The Spring Festival of the Year of the Snake in the year of the B巳蛇, became the first Spring Festival after the successful bidding of the Spring Festival.
On December 4, 2024, the Spring Festival, a social practice of the Chinese people to celebrate the traditional New Year, was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
During this year’s Spring Festival, a number of Chinese intangible cultural heritages became elements of product design and brand communication for major European and American luxury brands.
Bvlgari unveils the Serpenti Infinito, the Year of the Snake exhibition in Shanghai’s Zhang Yuan, with a special edition of jewelry, watches and accessories for the Chinese New Year. The snake is the iconic symbol and inspiration for the brand’s creations.
Kathleen Macy, the head of the python and the mysterious snake.
Burberry has teamed up with a non-heritage artist to create a series of bamboo artworks inspired by Qi Baishi’s grass snake, which bears a striking resemblance to its distinctive texture and color.
Blancpain launches the Chinese Calendar Year of the Snake Limited Edition, featuring traditional Chinese elements such as the celestial stems, the yin and yang, the five elements, the twelve hours, the Chinese zodiac, and the moon phases.
LV presents the Year of the Snake Zodiac Organizer
Dior launches a limited edition Chinese New Year collection incorporating the element of the snake.
Loewe launches cloisonné jewelry and bags, as well as a Snake Dance video that combines kite-making and shadow puppetry.
In addition to product design, some luxury brands also integrate folklore and culture into their brand communication, Qeelin went into the Dong ethnic group in Qiandongnan and made a New Year’s movie with them by harmonizing with the Dong Da Song.
BV shot a short film in Liuyang, Hunan province, the birthplace of fireworks, which is full of the flavor of fireworks in Chinese New Year.
McQueen releases Chinese New Year advertising campaign The home of the heart, conveying the message that no matter what changes, where the heart is at ease is home.
Miu Miu Launches Flower Boat Tour at Liwan Lake Park in Guangzhou
T iffany shoots a microfilm, Love, Everywhere, to pay tribute to everyone who is wandering around with a longing in their heart No matter how the years change, the love for our family will always make us feel like we are home.
Gucci’s Chinese New Year campaign features two families staring at each other through a window.
European and American luxury brands are discovering the beauty of China with more diversified and refined perspectives, and integrating it with their own cultural genes to communicate more deeply with Chinese consumers through a certain form of cultural narrative.
In this regard, Dior’s horse-faced dress is a representative example of the fusion of a brand’s own cultural DNA with the beauty of China.
In July 2022, Dior released on its website an early fall series of black mid-length bustier dress and Chinese traditional dress horse face dress is very similar, but the product introduction did not mention the horse face dress, but said it uses the iconic Dior silhouette, which triggered many netizens, especially Chinese traditional dress enthusiasts are dissatisfied, many netizens accused of plagiarism and cultural misappropriation, Dior plagiarism on the microblogging hot list of the first.
In this regard, the National Treasure costume consultant costume history scholars Chen Shiyu in an interview with the media, why Dior used the structure of the horse skirt design, many Chinese people only recognize the horse skirt before recognizing the beauty of the horse skirt?
He believes that some of the so-called Chinese style brand, the bones of the Western approach, but only with some Chinese elements to do the icing on the cake, such as the use of dragons and phoenixes embroidery cymbidium pattern, or the edges and corners with the woof fabric. If only elemental use, it is always just running behind the western ass.
Professional designers have been immersed in the Western model for a long time in education, learning and practice, without seriously understanding how to learn what is really suitable for Chinese people, and how the future image of Chinese people should be established.
They have forgotten some fundamental things, not summarizing what the aesthetic characteristics of the Chinese people are, and what the structural characteristics of the Chinese people’s clothing are. These structures, which have been developed in China over the centuries, surely have something suitable for the Chinese people, whether in terms of practical function, or on a philosophical and aesthetic level.
What absolute standard is there for this thing called beauty? It’s just that whoever has the right to speak and interpret, the standard for defining beauty is in their hands. Now the definition of fashion is in the hands of these big brands, and what it says is beautiful is beautiful.
Chinese historical clothing is actually a huge treasure trove, why don’t we put it to good use?
We need to have confidence and perception of China’s traditional dress culture. Only by building up cultural confidence, can we define our own fashion and export it, so that it won’t be taken away as it is today.
As a matter of fact, the traditional dress circle has noticed and used the horse-face skirt at least a decade ago, but for many non-traditional dress enthusiasts, they tend to find it old-fashioned, strange and old-fashioned, or feel that wearing such a strange pattern today is meaningless and doesn’t fit in with today’s lifestyles.
The Hanbok industry, after nearly a decade of development, has also eliminated some styles, such as the Han Dynasty Curve Train Dress, which was once sought after when Hanbok first emerged. The habit of living with high-footed furniture was not formed until after the Song Dynasty, whereas before the Han Dynasty it was a seat dwelling with mats indoors, so people were able to move around indoors in floor-length robes that dragged on the floor.
However, in the modern society, in the fast-paced and mobile urban life, the loose-fitting, long-sleeved, long-training dress was out of place, and its wearability was very limited.
This brings us to the controversy of whether Dior copied the Horse Face Dress.
From a basic structural point of view, the structure of Dior’s mid-length bustier dress conforms to the iconic characteristics of the horse skirt. There are two horse-face openings overlapping at the front and back, forming two large glossy surfaces at the front and back, and both of these surfaces can be lifted up.
This skirt has the same basic structure as the horseface skirt except it is slightly shorter than the horseface skirt.
From the skirt, its board shape is clean, not dragging the ground, there is no extra part, as a single product can also be mixed and matched with T-shirts shirts, and A-line skirt is a bit similar, which may be exactly what the official claimed to be the intention of the use of the iconic Dior silhouette The A-line skirt originated in the 1950s, by Mr. Christian Dior Dior, the founder of the brand was designed.
Which brings us to the question of whether the structure of the traditional horse skirt, like the train, has fallen out of fashion because it doesn’t suit modern lifestyles. Is the Dior bustle dress a contemporary adaptation of the horse skirt and a tribute to it?
Look back to 1947 for Dior’s first fashion show. It was the end of the Second World War, and people had not yet emerged from its aftermath. In what was later defined as the New Look, Mr. Dior raised the length of the skirt to 40 centimeters above the ground, elegantly revealing the woman’s ankles!
Sleeve lengths were usually to the center of the lower arm, i.e. 3/4 sleeves, lined with long gloves.
The rounded and smooth natural shoulder line is connected to a slim waist.
The feminine lines are emphasized by the padded hips.
The Parisian fashion world was electrified by these designs, which retained the elegance and sophistication of courtly nobility, but also showed off an ethereal fluidity suitable for everyday wear.
The audience cheered as the 90 outfits were presented, completely overturning perceptions and expectations. This set of clothes emphasizes femininity and romantic style, but at the same time masters the modern sense of the times and sharp lines.
Dior’s exquisite and luxurious clothing, all kinds of different details, combined with an extremely sweet feminine atmosphere, so that the war-torn women, in the gorgeous clothing, awakened memories of the pre-war flowers, but also awakened the missing French elegance after the war.
Returning to the present, beyond Dior’s plagiarism and cultural appropriation of the consciousness of the dispute, a more important and realistic proposition before us How can we use contemporary aesthetic concepts to improve the traditional non-legacy, so that it is more in line with the contemporary lifestyle of the people of China?
Business is effective protection, and use is the best inheritance.
Through the power of commercialization to continue the inheritance of non-heritage, the British invention of bone china Bone China to the development of Chaozhou ceramics industry is a representative case.
Porcelain is a Chinese invention, but bone china is a British invention. Since the 16th century, Chinese porcelain, especially Jingdezhen porcelain, which is famous for its high quality and exquisite craftsmanship, has entered Europe in large quantities, and become a luxury product favored by European royals and aristocrats.
Against this background, a large number of European merchants began to imitate Chinese porcelain and produce hard porcelain locally. However, the lack of kaolin, a key raw material, led to the quality of their products could not be comparable to Chinese porcelain.
In 1794, the British potter Josiah Spode Josiah Spode through systematic experiments, determined the ideal ratio of bone meal, kaolin and china stone, the ratio of the three is about 50 25 and 25, successfully developed bone china.
Simply put, bone china is a thin-bodied porcelain made by adding the ashes of herbivores, such as cows and sheep, to clay and firing it at high temperatures, and is known for its warm, milky color. The higher the calcium oxide content in bone china, the better the color, and animal ashes are the main source of calcium oxide.
Bone china is characterized by high translucency, lightness, strength and finesse, and has been rapidly gaining popularity in the market as a representative of high-end porcelain.
As a result, bone china has become the standard of the British ceramic industry, and its production technology has spread from the United Kingdom to European countries and even Asia, not only promoting the development of the British ceramic industry, but also having a profound impact on the global porcelain industry.
Today, Wedgwood continues to be one of the world’s leading brands of fine china, with its exceptional quality of embossed stoneware opal and bone china, and continues to convey its refined and elegant British style to the world.
Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of the brand, is known as the father of British ceramics, and by the way, Charles Darwin, the author of the origin of species, is his grandson, and since the brand was founded in 1759, its porcelain has always been highly respected by the royal families of Europe.
Queen Charlotte Charlotte ordered a set of cream porcelain, because of her love for this set of porcelain, she appointed Josiah Wedgwood as the royal potter, and licensed cream porcelain named Queen s Ware Queen’s Ware. 1812, Wedgwood first introduced bone china tableware, which has since become its representative products.
Putting the attention back to the domestic.
In the 1980s, the country is in urgent need of foreign exchange to support the domestic economic development and the introduction of technology, in the international market reputation of Jingdezhen porcelain has become an important source of national foreign exchange.
As a result, Jingdezhen porcelain enterprises shouldered the task of 50 million U.S. dollars a year in foreign exchange. Later, the Western countries on the blockade and suppression of China, unilaterally tore up the orders sent to the Jingdezhen porcelain enterprises, and the production of the order products can not receive payment, which led to the Jingdezhen porcelain enterprises to survive.
According to a still active in Jingdezhen senior practitioners recall, the whole industry all the way to the decline, until 1995, the top ten state-owned porcelain enterprises all bankruptcy, all employees laid off.
The turnaround of the lifting of the ban occurred around 1997, but its direct achievement of the object is not Jingdezhen, but Chaozhou, Guangdong.
In the demand side, the popularity of the British bone china because of its high production costs, businessmen began to seek overseas OEM, China is its first choice!
On the supply side, as a traditional ceramic production area of Chaozhou has rich resources of porcelain clay and mature technology, but at that time, the main production of low-end products, due to the lack of international competitiveness and lead to poor sales, but also the urgent need to undertake more business to maintain operation.
Supply and demand for both ends of the fit, the British bone china enterprises will be part of the production transferred to Chaozhou, the use of local low-cost advantage of OEM production.
As a result, Chaozhou ceramic industry ushered in the opportunity to take off. Now look back, Chaozhou porcelain enterprises through the introduction of cooperation in the United Kingdom’s production technology and management experience, improve product quality and production efficiency, and step by step from traditional production to modern manufacturing, products from OEM OEM gradually towards independent research and development and create their own brands, and even gradually impact on the high-end market.
Bone china has also become a major economic pillar and industrial business card of Chaozhou.
In 2004, the China Light Industry Federation China Ceramic Industry Association awarded Chaozhou ceramic production area China Porcelain City Chaozhou title. Chaozhou Municipal Government in August 2020 issued Chaozhou City to build 100 billion ceramic industry cluster action plan, proposed to accelerate the transformation of the ceramic industry, technological innovation, and strive to 2025 the end of the ceramic industry industrial output value of one hundred billion yuan level, more than 1,000 regulated ceramic enterprises, more than 300 hundred million yuan of enterprises, more than 100 high-tech enterprises at the national level.
According to the data in 2022, Chaozhou’s daily-use ceramics, art ceramics, sanitary ceramics, annual production and sales respectively accounted for 25 25 40 of the country’s exports accounted for 30 40 55 of the world’s market share are ranked first in the country.
Jingdezhen is heading for another path. With the successive closure of the top ten state-owned porcelain enterprises, and overseas orders flowed to Chaozhou, a large number of insightful people have set up their own homes, seek their own way out From state-owned enterprises to private enterprises, from large-scale order production to small-scale boutique development, Jingdezhen porcelain gradually towards the art of boutique high-end, focusing on the historical heritage and cultural heritage at the same time, emphasizing the craftsmanship and artistic value, to become synonymous with high-end art porcelain and collector’s porcelain. The porcelain has become synonymous with high-end art porcelain and collector’s porcelain.
On November 4, 2024, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, the French Federation of Fine Arts Industries held the Sino-French Craftsmanship Tour in Shanghai Zhang Yuan.
Chinese master craftsmen from lacquer, gold repair, bamboo weaving, Suzhou embroidery, filigree, micro-carving, tin embroidery, stud inlay, wood carving, bamboo carving, egg-shell lacquer, tea ceremony, incense and other non-heritage fields, and 17 master craftsmen from France’s boutique luxury brands opened a Sino-French artisanal and craftsmanship dialog.
The inheritor of the sea jade carving Yuan Yao with its first playful jadeite carving techniques dialogue with Breguet, Breguet, master of filigree inlay techniques Wu Zhi dialogue with the centuries-old silver brand Christofle Quentin, master of arts and crafts Cai Wen egg shell inlay technology dialogue with the leather brand Longchamp, master of the inlay technology Gao Shuai dialogue with the L COLE Jewelry Art Center, the traditional porcelain restoration techniques gold repair, tea ceremony incense ceremony and other non-heritage areas of Chinese master craftsmen and 17 luxury brands from France to open a dialogue between Chinese and French craftsmanship and art. The traditional porcelain restoration technique of gold repair dialogues with Hermes, known as the wordless history book on the body of the Jianhe tin embroidery dialogues with Chanel
Eggshell Inlay Craft
China’s non-legacy crafts through generations of inheritance and innovation, some of the crafts inheritors also founded a brand, has become a certain degree of popularity of the old, which is similar to the French luxury brands inheritance of centuries-old handicrafts.
According to Bénédicte EPINAY, President and CEO of the Fédération Française de la Boutique (FFB), the luxury industry has high standards and expectations for craftsmanship, which can even be traced back to the 17th century, and this strict demand for craftsmanship and uncompromising quality is the secret of the success of the French luxury industry.
Throughout the French luxury industry, all major brands have their own craftsmanship training centers.
The LVMH Academy of Excellence in Craftsmanship aims to pass on expertise and skills in craftsmanship, creativity and retailing.
The Prada Academy is more than a craft skills school, it is a training organization covering all sectors and skills.
Gucci has created an innovative educational program called cole de l’Amour, a school of love, in its new factory, Gucci ArtLab, in order to pass on craftsmanship and discover talent.
Ferragamo has always helped craftspeople to learn and grow through in-house training, with a particular focus on shoemakers.
Brunello Cucinelli founded a school of arts and crafts that teaches courses in masonry, gardening, tailoring, weaving, cutting, mending and repairing.
The invaluable skills of artisans are the lifeblood of luxury brands. In the luxury industry, where new challenges arise and where tradition and innovation go hand in hand, talent is a key factor for success.
As of December 2024, China has 44 items inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, the highest number in the world. Although the National 14th Five-Year Plan and Vision 2035 outline important tasks to strengthen the systematic protection of intangible heritage, how can intangible heritage be revitalized to keep pace with the times and enter into the life scene of contemporary Chinese people? The successful organization of the Sino-French Arts and Crafts Fair has brought new thoughts and directions to this issue.
In the last page of my book “The Wind from the East”, published two years ago, I previewed my next research topic.
Aesthetic Contemporization and Commercialization of Chinese Non-Heritage Works Non-heritage works rooted in the local community are not only the material carriers of traditional Chinese culture, but also the expression of the emotions of the people of all ethnic groups. Along with the country’s economic development, cultural self-confidence and consumer upgrading, the field of non-legacy is bound to give birth to a number of high-end brands that create fine products.
This is an effective measure to generate income for artisans and promote common prosperity, an important hand in rural revitalization, a realistic measure to realize domestic substitution and strengthen cultural confidence, and an inevitable path to satisfy the people’s aspirations for a better life.
The road ahead is long, but also the current line.
END
No 6249 was originally published by Ou Jiajin
Author Biography Finance writer, senior financial media, specializing in the creation of luxury goods in China book series.
References Dior plagiarized the horse face dress? National Treasure Costume Consultant Responds Building Cultural Confidence Before Exporting to Avoid Being Taken Away at Will , Newsweek, 2022 07 19
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