Hangzhou, China, 16 September 2019 - The Broken Bridge Fashion Show returned to the Taobao Maker Festival last week, with top international and domestic brands and independent designers premiering special editions, cross-branding and fashion inspired by China’s national treasures.
The fashion show, this year titled “The Z Show” to reflect its focus on Generation Z’s design, lifestyle and culture, kicked off the fourth annual Taobao Maker Festival at scenic Broken Bridge, an attraction spanning Hangzhou’s West Lake. The Taobao Maker Festival is an offline event that celebrates the maker spirit of China’s young entrepreneurs.
Designers including Chayalan, Koche, Chenpeng, Banxiaoxue, Wang Wanbing, Li-Ning, Particle Fever and Kappa unveiled new or special-edition products. The show’s intent was to display youthful and innovative elements that strongly appeal to the appetite of China’s young customer,s including Gen Z.
“The Broken Bridge Fashion Show is fast becoming an international event, given its unique Internet DNA and its close ties to e-commerce. It is not a coincidence that these characteristics resonate so well with the Internet-native Generation Z, who not only constitute a major customer base for the fashion, but also a growing group of independent designers who make use of the Taobao platform to showcase their personality and originality,” said Chris Tung, Alibaba Group’s chief marketing officer.
The show was live-streamed on Alibaba platforms and incorporated the “See Now, Buy Now” function. The fashion show has its roots in the Taobao and Tmall platform, which gives it a unique appeal to millions of young customers in China who are highly receptive to new trends.
Alibaba figures show that 80% of customers buying apparel are in their 20s. In the past year, Taobao has added more than 10,000 young designer stores and, among these, fashion was the largest category. Taobao has become the go-to platform for young designers. At the end of 2018, there were nearly 50,000 independent designers running their businesses on Taobao, most of whom were in their 20s and early 30s.
Avant-garde designer Hussein Chalayan showed off his “rising” dress, and Burberry showed its London Fashion Week collection for the first time in China. Koche, the highly sought-after French brand, sportswear brand Kappa and skateboard culture icon Life’s A Beach (LAB) also launched limited editions at the show.
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The domestic designers, on the other hand, represent a new wave of China Cool and are making their names on the international fashion stage. In addition, as a Broken Bridge feature, fashion brands staged designs inspired by China’s national treasures including the West Lake, the Great Wall, Dunhuang and the Terracotta Warriors, embodying cultural icons in modern classic styles.
Super model Naomi Campbell and streetwear model Adrianne Ho attended the show as special guests. The show also featured a drone rider and Chinese music performance by a robo-band.
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About Taobao Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is a social commerce platform that allows consumers to enjoy an engaging, personalized shopping experience, optimized by bigdata analytics. Through highly relevant and engaging content and real-time updates from merchants, consumers can learn about products and new trends as well as interact with each other and their favorite merchants and Key Opinion Leaders on Taobao Marketplace. Merchants on Taobao Marketplace are primarily individuals and small businesses. According to Analysis, Taobao Marketplace was China’s largest mobile commerce destination in terms of gross merchandise value in fiscal year 2019, having a large and continuously increasing user group. Taobao Marketplace is a business of Alibaba Group.
About Alibaba Group Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102 years.
About Taobao Launched in 2003, Taobao Marketplace (www.taobao.com) is social commerce platform that allows consumers to enjoy an engaging, personalized shopping experience, optimized by bigdata analytics. Through highly relevant and engaging content and real-time updates from merchants, consumers can learn about products and new trends as well as interact with each other and their favorite merchants and Key Opinion Leaders on Taobao Marketplace. Merchants on Taobao Marketplace are primarily individuals and small businesses. According to Analysis, Taobao Marketplace was China’s largest mobile commerce destination in terms of gross merchandise value in fiscal year 2019, having a large and continuously increasing user group. Taobao Marketplace is a business of Alibaba Group.
About Alibaba Group Alibaba Group’s mission is to make it easy to do business anywhere. The company aims to build the future infrastructure of commerce. It envisions that its customers will meet, work and live at Alibaba, and that it will be a company that lasts at least 102 years.
Naomi Campbell, Supermodel, Actress and Activist, walks the runway at the “The Z Show.”
Transcript of Naomi Campbell conversation with Chris Tung, Chief Marketing Officer, Alibaba Group:
- Naomi Campbell
- Dear friends, a big round of applause please. Thank you.
Chris Tung: We are so glad to have you tonight.
Naomi Campbell: It is a pleasure to be here in China and in Hangzhou. Thank you for having me.
Chris Tung: How do you like Hangzhou so far? What is your impression of Hangzhou?
Naomi Campbell: This is my second time here, but this time, I’ve got to experience it on a different level. I’ve been all over. This is my second time at the West Lake. This morning, I was doing Tai Chi at 6:00
I’ve been trying to experience everything. And great going down to the campus of Alibaba and see all that you are doing and meeting Mr. Jack Ma. And happy to be here supporting young designers.
Chris Tung: That’s right. People are wondering why you have decided to travel all the way to Hangzhou to show up in such a particular fashion show on the beautiful West Lake.
Naomi Campbell: I came from Rwanda, Africa. And I truly believe Africa and China have a connection. And what I do in Africa is help young designers ad what I want to use my platform for – thirty-three years of modeling – is to support young and new designers. So this is why I am here.
Chris Tung: This is great.
Naomi Campbell: Plus Shopping!
Chris Tung: Yes, shopping is always fun. Alibaba is organizing tonight’s show to support the young designers and to celebrate the ingenuity and originality of their work. So, as a global fashion icon, any advice for the emerging designers?
Naomi Campbell: Getting a platform like Alibaba to sell your products, to get visibility, awareness to the world, you couldn’t ask for anything better. It’s a great, great opportunity to have so I hope they take it and they grasp it and they use it the best they can.
Chris Tung: That’s awesome. You’re going to see a lot of work by the young designers. Let’s sit back and relax and have some great fun with the Generation Z: The Z Show.
Various aerials and selects of fashion show.
13 September 2019
