I didn't expect the heated discussion caused by the "Hua Xizi's bold words" to last so long.
Since Li Jiaqi responded to the controversy caused by fans complaining about the high price of the domestic brand Hua Xizi in the live broadcast room on September 10, Hua Xizi's subsequent remarks have repeatedly increased the heat of the incident.
On September 26, Hua Xizi's official Weibo released a bold statement, "I, Hua Xizi, 6 and a half years old, I have a dream to be a high-end brand based on the local area and going to the world." ”
In the comment area, Hua Xizi also continued, "My generation is going to fight in the international market with a high-end trend!" "I'm already neighbors with LV and Gucci by West Lake, and Isetan and Chanel are door-to-door at Japan's top department store."
In the face of controversy, Hua Xizi responded that she would "fight in the international market with a high-end trend"
This bold statement is actually not new.
I don't know how many people still remember that there was a clothing brand called Vancl Eslite, and the boss also let go of cruel words, hoping to buy LV in the future and sell the same price as Vancl Eslite.
Everyone saw the results. Louis Vuitton's revenue exceeded 20 billion euros last year and has just risen in another round of prices; Vancl's official website has opened to show 502 Bad Gateway.
Like Hua Xizi's brand image, Vancl has also created the popular "Van Object", highlighting its youth and personality. Compared with the price dispute of Hua Xizi today, Vancl Eslite has always taken the affordable route, and the quality is said to be good - but the same way, from Vancl Eslite to Hua Xizi, even if these brands have seized the opportunity of the era of domestic economic take-off, it is still difficult for domestic products to breed luxury brands.
At that time, "all objects" were so red that the public security departments followed suit (Image source: Xinhua News Agency)
To understand why, you must first understand what the core of a luxury brand is.
Some people may say that it is the high price, the superior quality, the beautiful image, and the excellent service.
Is this really the case?
A certain legend has it that it sank to the bottom of the sea with the Titanic, and many years later salvaged but did not drip into the brand, in fact, the oil edge of the bag is often pasted, and it changes color immediately after being dipped in water, and it will gather a bad smell if it is not used; A brand known for its claim to craftsmanship, T-shirts fade once washed, and the brand claims that it is inevitable that hand-printed and dyed plants are inevitable; There is also a women's clothing brand known for its independent and elegant image, and some people's shoes will lose color after wearing it for a day, and the counter response is "if you don't walk, it won't fall off".
I really don't believe that today, when human beings began to conquer the universe, it is not good to solve the problem of natural materials losing color.
Many designers on the runway may create a beautiful image, but when you walk into the brand counter, you often buy the wrong goods. This autumn and winter, a brand showed a three-dimensional decoration with different colors and materials on the show, which became a flat print at the counter; A certain brand of bags embellished with metal has removed all decorations. The best-selling models of these brands are often T-shirts and sweatshirts with the brand's conspicuous logo but no sense of design. A brand sells a new autumn and winter style promoted by the circle of friends, a full set of dark blue and white close-fitting sweatshirts, covered with the brand logo.
What's the difference between this and the cotton sweaters our parents wear when they stay at home on winter nights and watch TV?
Balenciaga is considered unattractive by some because of its ill-fitting and large logo design (Image source: Xinhua)
As for the service, it is even more difficult to say. Just open Xiaohongshu search, almost all luxury brands will be complained about poor service, these complaining posts below, hundreds of netizens tell their strange experiences.
Only the high price is real. Taking many office workers' main target bags as an example, luxury brands have found it difficult to find products below 20,000 yuan.
And the price is constantly rising. On September 1, Chanel raised the price of its products for the second time in China this year, with the price of classic bags exceeding 80,000 yuan, compared with 38,000 yuan in 2019.
The above points can only be regarded as elements of luxury goods, and are necessary and insufficient conditions for luxury brands.
In fact, China has never lacked luxury goods with high prices, high quality, beautiful image and excellent service. "Dream of Red Mansions" has written about the golden qiu and the qiu qiu, which are exquisite and extravagant to make people's hearts tremble, although they are fictional but have prototypes. And the real silk, cloud brocade, embroidery and other exquisite crafts are not inferior to what is written in the book.
Even at present, there is still no shortage of domestic brands that meet the elements of luxury goods: the fragrance brand Wen Xian, which has opened an independent store on Huaihai Road, claims that each product adds Chinese elements, and the price of ordinary line perfume 90ml is 1750 yuan, and some products cost 1900 yuan for 30ml, which is on par with the price of the top international brands. Duanmu Liangjin, which has set up a counter at Hang Lung Grand Gateway Plaza, uses different types of wood to meticulously collage the flower pattern and even Roselle Fu and Peach Blossom Source as the appearance of the bag, which is only a lot more complex than that of luxury brands.
Shanghai Museum exhibits the treasure of the town hall, Zhu Kerou silk "Lotus Pond Milk Duck Picture" (photo by Lai Xinlin)
However, even before Hua Xizi opened the counter to Chanel's door-to-door, domestic brands such as Zhihe had opened stores in Paris, and domestic brands still did not have a luxury brand that was truly internationally recognized.
Many people in the industry have said that the concept of luxury brands was actually formed in the 80s of the last century. Family brands such as Louis Vuitton that served the European royal family in the early days, or brands established by designers themselves like Dior, have been repeatedly pushed back and forth as chips in the wave of capital mergers and acquisitions.
At the beginning of the birth of these brands, there was indeed the founder's persistent pursuit of craftsmanship and quality. But after industrialization and capitalization, the vast majority of brands have severed ties with their former family heritage. Capital uses the brand's own history, culture and craftsmanship as the packaging selling point, so that consumers think that they are paying for the spiritual pursuit and cultural inheritance behind the brand.
Therefore, Louis Vuitton will repeatedly emphasize that the founder was the most trusted luggage expert of the last French queen Eugenie, but will not mention that the current big boss Bernard Arnault was actually started by a real estate developer who did not match the humanities and arts; Chanel once held an exhibition dedicated to its No. 5 perfume, about how founder Chanel chose this flavor from samples made by the royal perfumer Ennis Bao of Tsarist Russia, but did not show the protracted lawsuit between Chanel and the Wertheimer family, now the owner of the brand.
Chanel walks the catwalk on the banks of the Seine (Photo: Xinhua)
Tearing off this layer of exquisite masks, the core of luxury brands is actually selling superiority - through exquisite commercial advertisements, binding the brand's art, handicraft exhibitions and star-studded charity activities, constantly strengthening self-image: we represent a more developed, more advanced, more tasteful culture, you use our products, will appear more developed, more advanced, more tasteful. And consumers derive some satisfaction from this illusion woven by capital. This is why luxury brands often have quality and service problems, but they still hold high.
Compared with the conquest of wealth, such a sense of superiority needs cultural recognition to package and solidify. Luxury brands are almost exclusively concentrated in France and Italy, with Chanel's Artisanal collection named after Paris and other cities, Gucci starting in Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, and Valentino emphasizing that he was "born in Rome". Even if Hua Xizi is rich enough to rent the venue opposite Chanel, it will be difficult to enter the ranks of luxury in a short time.
Even the United States, the world's largest economy, has few first-class brands in the traditional luxury track.
Molly (first from left), who is not poor in money in "Titanic", is still at the bottom of the contempt chain
Such a chain of contempt has a very graphic scene in the movie "Titanic": on the big ship sailing from Europe to the United States, the heroine Rose's aristocratic mother still looks down on the vulgar American nouveau riche Molly, even if she is poor and has to rely on her daughter's marriage to make a living.
It may be said that only by exporting a sense of superiority can there be a luxury brand in the true sense. This output depends on a comprehensive identity, including values, psychology and even culture, not just for a brand to open a boutique in Paris, a craft to be used in product design in Milan, or a play to be staged four or five times in London.
However, the controversy over Hana Xizi also shows that the effect of selling superiority may have changed. More and more people understand when consuming that they are using consumer goods, not being controlled by them.
Behind the rise of domestic products in recent years, in addition to the blessing of consumers' feelings, there is also a re-examination of price and quality.
In the future, can we give birth to Chinese luxury brands? Or, do we still need luxury brands then?
Editor-in-chief: Shi Chenlu Text editor: Jian Gongbo Source of title picture: Xinhua News Agency (data picture)
Source: Author: Takema