The Autumn/Winter 2025 season of Shanghai Fashion Week (SHFW) arrives against a volatile economic backdrop in China, as consumer spending has hit historic lows in recent months. And yet shows must go on: the event will kick off on 26 March and continue through 31 March, following the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which took place on Sunday.
SHFW has become a key fashion event to watch among the non-big four cities, right alongside Copenhagen, Seoul and Tokyo. Not only is China’s consumer economy one of the largest in the world, slowdown aside, but its budding fashion scene has been making a splash in the Western pocket of the industry.
Unlike most other fashion capitals, the majority of the labels on the SHFW schedule are independent businesses, and many have millennial and Gen Z designers at the helm. The calendar is split in two. It includes the larger scale establishment shows that are hosted by SHFW in two main spaces in Xintiandi, the affluent shopping and entertainment district, and the Labelhood line-up named after the retailer-cum-fashion incubator helmed by Tasha Liu, which has The Bund, the city’s famous waterfront area and historic district, as its home base.
The former is headlined by names like Comme Moi, which celebrated a decade in business in 2023 and was founded by model Lü Yan, one of the first globally recognised Chinese models. The latter specialises in smaller, younger businesses that have penetrated the global industry more nimbly, like Mark Gong and Shushu/Tong. The shows are hosted at the same locations for the ease of both designers and attendees, though in some instances designers will host off-calendar shows at locations of their choosing. This season’s rebels include Jacques Wei and Samuel Guì Yang, two of the week’s habitual standouts.
Unlike in Europe and New York, the shows in Shanghai are not live streamed over Instagram, which is banned in China, though some designers have found workarounds to have a presence on Western social feeds. Instead, most labels, plus SHFW and Labelhood, utilise WeChat to share updates. You can follow both channels on the platform, or stay updated via the Vogue app and Vogue Runway Instagram.
Last season, Shanghai Fashion Week was punctuated by the Moncler Genius extravaganza. This time around, there is no comparable event, but Vogue China will be launching the third edition of the Vogue China Fashion Fund, the initiative launched in 2022 by then editor-in-chief Margaret Zhang and modelled after the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to support young designers. Last October, editor Rocco Liu crowned Louis Shengtao Chen as the second winner at a star-studded event in Shenzhen. The win helped Chen carry on with his collection, the designer told me last year. With the current economic situation in China, this year’s edition feels more urgent than ever.
A complicated landscape
Unlike the US, the post-Covid economic blowback in China was not inflation, but deflation. Prices have decreased over the last two years to adjust to a reluctant consumer who simply does not have the funds to spend or is anxious about the near future. Chalk this up to China’s sluggish growth since the pandemic, which has had a prolonged effect in cities like Shanghai, given it was shut down again due to the Omicron variant in 2022.
There is also the effect of US tariffs on Chinese exports, since the Trump administration hit the country with 20 per cent tariffs on imported goods. China’s economy is aiming to grow around 5 per cent this year, with President Xi Jinping hoping to boost domestic consumption in key cities to circumvent the impact. As it pertains to fashion, I’ve been hearing from designers based in China that it’s become even more challenging to penetrate the US market now that buyers seem to have become reticent to invest in overseas labels, particularly those they have no existing businesses with.
Missing in action
The immediate effect of this crisis is already noticeable on the AW25 edition of Shanghai Fashion Week.
There had already been a downturn in designer participation last season, which was offset by the Moncler event and other international brand activations, including a Schiaparelli dinner, a Rick Owens rave and Loewe’s exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of Jonathan Anderson’s tenure at the label — which, in hindsight, given his departure, was impeccably timed.
This season, however, there are no such events scheduled as of now. SHFW is no stranger to holding its ground, and it seldom needs assistance from international labels for attention, but the absence of key talents on its AW25 schedule has become more noticeable and a significant pain point.
Chen is skipping the season, and usual top-billing designers such as Boogie Liu of CPlus Series and Xander Zhou are opting for digital releases in lieu of in-person activations.
Most of all, the week does not have its usual line-up of runway debuts. SHFW, a younger showcase than most of its international counterparts, attracts a crowd of budding designers from the region looking to get their start. This time around, newcomers are mostly staying off the runway, opting for showroom appointments or presentations.
Ones to watch
In addition to returning labels like Oude Waag by Jingwei Yin and Mark Gong — which have been making an impact abroad dressing celebrities Megan Thee Stallion and Lisa, respectively — plus Ao Yes by Austin Wang and Yansong Leo — which launched a Zara collaboration this year — there is still a robust group of rising stars worth looking out for.
Alongside the shows, Labelhood will be hosting its usual showroom, this time adding a new talent presentation featuring Papi Lav, Le Ngok and Zita Tan. SHFW often offers an eclectic mix of budding talent, and the immense creativity that comes with young designers not yet commercialising their work, as well as established labels with more merchandised outputs. Le Ngok and Zita Tan will join labels like Weiraen by Parsons graduate WeiRan in adding a dose of avant-garde to balance out the expectedly more commercial outputs.
New York-based designers Siying Qu and Haoran Li of Private Policy, who skipped New York Fashion Week (NYFW) in February, will be presenting their AW25 collection in Shanghai. The designers have taken their NYFW shows to SHFW in the past, but this is the first time in recent memory that they’re prioritising the latter. Marchesa by Georgina Chapman will show a collection on the last day, joining SHFW’s couture sub-calendar. Italian designer Lorena Antoniazzi and Vietnamese label LSoul will round up the international contingent. After supporting Chinese designer Susan Fang’s presentation at Milan Fashion Week earlier this month, Dolce Gabbana will dip their toes back into the market by hosting a conversation with Fang.
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
Was Autumn/Winter 2025 the season of ‘reheating nachos’?
Jonathan Anderson’s Loewe was a story of contradictions
Old dogs, new tricks: How the fashion establishment embraced online virality
.jpg)
