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mr funny
30-01-11, 23:37
http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/whatsin/story/0,4574,423985-1296331140,00.html?

Published January 29, 2011

Prada woos Beijing

Miuccia Prada has her eyes firmly fixed on the billion-dollar bounty in luxury wear in China with her star-studded Beijing premiere. By Corinne Kerk


It is minus 11 deg C in Beijing, but at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum, a warm welcome has been laid out for the city's rich. Yes, the Prada party is on - and it is in full swing. Like Fendi, Christian Dior and Ermenegildo Zegna before it, the luxury Italian label signalled the importance of the booming Chinese market with a big bash last Saturday.

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RIDING THE TIGER
Chinese actress Gong Li (above) arrives at the Prada debut which saw a burst of colour on the runways with graphic fruit motifs and bright primary colours
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It is the first time Prada is showing in China - and outside Milan, for that matter - and Miuccia Prada rightly thought it fit to not merely re-show the women's and men's Spring/Summer 2011 collection already unveiled in September. Instead, the designer added 23 new items to 27 of the original looks.

The clothes are colourful and fun, mixing bold hues like orange and bright blue with shocking pink, green and yellow. Stripes sometimes accompanied the simple cuts, while at other times, quirky motifs like bananas, monkeys and pineapples took over.

The collection oozes optimism and irreverence - rounding off with colourful fur stoles, bags made of classic Saffiano leather and sky-high wedges for footwear.

As the models strut down the industrial-looking runway, they are watched by Prada-clad Chinese celebrities including Gong Li, Maggie Cheung and Cecilia Cheung.

To add to the celebratory mood, guests are also treated to a performance by British electronic music duo, Pet Shop Boys, singing some of their best-known hits. The flowing champagne makes the wealthy party harder and it's quite clear many more such top-notch productions are already in the works for China.

Coming at a time when there is overwhelming buzz about the country - from Chinese President Hu Jintao's well-covered, red-carpet treatment on a recent state visit to the United States, to the results of a global test where Shanghainese students clinched first place in reading, science and mathematics - everyone has little choice but to take the China Decade seriously.

Prada, which opened its first China boutique in Shanghai in 1995, currently has 14 stores in nine cities throughout the mainland. This year alone, nine to 15 new stores will be added in at least six other Chinese cities, while a new design studio opened in Hong Kong this month.

Prada's store expansion comes on the back of a stratospheric growth of its business in China. Last year, its sales in China, Hong Kong and Macau increased by 75 per cent over 2009. In comparison, its sales in the rest of the Asia Pacific region grew by 36 per cent in the same period. The company generates two billion euros (S$3.5 billion) in annual sales.

In addition, the Milan-based, family-owned Prada - which has cancelled IPO attempts four times in the past 11 years - just announced that it plans to seek a listing in Hong Kong. Such a move will bring it even closer to China's population of 1.3 billion, and especially its wealthy elite and exploding middle class.

What is interesting however, is the sharp dichotomy of the Chinese market - luxury label boutiques in Beijing appear to be so quiet that they seem bereft of customers.

Meanwhile, the city's famous Silk Market is bustling, and continues to blatantly hawk every counterfeit luxury item imaginable - buying half a dozen fake Louis Vuitton wallets for a mere 300 yuan (S$58) is not a problem. The rich-poor gap is glaring and luxury brands must fight counterfeits on high street as aggressively as they sell their stuff in upmarket malls.

Even at the glamorous Prada event, well-heeled local guests think nothing of jumping queues for finger food or letting out deafening screams when getting cloakroom staff to retrieve their winter coats, post-party. It's no wonder China this week mandated that all schoolchildren undergo lessons on etiquette - a clear signal of Beijing's concern over many of its citizen's notoriously uncultured manners.

Yes, China is a mixed bag - giant billboards exhorting a 'Civilised Chaoyang' in the capital city share outdoor advertising space with large hoardings put up by proud local companies declaring unflinchingly, 'We Will Never Be Second'.

The bottomline? Luxury brands which fail to focus on China clearly do so at their peril. Meanwhile, much polishing is needed before the Middle Kingdom's burgeoning consumer market displays the same sort of shine that matches the premium products they so hanker after.

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