.

For such advanced customers, advanced customization is inseparable from the French origin. In France, to call itself a high-end custom fashion house, designers must comply with the requirements of Chambre Syndicale de la haute couture, from designing more than one custom garment for private customers to employing at least 15 full-time employees.

"Advanced customization is first and foremost an ultimate luxury and ultimate service," a spokesman for Chanel told BoF. "It shows the best part of fashion because it is tailor-made for customers and is perfect." In addition to its showcase in Paris, Chanel and other luxury brands are also holding exhibitions and fitting around the world to cater to increasingly globalized customers including China.

"No price is high if we have the opportunity to own what others do not have."

An observable trend is that Chanel's advanced customization consumers are getting younger and younger. Brand spokesman said: "they want a garment that is tailored for themselves, not for other women."

Take Liu Jiaxi, 21, for example. She has collected a series of superb high-end customization, from Valentino's purple mantle cloak dress to SWAROVSKI's inlaid Giorgio Armani tights. The price of these works is up to 100 thousand euros (about 780 thousand yuan). "That's just a lower average price," she said. She and her mother prefer Dior, Armani, Schiaparelli and Dolce & Gabbana (before the Chinese storm). The mother and daughter usually place orders for five to six brands when they participate in a high weekly setting.

"Whether it's a custom Saville street Saville Row suit, or a specially ordered platinum bag, it's not expensive to have anything that other people don't have," says Christian Barlow, editor of the Hongkong edition of Tatler magazine.

Luxury consumption also needs upgrading

But in China, when we talk about "advanced customization", the word seems to be everywhere. Many brands and even secret tailor shops call themselves advanced customization, ignoring whether they have been recognized by the French Advanced Custom Fashion Association. In China, there is no strict boundary between "Bespoke" and "Couture".

Of course, everything is possible. With the rise of social media, more and more homogeneous fashion, and people's growing desire to stand out, it means that some Chinese customers are tired of "ordinary" luxury goods, and customized luxury goods are a new way of trading for them. "Many people recognize the attractiveness of buying advanced customization or customized products," Barlow said.

However, not all Chinese consumers choose to upgrade from Western Luxury garments to their high-end custom fashions. On the contrary, some people have been disappointed with the European brand clothing products and have turned to local women's designers. In the distance of 10 thousand kilometers away from Paris's respected fashion designers, these designers are serving the group of highly demanding and elusive customer service, which is, in a sense, a competitor that Paris peers cannot ignore.

Three names are among them: Yang Fang, Atelier by Fang with many loyal customers, Chen Yehuai, Grace Chen of frequent tour show, and Guo Pei, the famous Met Gala "egg cake" dress in 2015, designed for Rihanna (Rihanna).

Chen Yehuai's brand Grace Chen in Shanghai.

Yang Fang has been operating two lines of clothing and advanced customization in Shanghai since 2013, but the latter - Atelier by Fang has grown into an important source of income for her. This allowed her to set up a custom-made workshop and Salon of three storeys in Shanghai's old law concession last year. "I find that customers are happy to find a new proposition beyond those luxury brands, which have taken up a large proportion of their wardrobe," Yang Fang told BoF.

"We have really caught the post luxury market," said Chen Yehuai, who graduated from the New York Fashion Technology Institute and also has a garden house in Shanghai. As a workshop and salon, she said that ten years ago, she had created a model for Oprah Winfrey and China's first lady Peng Liyuan. More than 90% of her customers are Chinese, although designers notice that the number of young local customers is increasing, but most of them are between 35 and 45 years old.

"Most of my customers are the first luxury consumers in China. They started buying Chanel and Dior 20 years ago. But what they need now is not just that, because luxury clothing is too easy to get, and no longer special, "she added. She pointed out that more and more Chinese consumers are moving away from overexposed and overly obvious luxury goods, and they find that custom clothing is a more subtle choice. Grace Chen's dress is priced at RMB 85 thousand yuan, while pants are priced at RMB 17 thousand yuan.

"Most of my customers are the first luxury consumers in China. They started buying Chanel and Dior 20 years ago. But what they need now is more than that.

Compared with the European fashion brands, the customers of Chinese high definition designers are even more elusive. It is said that the wife from the former CEO of fashion group, Su mang to Premier Li Keqiang, has chosen local designers to customize them. Chen Yehuai pointed out that most of her clients were successful female entrepreneurs and businesswomen. Of course, some Chinese customers are very excited about high social dress in high-class social activities, but there are many other customers who want to wear advanced custom clothes on other occasions - usually more professional or more casual.

Wei Jun, chairman of Greater China business of Hocking Nouvel (Hogan Lovells), is a good case. "I have bought many clothes from European brands, such as Dior and Chanel, which feel beautiful and fashionable, but I don't think that is my own," Wei told BoF. "Finding a brand that makes me feel very comfortable is a long process."

Alexis Mabille, based in Paris, has witnessed the increasing globalization of its advanced custom consumers. Although advanced custom garments now account for 35% of all his business, Chinese shoppers account for only 3-5% of his highly customized customers. Compared with 10% of the clothing business in the region, the proportion is quite small.

Actors Dongyu Zhou, Zhang Tianai, Deng Jiajia and Li Jiaxin are only a few Chinese stars who pass through the Mabille "Kurkova" dress. Red carpet modeling and front row appearance can help enhance brand awareness, but attracting super rich to buy unique fashion is another matter.

The designer pointed out that Chinese customers tend to be more impatient with waiting time for up to three months compared with customers in other regions. "Sometimes, they don't want to wait for the whole process. They like the idea and feeling of advanced customization, but they are fast consumers. Therefore, he sometimes refuses some requests, because his team can not finish high production in the expected time.

Dongyu Zhou Mabille, a senior Alexis Mabille designer.

Lyn Huang, a 39 year old spa and investor who lives in London and Shanghai, has also bought some advanced custom fashions from European brands, like some of Mabille's customers, but she prefers Chen Yehuai's approach. "Grace's service is more personalized, and she will take the time to discuss with me what I need... Her service efficiency is also higher."

It is hard to imagine the importance of the word "efficiency" to Chinese customers, which is famous for its slow fashion and needs to fly to Paris for many times to try on the traditional European advanced customization brand. Not everyone can take a year off from Parsons School of design as Liu Jiaxi did. He studied performances in Beijing, and participated in Fendi and Herm s activities in his spare time. Although these customers are equally rich in money, time is the real luxury for all the top executives.

Ground gas is also an attraction.

In contrast, Lyn Huang believes that the reason why Chen Yehuai's workshop is popular with women like her is because her client has established a "strong woman" network in Shanghai, which means the recommendation and support of old age professional women's word-of-mouth.

"These women are very picky. They already have the best things in the world, so you have to do better. You have to be better than their existing Chanel suit or McQueen jacket, "Chen Yehuai said.

The designer believes that compared with the European Advanced Custom Brands, her main strength lies in the acute understanding of the size and shape of Asians. She recalled many examples of helping long-term customers to "trim" Armani's tailored suits and dresses. However, she believes that this gap is cultural. "Westerners do not have the aesthetic ideals of Asians. This is not something they can understand or correct." She said.

Leanne Lam, the founder of an activity management company in Hongkong, agrees. Although she has placed an order with European brands, she believes that European and Chinese fashion designers can have different methods and aesthetics and cater to different audiences. "If I need a classic twill jacket, I will go to Chanel," she said. But perhaps because of my background, I can resonate more with Grace's works. They show the best side of Asian women. "

"You have to be better than their existing Chanel suit or McQueen jacket."

Yang Fang also estimated that her Chinese customers had been coming to her workshop for cultural reasons. "They like to stay with Chinese craftsmen, these teams are in our workshop, and when they talk with me, their personality and taste will surely get more sincere understanding."

What we must realize is that a large number of Chinese women entrepreneurs or private entrepreneurs' partners from the early generation still do not grow up in an international environment. Therefore, language barrier is an important reason for them to choose native designers. From a psychological point of view, communication with native speakers makes them feel more comfortable and equal, rather than pilgrimage to the west to order advanced customization.

I am wearing a Caroline Hu custom dress for later night. Photo source: Julien M. Hekimian/Getty Images.

In addition to culture, chief executive officer of Yu Holdings believes that young Chinese designers are also worthy of support in their creativity. During this fashion week in Paris, she wore the custom dress of the first BoF China Prize contest winner Hu Yingqi (Caroline Hu). The famous senior custom collector is a loyal customer of Chanel, Dior, Valentino and Giambattista Valli. But she appreciates Hu Yingqi's works and her personal expression: "her works contain deconstruction techniques, and the spirit of romanticism is a great admiration rather than exaggeration. The most amazing thing is that Hu Yingqi's work was almost finished by her personally for hundreds of hours, which was deeply shocked by me as the first BoF China Award judge. I think Hu Yingqi's victory is an inspiration for the return of Chinese young designers to the spirit of technology.

　　 Chinese customers' personal taste is worth respecting.

In fact, China's demand for advanced customization far exceeds that of consumers sitting in the front row of Armani and Dior. As they choose more and more personalized luxury experience, Yang Fang, Chen Yehuai and Guo Pei's advanced customization workshop is actually just the tip of the iceberg.

A designer who provides customized and personalized services with traditional Chinese technology is meeting the needs of local customers for unique fashion. For example, Guo Pei, in Beijing, runs a homonymous advanced custom series and runs his own Rose House. This workshop focuses on customizing costumes for customers, and customers have more voice.

"Customization is no longer just a luxury consumer for advanced customization," said Liz Flora, Asia Research editor at Gartner L2, L2. She noted that in China, there are more and more brands offering personalized clothing choices. The proportion of brands released on the social media platform Sina micro-blog has almost doubled from 24% in the first quarter of this year, to 44% this year.

According to McKinsey Co's latest report on China's luxury consumption, personalized experience and products are promoting luxury consumption in China's online and offline sectors. Even those brands that do not belong to the category of advanced customization or custom made clothing are crucial to the growing interest in feeling the unique value of the brand in order to stand out in the increasingly crowded market.

Like the wider luxury industry, Chen Yehuai believes that China is gradually becoming the driving force of high-end custom fashion consumption. "Paris will remain the center of the high-end customization industry," she said. "But China will become the main driver of consumption, though it may not be as big as clothing." People yearn for the best things in the world. Fashion is definitely part of it. "

However, some things are still missing. "There must be a feeling that Chinese customers have not been given such a sincere and sincere care." Yang Fang believes that these customers just want them to be respected like those who are leading the trend.

"I still believe that important European high-end custom brands should be respected with unlimited respect," she said. "But understanding the true identity of customers and giving people a more enlightened impression may be a more and more needed change for Western brands."