China Wear

The Armani Group (Milan, Italy) announced that design icon Giorgio Armani will make his first visit to China this month, traveling to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong to celebrate the opening of a multi-brand Armani flagship store on Shanghai’s Bund.

Festivities will include an exclusive fashion show and party in Shanghai and a second fashion show in Hong Kong in a first anniversary celebration of Armani/Chater House, the second-largest multi-brand Armani store in the world (after Milan).

Armani will also visit the Giorgio Armani boutique at the Palace Hotel in Beijing, the Armani Group’s first retail store in China, which opened in 1998.

Armani/Three on the Bund will be divided between a Giorgio Armani boutique covering slightly more than half the store and an Emporio Armani store covering the remainder of the ground floor. There will also be Armani Fiori (florist) and Armani Dolci (chocolates and confectionery) counters within the development.

As with Hong Kong’s Armani/Chater House, Giorgio Armani will collaborate with the architect Claudio Silvestrin on the Giorgio Armani boutique and the architects Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas on the Emporio Armani store.

“The culture and customs of Asia have always been an inspiration to me,” Armani said. “Today, Shanghai certainly qualifies as the world’s most talked-about city. I am therefore delighted that we have secured such a prestigious and significant location for a flagship store there. With the opening of the Beijing Giorgio Armani boutique in 1998, Hong Kong’s Armani/Chater House in 2002 and now Shanghai’s Armani/Three on the Bund this month, the Armani Group will have successfully established a signature retail presence in China’s three principal cities. This demonstrates our long-term commitment to this fast-growing market, in which we plan to develop comprehensive distribution and retail channels for each of the Group’s main brands and product lines. As part of this expansion strategy, we would expect to have a network of between 20 and 30 freestanding stores throughout China’s most important cities by 2008.”

This summer, a second Shanghai Emporio Armani store will be opened on the ground floor of Plaza 66, in collaboration with the Chinese fashion retail company Envols.

There are currently Emporio Armani stores in Dalian (New World Department Store) and Wenzhou (Huaqiao Hotel) with a new opening planned this autumn in Shanghai’s Plaza 66; one Armani Collezioni store in Shenzhen (Tian An International Plaza) with a Shanghai store opening in October 2004 at Citic Square; an Armani Jeans store in Hong Kong opening in summer 2004 to replace the existing Emporio Armani on Causeway Bay’s Russell Street; six A/X Armani Exchange stores in Hong Kong (Fashion Island, Canton Road, Festival Walk, Pacific Place, City Plaza and IFC). Giorgio Armani Cosmetics recently launched in Hong Kong and is soon to be launched in mainland China.