Alfred Dunhill 'Trafalgar' A/W 2012 presentation, Shanghai
Last week, Dunhill staged 'Trafalgar' in Shanghai, a show-stopping presentation that saw 64 Asian models being enveloped in an imperceptible CGI membrane, onto which whirring animated seasonal imagery was broadcast
With China swiftly transforming itself into the holy grail for luxury retailers, it's no surprise many have gone East in pursuit. The past decade has seen back-to-back launches, store openings and grand PR events - not only in the biggest cities, but in the second- and third-tier markets as well. With competition already fierce between menswear brands, due to the country's already mature landscape of skilled tailors, many are merely plunging their resources into playing catch-up. Dunhill, with its genuine Asian heritage, is a great exception to the rule.
The esteemed London brand opened its first location in Shanghai 20 years ago, and now boasts some 100 stores across mainland China and nine in Hong Kong - a testament to the high standards the Chinese share with their British comrades. To celebrate this valid back-story, along with the launch of its Autumn/Winter 2012 collection, last week the label staged its most impressive show to date - and that's saying something, considering its recent history of imaginative presentations - at the Silver Hall, a 5,000-seat auditorium in Shanghai's dazzling new Expo Centre.
Codenamed 'Trafalgar', the event was a delightful and poetic expression of Eastern and Western cultures. Virtuoso violinist and Dunhill brand ambassador Charlie Siem led the proceedings with a shivers-down-the-spine rendition of Vaughan Williams's 'Lark Ascending', interwoven with 'Love in Distance' from contemporary Chinese composer Tan Dun and the ethereal 'Hoppipolla' track by Icelandic band Sigur Ros. All the while, 64 kings of the Asian catwalk - suited in Dunhill's covetable travel blazers, reversible macs and fine tailoring - stood, entranced, on a stage, which the thousand guests were asked to imagine as London's Trafalgar Square.
Enveloping these statuesque (this being Trafalgar Square and all) heroes was an imperceptible CGI membrane, onto which whirring animated seasonal imagery was broadcast, incorporating everything from cherry blossoms at dawn to summer starlings at noon and autumn leaves at dusk. As the magical holographic projection took us from Spring to Winter, models subtly responded to the changing seasons with an addition of sunglasses or the turning up of a collar, until the finale brought in a sudden midnight 'snow storm' that circled them - as if they were captured in a giant snow globe shaken into a flurry.
Guests were invited to the stage to inspect the quality of the collection (and the models) up close. Noteworthy, were the classic one-button navy wool suits with peaked lapels, shearling-lined silk bombers, velvet dinner jackets in midnight blue and a travel-friendly blazer that has been devised to pop back into shape after unpacking. The collection also stood out thanks to the use of flannel, which came courtesy of the 250-year-old mills owned by Fox Brothers & Co in Somerset and seven-fold ties in 350-end silk produced by Stephen Walters & Sons. Fittingly, the paisley, polka dot and geometric patterns adorning the ties and pocket squares were created by Adamley - the specialist printers based in Macclesfield, historically the last stop on the silk run from China.
Then a select 300 moved on to the after party at the Alfred Dunhill headquarters, a pair of 1920s neo-classical villas in the city's former French Concession. In the private suites, guests experienced a gala complete with traditional Chinese performances and local art showcases which included calligraphy, paper cutting and opera painting - an apt complement to the art Dunhill brought to the stage.
To see more from 'Trafalgar', including the full Autumn / Winter 2012 collection and making-of video, visit www.facebook.com/AlfredDunhill
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.
-
All hail the arrival of true autonomy? On Tesla’s proposed Robotaxi and techno-insecurity
Tesla’s new marketing push predicts a future of robot cabs, automated buses and autonomous home androids. We already want to get off
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Discothèque perfumes evoke the scent of Tokyo in the year 2000
As Discothèque gets ready to launch its first perfume collection, Mary Cleary catches up with the brand’s founders
By Mary Cleary Published
-
This unassuming London house is a radical rethinking of the suburban home
Station Lodge by architect Andrei Saltykov in South West London offers a radical subversion to regional residential architecture
By Ellie Stathaki Published