PLAY IT AGAIN: Dior is bringing its fall collection to China.
On July 12, the French luxury brand will stage a repeat show in Shenzhen of the ready-to-wear display held in Paris last February, featuring a monumental textile sculpture by artist Joana Vasconcelos, Dior said in a statement shared exclusively with WWD. It did not specify the location of the event.
The announcement comes after Chanel said it plans to stage a repeat showing of its cruise 2024 collection in Shenzhen on Nov. 2, marking its first major event in China since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Located on the Pearl River Delta bordering Hong Kong, Shenzhen has grown in the course of several decades from a fishing village into the capital of China’s Silicon Valley, with a population of 13 million.
It ranked at number eight worldwide in the list of cities with the most billionaires published by Forbes in April, just behind Mumbai and ahead of Singapore, making it a magnet for luxury brands seeking to expand their retail network.
Maria Grazia Chiuri’s collection for Dior was inspired by the ’50s — the heyday of founder Christian Dior that remains the bedrock of the luxury brand’s communications strategy.
The designer delved into the stories of three heroines who shaped the post-war years in Paris: Dior’s sister Catherine, a French Resistance fighter during World War II, and singers Édith Piaf and Juliette Gréco.
The show comes amid signs that China’s economy recovery is stalling, sending luxury stocks tumbling.
In recent years, Dior kept up a steady pace of events in China despite restrictions designed to curb the spread of COVID-19, including the second edition of its “Art ’N Dior” exhibition in Shanghai, held in November.