Time for year-end party, new window display and jewellery

Ti Gong

Plaza 66 Shanghai

The downtown luxury shopping mall Plaza 66 Shanghai threw a year-end "Home to Luxury" party recently with pop stars, supermodels, celebrities, VIP customers, brand ambassadors and friends as well as influential fashion vloggers.

"Plaza 66, Shanghai's high-end fashion landmark, has been striving to deliver the best-of-the-best shopping experience through the active introduction of brand debut stores and luxury labels," said Weber Lo, chief executive officer of Hang Lung Properties.

"Plaza 66 always closely and collaboratively works with the Shanghai government and the Jing'an District government to drive consumption and economic growth, echoing the 'Pulse of the City' brand mission."

"Cruise to the future" was the inspiration and theme of this year's party. Interesting and interactive installations decked each floor of the shopping mall to enrich the overall atmosphere.

Guests could play "Whack-A-Seahorse" to win surprise gifts or generate unique avatars for the future using the virtual camera. At the fantasy pearl fishing machine, guests picked up pearls to win a lucky draw chance. A giant lucky spin wheel and a fun mystery box all added to the infinite fun and surprises.

Highlights of the three-day fashion feast included stunning appearances from all-rounded musician Henry Lau, and leading-edge singer-songwriter and actor Wang Ziyi.

Well-known brands invited their celebrity friends and ambassadors to revel in the luxury festivities.

Famous faces gracing the event with their presence included Tan Zhuo, China art ambassador for Italian luxury brand Fendi, and Esther Yu, ambassador for luxury Swiss jeweler Piaget's Possession collection.

High-end fashion brand Loro Piana invited actor Qiao Xin as their special guest, while Daniel Zhou, a member of the multi-national boy group INTO1, attended as a special guest of jewelry brand Pomellato.

More than 100 renowned international brands joined the event with a rich array of exclusive, first-release and limited-edition items. Colorful, interactive installations, beautifully decorated floats from brands and exclusive member benefits added to the excitement of the fashion party.

Ti Gong

Hermès

Hermès invited Latvian artist Peteris Lidaka to design the winter window, along with a Christmas lighting installation for its Maison in Shanghai, creating a surreal universe entitled "Lost on Earth" and inviting viewers to an interstellar journey.

The winter window display uses hollowed-out iron with a high-tech sense as its main material. The irregular geometric shapes outline a journey through cosmic space.

In the men's universe window, the aliens are looking for three friends and their spaceship. They activate the transmitting belt in the time-travel laboratory. The rotating belt opens a wormhole to a nearby universe for them to carry out their search. Through the wormhole, the aliens arrive in another universe, fulfill with accessories.

In the women's universe, the three friends immerse themselves in a party, completely unaware of the passing of time. Here, comets cross the sky, filling the air with Christmas joy. In this surreal journey through cosmic space, Hermès objects meet abstract art to create a fantastic magical universe.

On the left side of the Hermès Maison in Shanghai is a spaceship, which turns into a Christmas lighting installation to offer warmth in this winter. Loaded with gifts from Hermès, the spaceship is about to take off, for the aliens to bring this wonderful experience on Earth back home.

Lidaka, a painter and sculptor, defines himself as a traveler in space. His works bring out surreal qualities. In this winter window display, the artist continued to explore the boundary between fantasy and art.

Pt Moment / Ti Gong

Shanghai Platinum Week

Platinum Guild International (PGI) China released its views on promoting the future of China's jewellery market at the 2nd Shanghai Platinum Week held recently.

To promote the sustainable development of platinum group metals, Shanghai Platinum Week facilitates international cooperation and communication in market intelligence, technology, investment, and business among international stakeholders of platinum group metals.

A survey revealed by the Gems & Jewellery Trade Association of China stated that the total scale of China's jewellery market in 2021 reached a staggering new height of 720 billion yuan (US$100 billion), up 18 percent from 610 billion yuan in 2020.

Pui P. Poon, managing director of PGI China, was invited to share her thoughts on driving the future of China's jewellery market at the event.

She spoke about three areas of growth for jewellery, which are young consumers, branded collections and omni-channels. Against the backdrop of these growth areas, however, Poon pointed to the challenges that stand in the way of growth.

"Firstly, with weakening consumer confidence, many consumers now prefer to save rather than to spend or invest," she said.

"Secondly, consumers demand perceived value when buying jewellery. Finally, continued uncertainty with the COVID-19 pandemic makes it difficult for consumers to place urgency on discretionary items such as jewellery."

Innovation is the answer to overcoming these challenges and tapping into the three areas of growth simultaneously: branding innovation to create perceived value, promotion innovation to make jewellery purchases relevant all year round, and channel innovation to sell where consumers prefer to shop.