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In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

text| Wang Ruoye

The first time I came into contact with fashion and catwalks, I couldn't sleep when I was a child, and I turned on the TV in the middle of the night and accidentally saw rows of beautiful women in cool clothes, confidently and generously showing a smile on the stage with "cat steps". When I grew up, I learned that this is called Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

Unlike the Victoria's Secret show, which is usually held in November, the spring/summer runways of fashion weeks such as New York, London and Milan tend to take turns from February every year. On March 7, 2023, Beijing time, with the last Paris Fashion Week coming to an end, this fashion feast in late winter and early spring will also come to an end. This is the first time in three years that Chinese stars have returned to the four major fashion weeks abroad.

It is not only the stars who are busy, but also netizens who experience the fun of surfing for a long time under the atmosphere of a #XX star watching the show #hot search every day. Just the matter of the show birth Tubimei, Weibo, Douban, and Xiaohongshu have been lively and discussed for more than a month, and Sina Entertainment officially launched "Milan Fashion Week domestic celebrity best show style do you like the most?" The vote attracted 89,000 participants in just 24 hours. However, the whole network has not yet selected the most beautiful (most handsome) person on the show this year.

It's just that it's not enough to compare beauty, it's hard to come to fashion Monday, fans also have to help celebrities compare makeup and hair styling, compare the clothes worn by the current season or over-season, compare where to sit on the show, compare whether there is a photo with the brand director... Compared with the inside of the show and then outside the show, the length of foreign media reports, the volume of external network publicity, and the number of likes of single-person image frequency on the external network are all data that need to be compared.

When Cai Xukun fans posted that Cai Xukun was named the best dressed Prada show by foreign media "Fashionista", Liu Yuxin fans immediately reluctantly shot back that Liu Yuxin, who was invited by Dior, was the only Asian face reported by Reuters, and Cheng Yi fans even packed the support screen in front of the Eiffel Tower in France, creating momentum for Cheng Yi's first participation in Paris Fashion Week.

The layman looks lively, the insider watches the doorway. For the artist team, participating in the fashion week is a gold plating for the commercial value of the artist. Artist agent Mo Nan told Bone Duo: "The artist's appearance at Fashion Week not only means that he has obtained relatively good brand recognition, but also a great exposure with great traffic, which helps deepen the artist's influence in the world." ”

In other words, Chinese celebrities traveling to foreign fashion weeks is far from being as simple as traveling to Haiti to watch a show.

01

First priority: return to the runway

The first Paris Fashion Week in 1910 was held under the auspices of the French Fashion Association, and the process did not stop even after the Second World War. However, it was not until around the 21st century that Chinese people appeared on the stage of international fashion weeks.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Sina Weibo @slagyidao

On the 1998 HERMES show, Maggie Cheung was invited by Martin Margiela, then creative director of HERMES, to walk the catwalk, becoming the first Chinese-speaking star to participate in Paris Fashion Week. In the following years, Hong Kong and Taiwan stars such as Tony Leung and Zhang Zhen stepped onto the fashion week runway and passed an addiction to star madou.

Compared with Hong Kong and Taiwan stars, mainland stars switched to fashion weeks later.

In 2000, the film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" achieved a box office of more than 128 million US dollars in North America, and is still the highest-grossing foreign language film in North America, winning ten Academy Award nominations the following year. The impressive results not only laid the foundation for Chinese films to knock on the door of the international market, but also made the fashion industry pay attention to the oriental aesthetics with a different charm.

In 2005, Dior's chief designer Pirate Ye, as a loyal fan of the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", specially invited Zhang Ziyi, one of the leading actors, to watch the show and visit the backstage of the show at Paris Fashion Week that year. Since then, Chinese people have begun to make frequent appearances in international fashion weeks.

Having said that, although there are more Chinese stars participating in fashion week, their treatment on the runway is often criticized. Before the start of the 2023 Dior show, BLACKPINK member Kim Ji-so was helped by the brand director to enter, and his liking can be seen. Former THE9 captain Liu Yuxin could only queue up from the VIP channel with other ordinary people watching the show, and the vice president of Dior Greater China was halfway through the reception, turned his head and left Liu Yuxin to say hello to others.

But the famous fashion blogger @haute couture bot told Bone Duo: "Now the acceptance of Chinese stars in the four major fashion weeks has been very high, and the shadow of Chinese people can be seen in many brands and many runways." In terms of extranet publicity, show arrangements and many related matters, Chinese stars may only differ from Hollywood's top stars. "Brands like Dior that "worship high and step low" are not mainstream.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Sina Weibo @Liu Shishi

From Milan Fashion Week, which began on February 15, 2023, to Paris Fashion Week, which ended on March 7, 2023, more than 30 Chinese stars were invited to watch the spring/summer fashion shows of different brands. Liu Shishi, who sat next to the CEO of TODS brand, Xiao Zhan, who wore tailor-made out-of-season clothing, Cai Xukun, who was invited to attend the Prada Foundation, and many Chinese celebrities who were claimed and praised by the brand's extranet are enough to prove that foreign fashion brands value Chinese stars.

From the perspective of fashion insiders, the return of Chinese stars to the runway, and the emergence of more and more Chinese faces at the four major fashion weeks, is also one of the manifestations of national confidence and cultural export.

02

Secondary mission: Reclaim endorsements

Generally speaking, celebrities who can participate in fashion weeks have had in-depth cooperation with fashion brands. Like LV brand spokesperson Liu Yifei, GUCCI brand spokesperson Xiao Zhan, Prada brand spokesperson Cai Xukun, they were all invited to watch the show at Fashion Week after passing the brand inspection period and having endorsements in their bodies.

Fiona, a staff member in the fashion circle, introduced to Bone Duo, "The fashion week show quota will be distributed by the fashion brand headquarters to various countries and regions. For example, there will be restrictions in China, usually two or three people. Some brand spokespersons, best friends, muses, etc. have many titles, so there are many stars who have cooperated, and not all stars who have worked with them can be invited. "Brands will consider it on a case-by-case basis.

If there are no special circumstances, the spokesperson, as the "owner" of the brand, will come to the show scene to introduce the products he endorses when the new season of products is released. Di Li Gerba, Yang Ying and Wang Junkai, who are also Dior's spokespersons, will not appear on the Dior show at Paris Fashion Week in 2023, so they are speculated that it is caused by the downgrade of the resources of the three and are no longer favored by Dior.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Sina Weibo @Di Li Gerba

@高定bot told Bone Duo, "As spokespersons or ambassadors, some celebrities went to fashion week but some did not, which only shows that the brand has assigned their respective functions of the brand from different angles." Not going is not necessarily not being invited. Especially for popular stars and top stars with titles, going to a fashion week can be as little as two or three days or more than a few weeks, and the schedule cannot be reconciled is the main reason why stars cannot attend fashion week. Artist agent Mo Nan also proves this, artists who have worked with the brand have not been invited to watch the show, most likely the schedule is not right, or the rights and interests in this regard are different when they first talked about endorsements.

Therefore, the spokesperson who does not appear on the brand show will not be saddled with negative news, let alone "drop resources". Regardless of the schedule reason, the brand will roughly investigate from the four dimensions of international popularity, ability to bring goods, fashion sense, and personal works to allocate the existing show spots. According to Fiona, when brands invite Hollywood stars, they pay more attention to the star's own fashion sense and fit with the brand concept. But he is more concerned about the ability of Chinese stars to carry goods, and observe whether he can help brands develop the Chinese market.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Sina Weibo @Cai Xukun Studio

When selecting spokespersons, brands put the ability of Chinese stars to carry goods at the top of their examination. On May 1, 2019, before Prada officially announced Cai Xukun as a global spokesperson, Prada's revenue in the Chinese market fell for five consecutive years. After the official announcement, Prada's 2021 financial report showed that revenue in the first half of the year rose 60% year-on-year to 1.501 billion euros, and retail sales increased by 60%. The e-commerce business achieved triple-digit growth for the fifth consecutive quarter, with the Chinese mainland market even jumping 77%.

Therefore, on the surface, the participation of Chinese stars in the four major fashion weeks is a recognition of them by the fashion industry. On the other hand, a number of high-end brands have turned their attention back to Chinese stars, signing endorsements and inviting them to watch shows in an attempt to help foreign brands achieve revenue generation in the Chinese mainland market through the popularity and traffic brought by celebrities.

03

Final mission: Raise the bar

After the stars who have experienced the four major fashion weeks returned to China, almost all fashion resources and coffee positions in the entertainment industry have been improved to varying degrees. Artist agent Mo Nan said, "In the future, if there are fashion brands or other business activities, they will be given priority to be included in the scope of invitation." In the future, when encountering announcements such as magazine shoots and red carpet dinners, it will be smoother for celebrities who have been to fashion weeks to borrow clothes from brands. ”

A trip to Fashion Week can not only establish a high-quality personality, but also have the opportunity to win brand cooperation, and may also feed back the acting career. This is undoubtedly a great benefit for many newcomer stars whose careers are just starting out. As a result, stars who want to rely on the four major fashion weeks to brush their faces internationally, but do not have high-luxury brand partnerships for the time being, often "save the country with curves" through other ways.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Sina Weibo @Xiaozhan Studio

One is magazine invitations. However, there are many differences in the treatment of brand invitations and magazine invited stars. Xiao Zhan, who was invited by two high-end luxury brands, GUCCI and TODS, to participate in Milan Fashion Week, arrived at the airport and was picked up by a fleet of vehicles arranged by the brand to take him to the most luxurious luxury hotel in the local area, and then there was a private jet transfer on the trip. The clothes he wore during the show were not only out of season, the brand arranged for the tailor to cut the clothes again according to his figure in advance, and he sat on the right side of the brand CEO for both shows.

The stars invited by the magazine not only cannot enjoy the above distinguished treatment, but also difficult to get the brand ins, let alone the whole process of the brand staff and foreign media follow-up. Zhang Jiani, who attended the two big shows of Brunello Cucinelli and Max Mara at the 2023 Milan Fashion Week, was invited by the magazine "Boutique Shopping Guide", and her Weibo about fashion week released in Milan did not even appear the brand logo.

Another way to participate in fashion weeks is to watch the show at your own expense, which is different from brands and magazine invitations, and buying admission places from others is equivalent to buying "scalpers". Once the star is exposed, he watches the show at his own expense, and he can't use the fame of Fashion Week to help him squeeze into the fashion circle, but he is blacked out by the brand and ridiculed by his compatriots.

At the 2019 Paris Fashion Week, the ONER group posted on Weibo that member Mu Ziyang was invited to attend the CHANEL 2020 spring/summer show, and then it was discovered by netizens that Mu Ziyang's team did not dare to use CHANEL official, sat in the back seat of the reporter's editor when watching the show, and flew to Paris several times out of his own pocket, and even the CHANEL suit he wore during the show was also given by his station sister. After the "rubbing show" turmoil, Mu Ziyang's fashion career also plummeted.

In the fashion circle "entering" the entertainment industry, how much "bride price" can celebrities get when watching the show?

Image source: Little Red Book @ Xia Zi

In the final analysis, the cooperation between celebrities and fashion brands, whether it is an invitation to a show or an endorsement, is a mutual achievement. For celebrities, fashion week should be just a work arrangement and a showcase of achievements. If celebrities want to integrate into the fashion circle, they should not only exert their efforts in fashion week, but should do some gains in fashion, such as wearing important occasions, dressing in private, cultivating the overall temperament and improving the fashion texture.

At present, most of the Chinese stars invited to participate in fashion week are still valued by brands because of their high popularity, not that this is bad, but that this is not enough. If in the future, more and more stars shine at Fashion Week because of fashion concepts, literary works, and international popularity, I believe it will be a moment of honor for us.

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