Shanghai Tan

It wasn’t so long ago that Japanese fashion photographers would not use Japanese models for their top fashion shooting or for promoting luxury goods, they prefer to use western models with caucasian looks instead. That was during the 70s. At that time “Made in Japan” didn’t sound any good as it is today. Then little by little as their country became stronger and national identity feeling increased, they started to introduce local models in their high-end brand promotion, they learn how to make their models look better, with a western looks while retaining the Japanese taste. Fast forward twenty years later, Japanese fashion designers and photographers no longer need to use western figures at all, they import western styles and refine it for the Japanese market: top quality, perfect-fit tailoring, impeccable manufacturing and enhanced cuteness! They perfected western products so well that westerners were running to Japan to buy the Japanese-market exclusive bags or shoes or accessories.

China is in the midst of the same evolution as Japanese in their late 70s. The image of “Made in China” still haunt Chinese brands, especially the rare high-end brands such as fashion and cars. Nationalist feeling has never been so high as it is today, some brave designers and photographers are exploiting this trend to promote their creations in the local maket, using local models with 100% local taste, while adopting a western looks.

I’m hoping that no too far in the future, maybe the next generation kids would be surprise and ask their parents why did people laughed at “Made in China” before?

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm and is filed under Scrapbook. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.