As recently mentioned in a piece by GoChengdu, a summit on China’s ‘Top Fashion Cities’ was held last month. This summit supposedly revealed the rankings of China’s top fashion cities under various categories. Chengdu did well in all categories, all as Chengdu Fashion Week draws in.
Among the top 10 fashion cities in China being ranked, Chengdu and Shanghai tied for first place, under the categories ‘Strength of the Fashion Industry’, ‘Charm of Fashion’ and ‘Influence in the Fashion Industry’. Though sharing first place with Shanghai, Chengdu came first in ‘Charm’. The Chengdu lifestyle is famously laid back and down to earth, and this approach has been revealing itself in Chengdu’s fashion for years. As covered in in articles by the likes of the South China Morning Post and Surface, fashion in Chengdu has distinguished itself from the likes of Beijing and Shanghai by being more about ‘personal identity’ than ‘social status’.
Why all the attention now? This report comes just ahead of the 2018 Chengdu International Fashion Week, taking place from Nov. 13 to 18, which was organized by the Chengdu Municipal People’s Government. This also follows global brands, such as Chanel, turning their focus to the city. Global brands are on the rise in Chengdu, with luxury department store Lane Crawford picking the city as its third mainland location after Beijing and Shanghai. This is all also possibly linked to the wealth tracker Hurun Report finding that there are about 27,000 multimillionaires (in USD) residing in Chengdu.
The fashion of a city relies on economic strength, but also cultural resources, lifestyle and people. For these reasons, it makes sense that Chengdu’s fashion presence is on the rise. However, this new focus on Chengdu as a fashion capital may be thanks to some well-timed promotional moves and some bigger names in the business wanting to take a piece of the action, rather than a newfound appreciation for Chengdu’s street fashion.
