The evening took us to the Long Museum set along the West Bund. Shanghai is blessed with a lot of modern architectural wonders like this, which is perfect for hosting impressive fashion presentations. Chloé’s Resort 2020 show was the first ever cruise collection Chloé had presented. I loved the subtle interpretation of Chinese codes in the collection. Natasha Ramsay-Levi was inspired by the strong female characters in Chinese cinema. The Chloé C bag has a new treatment with floral leather marquetry, and being savvy in the China e-commerce environment, they exclusively launched four of the styles for see-now-buy-now on Wechat for 48 hours. The night ended on the right note with a performance by singer Charlotte Adigery and Chloé’s favourite DJ, Pandora’s Jukebox.

Destination Rongzhai

The day after the Chloé show, we began the journey with Prada, which took us through a completely different brand universe. To set the right tone for the trip, we were given a tour of Rongzhai, a beautiful mansion owned by the government, which Prada paid to restore. The exhibition on display at Rongzhai titled What Was I? was conceived by Polish artist Goshka Macuga. The most fascinating piece of the exhibition was a robot with a monologue, which was supposed to represent a post-apocalyptic legacy after humans destroyed the world under climate change. This is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings I have seen in Shanghai and I highly recommend you to pay a visit when you are in town.

Illuminated Universe

The grand finale of my Shanghai trip ended with the epic Prada Spring/Summer 2020 Men’s show. I am not going to talk much about the collection here since it’s menswear, although I did think most of the looks would look great on women. I want to talk about how Prada built an immersive brand experience, in Mingsheng Wharf, which was a former warehouse to store wheat and grain. The show space, designed by Prada’s long-term collaborator AMO, was transformed into a futuristic light space resembling the movie Tron Legacy. We were then lead to the top floor where they hosted a private dinner in a gigantic hall. Several musical and dance performances took place on multiple stages throughout the course of our dinner. The night ended in a club room with dance music devised by DJ Ben UFO, who is one of the regular DJs stationed at the famous Berlin club Berghain. I really like the fact that Prada hasn’t tried to impose a Chinese element to the entire experience, it has just treated Shanghai as a futuristic metropolis, to stage this multi-sensory experience.