China's posture under the consumerism revolution

Recently, New York magazine reporter to Beijing's high consumption forefront of the survey, got a series of both true and unreal fragments, to try to explain the Chinese consumer trends, habits and concepts, as well as in the consumption behind the various phenomena and trends.

Saturday night 8:57, in the Louis Vuitton Vuitton store in Beijing, the younger men and women push the shop assistants who are standing at the door. The man congratulated his companion: "They closed nine o'clock." The two men went straight to the display wall with the handbag. looks very delicate she wears a dress and high heels with innocent eyes. The simple shoes on his feet are very popular among government officials, who used to wear them, but now they look very friendly.

"Which do you want?"

She said something softly in her mouth, and instead of answering it directly, the clerk took down the yellow, orange and purple versions of Alma (Alma). "You have to buy something special, damn it," he said, using the vulgar dirty word in Chinese, but it had a different tone. "Don't buy as much as people do, damn it." ”

Finally she chose the red, and the pupils are required to wear a young Pioneer's scarf is a color. The man brushes 12200 yuan, nearly 2000 dollars. Less than 10 minutes later, two people were driving an Audi car with an armed police license.

Gucci has three times times as many stores in Beijing as New York, and Louis Vuitton's Shanghai store is about the same as the Champs Elysees flagship store. Chanel (Chanel) has launched a Chinese wind series and has opened a retrospective of Coco Chanel (Coco Chanel) in the Chinese art Gallery last fall. Similarly, Cartier (Cartier) at the National Palace Museum exhibition, Dior (Dior) in Beijing, the most prestigious Museum of Modern Art exhibition, and Carl Ragfi (Karl Lagerfeld) on the Great Wall opened Fendi (Fendi) brand fashion show.

In China, the urban population has an average disposable annual income of 3000 dollars, but the country also has about Parina millionaires and 1 millionaires – in dollars. By 2015, China's upper-middle-level consumers of 15000 to 30000 dollars will dominate nearly one-fourth of the nation's luxury purchasing power, according to McKinsey & Co. I love to eat. A chef at a big steamed bag store recently told me that he had sent her a sailin (Céline) handbag on his wife's birthday-costing him One-fourth of his monthly income. Now luxury brands are starting to go to cities that were previously considered backward areas, including Kunming and Taiyuan. Bain & Co, a bain strategy consultancy, said the Chinese spent about 43 billion dollars a year on luxury brands-mostly in Hong Kong, Macau and other international shopping malls. Spending on those places is, of course, partly to dispense with import tariffs. (Hong Kong does not have high import taxes on the mainland, and the mainland will queue for hours in order to enter the shop, and the tensions caused by these luxury shoppers have repeatedly sparked protests from locals in Hong Kong.) However, even if an Armani (Armani) handbag is 40% more expensive than Milan in Beijing, someone will buy it. While Europe is in decline, the US is struggling, and Chinese manufacturing is slowing, the industry is still growing.

This consumerism is largely tantamount to consumerism in any other country: people want to get dressed because it makes you feel comfortable and makes you feel loved, and it makes you feel proud and safe to be protected. But from another perspective, China is a unique business opportunity. Gifts given to government officials, lovers and clients account for nearly 25% of all purchases, according to the company's data. So wallets, pendants and handbags sell well, which is easier than giving clothes. Who wouldn't like Louis Vuitton's 5400 dollar red lantern gold pendant? and the leather card clips are also very popular.

Another feature of Bain's data is that men in China buy more of these goods than women. The Los Angeles Times recently reported that men's handbags accounted for 45% of China's 1.2 billion-dollar handbag sales, compared with only 7% in the United States. At present, in China, where the economy and society are greatly changed, high consumption is bound to attract customers and even friends. In the blogosphere, the word "Sun" is fashionable, meaning to show off.

Who's the most flamboyant? Here is a snapshot of the Chinese consumerism revolution in the fall of 2012.

The importance of the Mistress

Several women in China are famous for their taste and consumption. One is often on the cover of the Chinese version of the magazine Baobao, her grandfather led by the reform of the market economy in the late 70, the Chinese countryside brought prosperity. She studied at Salaraurens (Sarah Lawrence) College and now designs her own brand of jewellery. Another such woman is the Louis Vuitton brand ambassador, movie star Fan Bingbing, not to be confused with Gucci's brand ambassador, actress Li Bing. There is another, not so famous as the previous few, but in the fashion world much more influential Yinghui (Veronica Chou). Her grandfather was the founder of one of the world's largest knitting suppliers, and her father acquired Hilfiger (Tommy Hilfiger) and Kors (Michael Kors) and worked to build it into two world-class brands; She is one of several tycoons who are now feverishly building shops in mainland China.

Cao and I had a coffee meeting, which is a five-star hotel on the outskirts of Beijing decorated like a cave general lobby. She wore a professional dress, beige shirt with fine lion stripes, trousers with shallow heels, and two large diamond earrings. She is in command of the Chinese part of the Palmer brand family, a brand group with more than 10 of the pillars of U.S. Department stores, including Fog (London Fog) and new fashions such as Old and Rocawear. By the end of the year, she and her Chinese retail partner, Palmer, will be bringing in more than 700 stores. She flipped through a pamphlet listing all the brands she had handled, and it was as easy as a monopoly game. It's just a procedure for registering a permit.

"Many rich men don't know how to dress properly," Yinghui explains. So they buy the obvious big names. And their mistresses are much more fashionable, and they are, to some degree, the dominant force in the designer's brand. "Being a mistress in China is not like being in the United States, it's just a secret relationship with a married man," he said. The character of a Chinese mistress has a social side in addition to the private side-the need to dress appropriately, stay in shape, and, if possible, assist the men to dress appropriately and stay in shape. It is often their duty to draft a shopping list.

Men who choose shoes and women

A businessman-like man is looking for a chance to flirt in Beijing's new Light World coffee shop. Xinguang World is one of the most net profit shopping malls in China. As he shook the diamond-rimmed Patek (Patek Philippe) Watch, he blamed the barista for diluting his latte. He said his name was Shi Jun, and in less than half an hour he showed love and opened the first (half-contract) Price: "How about 40,000 bucks in one months?" (That's 6270 dollars plus rent-free special apartments.) He spoke with a thick Sichuan accent, a bit like the Chinese version of the southern drawl. He was rich in office and residential development in the western frontier of China, in Qinghai and Tibet, where the central government "encouraged" Han Chinese to settle down. Shi Jun's wife is in Italy or Switzerland, his daughter is in a high school in the United States, he knows is not very clear. Today he has nothing more to do than wander around, buy some clothes and pick up some women.

"I like luxuries, I love spending," he said. "I have money, I have to spend it." "He wears Ferragamo's shoes, Armani (Armani) polo shirts, Chilton (Kiton) trousers," said Ferragamo. Wallet from Bottega (Bottega Veneta), socks from Prada, underwear? He said I had to go with him to the hot springs to know, but he assured me that his underwear was worth at least 800 bucks, or 125 dollars.

We set off to go to Chico to get his shortened jeans, and, by the way, booked the next size suit, and the clerk told him, "We need to make an appointment with the tailor, and you must be there." These Italian brands can't change time. Shi Jun nodded eagerly. In the end he still needed a new pair of shoes to match his new jeans, so we took his Porsche Cayenne Cayenne Mountain Sports car to a shopping mall a mile away. First stop: John Rob (John Lobb), he tried a few pairs of driving shoes, each pair of 11280 yuan. The second stop: Beruti (Berluti), he bought a pair of 7200 yuan of blue suede buns shoes, compared to a home is a big bargain. "We should be doing business together," he said. "Maybe you can make a fortune and have a baby." "Third stop: The hotel lobby, with a friend of his in the coal mine to drink tea." He assured me that the net worth of this friend was more than 500 million. The man was older than Shi Jun, obviously disliked Shi Jun's new shoes, or did not like the trappings behind the shoes. Shi Jun excitedly asked him: "Look at my new shoes how?" He turned around and looked elsewhere.

Vanity is necessary.

The 30-year-old Tiffany Nie Zhang married the president of Yintai Group, a billionaire real estate developer. I told her about the second tallest building in Beijing, the basement of Yintai Center, an English tea shop. This shop sells the Anzley bone porcelain teapot Every 2380 yuan, that is 370 dollars. Zhang from Sichuan, but she had no accent long ago. She is now moving between Paris and Milan's fashion shows and is considering buying a more old mansion in Europe. Once a TV actress, she flashed the perfect long eyelashes, and the dark whirlpool lenses made her iris look gigantic and hard to focus. She was wearing a Parisian Balenciaga handbag, not the fake that was sold on the subway steps. Although imitations are prevalent in China, the illegal factories run by rogue gangs are sewn by the hands of child labourers, but once they have enough money they are still going to buy the real goods.

"We don't talk about gangs," said Zhang's spokesperson. "Consumers (who buy fakes) are fooling themselves, too pathetic," Zhang said. "A Hermes handbag, every detail is perfect at every angle." No matter what you think, there is no fault at all. ”

For ticket, having the ability to buy special, genuine goods is a sign of a healthy society. "Everyone needs goals, the pursuit of life." In addition to love and caring for the family, everyone wants to improve the quality of their lives. What else? Even taxi drivers want to love the horse's belt and Louis Vuitton wallet.

"It is not a question of vanity, it is a matter of your worth, and your value in this society." Sometimes people say that Chinese people buy things out of vanity, and I say vanity is necessary. It proves your self-worth, that you have worked hard for it, that you earned it yourself. ”

Shopping Center

Little Couple

Yinghui told me that Eder Hadi (Ed Hardy) is one of the fastest-growing brands in China and will show up at 30 shopping malls by the end of this year. The brand is four times times more expensive in China than in the U.S.: A diamond-studded "Love Dies Hard" (meaning: Not dead) T-shirts sell 1980 yuan, or 310 dollars. To cater to Chinese tastes, they launched a special event to show the Dragon, Tiger and other animals of the zodiac T-shirt series. (Cao also points out that soft colors like pink and light blue are also more popular here.) At the same time, lovely design is also very marketable, which is similar to the situation in Japan. Many more than 30-year-old women--and some men--like to wear clothes that are printed with cartoon characters. She said: "Cute is better than sexy to sell." ”)

Dong, a 23-year-old son of a residential developer, drove with his girlfriend from Hebei to Beijing for the weekend. "I don't work, I stay at home," he said. It was the first time they had visited Eder Hadi. "These sweatpants are really good," she said. Apparently she wanted her boyfriend to try on the same one, and he did it at last. "Well, I'll try these pants," he said, standing up from a pink leather bench.

After a while, she hugged his waist with open arms. For half an hour, the two of them had been looking into the mirror to see if they wanted to buy a pair of sweatpants of the same color. "Do you think I look good in green?" She asked. "I like Gray," he said. "Then I'll match you." He tried a black truck driver's hat with a tiger pattern. "It's popular: Tigers add diamonds." "One hours later, he brushes 1100 dollars, two people back to Hebei."

Snobbish

As millionaires and white-collar workers begin to wear the logo, standards are rising for those who want to stay in fashion. It's a creative trend to spend a lot of money in a low-key way. "It's more of a lifestyle than a brand that attracts people. Before they wanted people to know they could afford a big name, they bought something with a large brand, "said Francis Wang, a creative director at Stylesight, a predictive consultancy. But now they want people to know: I have taste. ”

In July of this year, there was a new law to encourage government officials to be cautious about wearing designer clothing, in response to criticism of online photographs of officials wearing shiny brands. Tiffany Nie Zhang that this has little impact on overall brand sales, and it affects which products sell better.

"People are starting to avoid any overly conspicuous choices," Jeffrey won, a freelance stylist born in the United States. "The rich are starting to get away from the established identity signs. [Some brands] are a bit lacking in content. They began to consider historical heritage and quality. The result is a low-key consumption, which only their social insiders can identify with, and the people on the street can't see it. ”

All sorts of other luxury brands are just in tune with the rising trend of consumer awareness. A Friday evening cocktail party, an Gucci shop introduced two foreign shoemaker to repair and polish shoes for guests, a blonde hair, a brown hair. One of them in the translation of the help to explain to the guests wearing a stuffed bun shoes do not wear socks trend: "See, leather shoes in the stitches are outside, so the shoes will not sting your feet, feet are very sensitive." ”

"We used to wear plastic slippers," said a young man named Wu Rich, sipping champagne. "There was no fashion before, everyone wore the same. Now there are two kinds of shopping crowd: One is the fashion front, the other people buy any brand only to buy signs, the swarm. ”

People who don't buy.

The nine-Year-old Rodin, from Xi ' an, improvised in front of Chanel and Dior billboards, and her parents were taking pictures. "It's a nice brand, but we don't know these English names," her father said. Her mother said, "It's too expensive for us to buy." ”

Nearby there are some shops also have English name--white Collar (meaning: white-collar), elegant Prosper (Chinese name is: Ya-ying)-but apparently these are not imported brands. "A friend of mine tried to play a sportswear brand in Chinese name," Yinghui said. "The department store has to change him," he said. "The Wall Street Journal recently joked about some of the more ridiculous (Chinese) western brand names:" B + AB "and its slogan" Gotta Pick I Precious Love Collection "(meaning: I have to pick my favorite)," Best raiment of Jauntiness "(meaning: the best costumes for easy and lively), there is a series of sunglasses called Helen Keller (The Blind woman writer). However, in fact some Chinese still do not like to buy clothing with Chinese brand name, it is not cool.

A woman who understands why people become mistresses.

25-Year-old Qi went to the Chanel store for a dress, and bought a pair of initials with the ear nails. She asked me to talk to a café in the Emporio (Emporio Armani) shop. She is from northeastern China and opened a nail salon in Beijing a few years ago, and now she usually spends 60–70% 's income on designer clothing and handbags.

"I have no other hobbies," she said. "The only thing is shopping." "She wears a white lace dress and a Dior letter logo diamond necklace, a few minutes ago another girl out of the Chanel shop with the same necklace." "Girls in Beijing buy the same luxuries," she said. "It doesn't matter if it takes a few months ' pay. The Chinese are very obedient. Some people say that hate the rich, in fact, that is not to eat grapes said grapes sour. They'll buy it if they have money.

"Fashion has ruined some people and saved others," he said. A friend of mine said that the goods in the mall encouraged him to work harder, and they gave him the goal of the job. Otherwise, what is the meaning of life? And a lot of women are willing to do things for a bag or a watch and sell themselves. I have a friend, "she said," she would do it, but not for 10,000 bucks--if 100,000 bucks or more. I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with that. There are many different ways to make money. ”

She quotes Deng Xiaoping, the initiator of China's capital reform, saying: "No matter black cat or white cat, it is a good cat that catches mice." You see these white-collar girls, they have decent jobs, but they also go to bed for money. There's always a price tag that will make you want to go to bed. "She said here that I realized we were back at the coffee shop where I met the Sichuan developer."

Then she smiled and said, "If China had only half the population, all these brands would have to go bust." ”