Some 600 guests took in the show, including a long list of Chinese celebrities and fashion fans. Forty international models, including a selection of young Chinese men, descended a dramatically curved staircase, suggesting an arrival via a time machine.
Kris Van Assche, creative director for Dior Homme, spoke with WWD before the show, and despite his grueling hours in Beijing, he was clearly energized by the experience and ready to show off his collection to the world’s fastest-growing luxury market. In China, men’s luxury clothes and brands often sell at higher volume than those for female consumers, so this was a particularly important choice as a runway first showing of Dior men’s outside of its French home.
Van Assche embellished the “Gattaca”-inspired collection initially shown in Paris last January. For the Beijing showcase, he presented three new classic Dior tuxedos to be made specifically for the house’s growing Chinese market. The designer said he believes tuxedos will find a strong market in China, where growing wealth has been accompanied by more sophisticated tastes.
“They’ll only be made in China,” Van Assche explained of the three new looks. “It’s more interesting for everybody if we add something new. After seeing my own show in January, I kind of felt like the first looks were very strong, the black suits, so I was happy to be able to add three more of those looks,” he added.
Though this is his third visit to China, Van Assche has not had much time to explore the Beijing or Shanghai, but was planning to step out on Friday and Saturday to the Great Wall and for a further taste of local life in Beijing. From what he has seen so far, Van Assche said he is impressed by the attention to detail among Chinese people who dress up.
“China and Beijing are huge, so you get a lot of diversity,” he said of the overall aesthetic. “I’ve been to some fancy restaurants and I’ve been around. People tend to dress up. People tend to pay a lot of attention to the way they look, which is obviously something I appreciate.”
Yet, he added, “Young kids in the street look quite similar to young kids anywhere.”
The half-hour runway show was a high-energy affair, staged in a a massive, airy art space at the China Academy of Fine Arts Museum.
Chinese film stars Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao ands Tong Dawei joined the list of celebrities in attendance, along with pop stars Han Geng and Huang Lixing. Other domestic actors, singers and stylists also joined the party.
Following the show, the British synth-pop duo Hurts got the crowd dancing.