The “10th Shanghai Haute Couture Week • Oriental Aesthetics” press conference was held on 12 October 2021. Shanghai International Fashion Federation, the organizer of the event announced that the “Shanghai Haute Couture Week 2021-2022” (herein referred to as “Shanghai Haute Couture Week”) will open at the Bund Finance Center on 12 November 2021.

Compared with the previous Shanghai Haute Couture Week, this year's Shanghai Haute Couture Week will be upgraded with more partners to carry out more events and exhibitions, actively undertake the spill over effects of the China International Import Expo, focus on haute couture practitioners of the younger generations, and turn "haute couture" into a lifestyle for better life. It is reported that, the organizer will carry out a series of exciting events such as home shows, immersive exhibitions, themed salon for high-net-worth customers and regional collaborations at the Shanghai Haute Couture Week.

The upgraded Shanghai Haute Couture Week will take “Oriental Aesthetics” as its strategic positioning and deepen its focus in Chinese culture, fashion, consumption and other fields, becoming a powerful tool to improve Shanghai’s soft power and better promoting Chinese culture globally.

Xu Xiaoliang, President of Shanghai International Fashion Federation and Co-CEO of Fosun International, said “The enhancement of national power will surely bring about its cultural confidence. It takes the right people, in the right place and at the right time to comprehensively build and improve cultural ‘soft power’, but a global common cultural language is crucial. Oriental Aesthetics is precisely the language needed to promote Chinese culture to the world. Therefore, the Shanghai International Fashion Federation will take it as the main focus to upgrade Shanghai Haute Couture Week in the hope of contributing to the building of cultural soft power. As the President unit of the Shanghai International Fashion Federation, in the future, Yuyuan Inc. and its controlling shareholder, Fosun International will leverage on their strong China-Chic DNA and globalization capability to fully participate and provide full support. In addition, they will also join forces with other member companies and partners to promote Oriental Aesthetics globally and bring in overseas’ culture, fostering development as a team.”

Yin Zi, Executive Vice President of the Shanghai International Fashion Federation, shared that over the years, the Shanghai Haute Couture Week consisted of three core elements, the dynamic SHOWCASE that focuses on customized clothing and apparel, the static SHOWROOM exhibitions and sales of Chinese fashion boutiques that advocate high-quality lifestyle, and overseas exhibitions and sales that "pay tribute to China's haute couture". This year, Shanghai Haute Couture Week will usher in a new phase of comprehensive upgrading based on the theme of "Oriental Aesthetics". A series of haute couture events will advance the development of Shanghai fashion brands and create new heights in Shanghai fashion design, thereby assisting Shanghai in the construction of a fashion capital and allowing “Chinese Aesthetics” to influence the world again.

Wang Xiaocan, Director of the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, pointed out that all industries are willing to fulfil people’s yearning for a better life. Therefore, the development of the haute couture industry will surely be cross-regional and cross-disciplinary. It is hoped that high quality platforms such as the Shanghai International Fashion Federation and Shanghai Haute Couture Week will cultivate more new impetus for the industry to jointly promote the development of China’s haute couture.

Zhang Zhong, President of Donghao Lansheng International Trade Group, mentioned that Shanghai Haute Couture Week is not only a beneficial attempt for high-end consumer specialization, localization, and long-term effectiveness, but also a great platform to revitalize China's high-end boutique handicraft industry, and also a natural product of social development, progress of the times and consumption demand. As the co-organizer, Donghao Lansheng is looking forward to innovating and collaborating with the Shanghai International Fashion Federation in the field of haute couture and creating a global China-Chic IP with Shanghai flair, guiding the haute couture industry to take steady steps to enhance Shanghai's soft power.

At the press conference, famous Chinese fashion designers shared their own experience in the fashion industry and their unique thought on "Oriental Aesthetics".

Guo Pei, Honorary Vice President of Shanghai International Fashion Federation and China’s renowned haute couture designer, pointed out that a professional public sharing platform can enhance communication and mutual learning for designers, thereby maintaining professionalism from start to end, promoting sound development of the industry, better integrating the essence of Eastern and Western cultures and maintaining high-quality, high standard of innovation and design capabilities. It is hoped that through the Shanghai International Fashion Federation and the theme of "Gathering Oriental Aesthetics" in this Haute Couture Week, more designers can participate in the positive attempt of carrying forward traditional culture and oriental aesthetics with the help of design language, truly allowing haute couture to blossom in China.

Chen Yehuai, China’s renowned designer and founder of the GRACE CHEN brand, shared that "The GRACE CHEN brand has participated in the Shanghai Haute Couture Week for many years. We value highly of the Shanghai Haute Couture Week particularly. Shanghai is also China's design capital, fashion capital, and brand capital. Shanghai Haute Couture Week also represents the new heights of China's fashion. GRACE CHEN has always advocated that universal belongs to the world, and the beauty of China is also the beauty of the world. The series of ‘Qin (the guqin, a stringed instrument), qi (the strategy game of Go), shu (Chinese calligraphy) and hua (Chinese painting), the elegance of China – shu’ will be released on 14 November to help promote Shanghai Haute Couture Week’s Oriental Aesthetics. We hope that GRACE CHEN's product launch and Shanghai Haute Couture Week will continue to cooperate in the future."

The group standards of "Shanghai Haute Couture Week Brand Standard Regulations" formulated by the Shanghai International Fashion Federation was also officially promulgated and implemented at the press conference. Basic conditions were established in various areas, such as brand resource standards, scope, crafts and materials, and sales scale. As group standards, the regulations were compiled and refined based on the real data of relevant brands participated in Shanghai Haute Couture Week in the past several years, which have high industry reference value. Guo Pei and Chen Yehuai, China’s renowned haute couture designers, and Wang Xiaocan, Director of the Haute Couture Research Center of Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology, and other haute couture practitioners witnessed the promulgation and implementation of the regulations.

In recent years, Chinoiserie with elements of “Oriental Aesthetics” is rising globally. Chinese elements are increasingly being incorporated in the global fashion industry and appearing in major shows, demonstrating that China’s “soft power” with “Oriental Aesthetics” as its core is gaining more attention around the world.

Therefore, the Shanghai International Fashion Federation will take "Oriental Aesthetics" as the major strategy for future development, leveraging on the mature brand of "Shanghai Haute Couture Week" to promote quality living and serve more customers. In addition, it will actively connect with Shanghai’s, national and global resources, assist Shanghai in building into a design capital, fashion capital, and brand capital to develop its "soft power", so that Shanghai can play a greater role as a "bridgehead".