China Fashion Week: Pretty Cars, Clothes and People

Whew. Beijing has seen a flurry of store openings, fashion shows and big-name visitors in these last couple weeks – and the Beijinger has the inside scoop and photos right here.

To start with, Olivier Theyskens – the man credited with jumpstarting Madonna’s goth phase and revamping Reese Witherspoon into a sexier version of herself post-divorce – attended an in-store cocktail at Lane Crawford (followed by an exclusive after-party at Temple) on Saturday, October 22.

He and the CEO of Theory, Andrew Rosen, were here to celebrate the second season of Theyskens’ Theory, now on sale at the store as well as online on Lane Crawford’s newly launched bilingual website. (Same-day shipping is available in Beijing for only RMB 50, so take advantage, folks.) Click here for the full gallery.

Meanwhile, official sponsor Mercedes-Benz kicked off China Fashion Week S/S 2012 in Beijing at D-Park in 798 Art District on October 24. Below are photos from their Fashion Night Out opening ceremony, which featured the debut of German label Schumacher’s latest collection.

Among those in attendance included Victoria Secret’s model Karolina Kurkova as well as current fashion world favorite Liu Wen (see full post on the rise of Chinese supermodels here). For more photos from the event, click here.

Just a couple days later on October 26, French fashion house Maison Martin Margiela launched its first China mainland boutique in Sanlitun Village North. At 500 square meters, it’ll be the brand’s largest branch in the world to date. Visit Jing Daily for a detailed review and more photos.

On October 27, Lane Crawford’s sister store Joyce – which carries an edgier edit of high-fashion clothing and accessories – hosted an in-store cocktail to mark the opening of its China flagship store (and first Beijing branch) at China World Mall. Look for a more detailed write-up on Joyce in our upcoming issue.

And last but not least, Alexander McQueen threw a fashion party at 798 Space on Saturday, October 29 to coincide with the opening of its Sanlitun Village North store – the first for Beijing as well as mainland China. Creative director Sarah Burton herself (yes, the woman who designed Kate Middleton's wedding gown) flew down for the festivities, making a brief appearance at the end of the show.

We’re still waiting on more photos from their PR, but we promise a gallery will be up in the next few days. For now, here’s a video that captures the whole line-up of stunning gowns.

For even more coverage on China Fashion Week, we advise you check out Stylites.net, Jing Daily and Maosuit.com.

Photos: Mercedes-Benz, Lane Crawford, Joyce, Jonathan Leijonhufvud, Carleen Wang