Economic Trend News
- Great Wall gets 1st major fashion show
Date: 22-Oct-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
BUILT centuries ago to keep out the barbarian hordes, China's Great Wall was lit up Friday with its first-ever big-name fashion show.
Some of the country's most famous entertainers gathered at the Wall at Juyongguan, an hour north of Beijing, for the unveiling of a new line partly designed by Karl Lagerfeld for fashion house Fendi.
Eighty-eight models strutted down a catwalk constructed on a raised platform on a restored part of the Wall to Euro-trance music, showing off a colorful mix of furs and silks complete with belt buckles and Fendi's signature 'Baguette?bags.
Chinese movie star Zhang Ziyi, perhaps best known for her role in the Oscar-winning 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,' and a host of other celebrities added to the glamour.
'We've worked very hard for one year to prepare the collection,' designer Silvia Fendi said. 'Where do we go after? Maybe the moon. Why not? I feel like we have succeeded in doing something that was really a dream.'
But organizing something of this scale on a landmark that the Chinese Government has gone to great lengths to protect, was full of uncertainties, said Fendi CEO Michael Burke.
The event was supposed to have been held in May, but was then pushed back.
The permit to hold the show only came through six weeks ago, even though it had been planned for over a year.
Chinese models sported mid-calf dresses in sheer and semi-opaque, worn over shorts with matching round-toe strappy stiletto heels.
China is increasingly attracting the attention of global brands, hungry for new business in a market where a booming economy has put spending money in people's pockets and stimulated a desire for luxury.
Sponsor Results:
