Hurts came to town as part of the Dior Homme presentation in Beijing on April 25. A re-creation of the line’s Autumn/Winter 2013 show staged at Paris Fashion Week in January, this is creative director Kriss van Assche and the storied French fashion house’s first full presentation in Beijing. The line previously reproduced the Haute Couture show at Shanghai’s House of Roosevelt in January 2013.
Taking place at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), the same location as Prada’s Beijing event in 2011, the show also included three tuxedo ensembles manufactured especially for the Chinese market. This, along with actress Fan Bingbing’s China-only appearance in the upcoming Marvel action film Iron Man 3, highlights the attempts by international luxury and entertainment entities to target Chinese consumers. After the models had left the runway, Hurts took the stage, attired in head-to-toe Dior Homme, of course. An informal poll of the guests present concluded that most were also fans of the band in addition to being part of the fashion world.
The performance, which lasted a respectable 40 minutes or so, featured a good mix of tunes from their first and second albums, including hit singles “Wonderful Life” and “Better Than Love.” Near the end of the set, a live bat that had flown through the venue earlier returned, a fitting coda to both the show’s somber tones and Hurts’ gothic sensibilities. Whereas the show and performance were well-received by local and international media and attendees, Dior’s activities in China have shown a more restrained, less populist approach than other luxury brands such as Burberry or Louis Vuitton. As China Music Radar’s sister publication The Sound highlighted in our Spring 2011 issue, one of the more successful band x brand collaborations in recent memory had been Burberry teaming up with Britpop band Keane. That event, freed from the usual constraints of a traditional fashion show, established Burberry as a leader in multi-disciplinary branded events in emerging markets. In contrast, Dior’s strategy in China has been (in our opinion) targeted more towards HNWI than cultivating a mainstream notoriety amongst the public. From the hush-hush Haute Couture event in Shanghai to last week’s understated presentation, the fashion house is cultivating a following through celebrities and KOLs, which suits it’s reputation as one of the leaders in high fashion. To that end, the brand is not relying on the band, i.e. Hurts, to build their credibility or recognition within the mainland. Although the band’s predilection for high fashion and the glossy sheen to their music, their presence at the show was for novelty and interest as opposed to any deep collaboration with the fashion line. And they fulfilled that purpose: with model good looks and talent in addition, Hurts fit right into the fashion milieu. They didn’t have to do anything else.