Louis Vuitton to present Women’s Spring-Summer 2021 spin-off show in Singapore amid pandemic

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South China Morning Post

The US, EU, UK and Canada banded together to sanction Chinese officials over suspected human rights abuses in Xinjiang on Monday, a dramatic escalation in tensions with Beijing and a clear sign that the new Joe Biden administration plans to wield its alliances as a powerful tool to counter an increasingly assertive China. “Amid growing international condemnation, the PRC [People’s Republic of China] continues to commit genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who will meet with European Union (EU) and Nato officials in Brussels this week. “These actions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to working multilaterally to advance respect for human rights and shining a light on those in the PRC government and CCP responsible for these atrocities,” he said.Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China. The EU announced its sanctions first, naming four officials and one entity in Xinjiang – the bloc’s first sanctions targeting Chinese officials since the aftermath of the bloody Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. China hit back almost immediately, imposing sanctions on 10 European individuals and four entities, including diplomats, officials, academics and politicians. China announced its EU sanctions before the UK, Canada, and US made their own sanctions public on Monday. A former director of the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which implements sanctions policy, told the Post that coordinated sanctions between the US and its allies, all imposed on the same day, are “extremely rare”. “Today’s actions plainly demonstrate that the Biden administration has turned the page on the Trump administration’s general go-it-alone strategy on imposing sanctions,” said John Smith, now co-head of the law firm Morrison & Foerster’s national security practice. Former acting deputy US trade representative Wendy Cutler, meanwhile, said Monday’s actions took the allies’ coordination against Beijing to a “new level”. “Working with allies and partners to address the human rights abuses conducted by China was taken to a new level today,” said Cutler, who is vice-president of the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington. “A quite powerful message was sent to Beijing today through these coordinated sanctions.” The EU, UK, Canada and US sanctions are in response to alleged human rights abuses in the far western region of Xinjiang, where China is accused of detaining a million Uygurs and other ethnic minorities in re-education camps. Beijing says the camps are vocational training centres and part of efforts to combat terrorism. EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said they had learned about China’s retaliatory sanctions in the middle of a Foreign Affairs Council meeting. He said the targeting of MEPs, diplomats and scholar was “unacceptable”. “There will be no change in the EU’s determination to defend human rights and to respond to serious violations and abuses, irrespective of where they are committed,” Borrell said. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the sanctions were a result of “intense diplomacy” between the countries involved. “The evidence of widespread human rights abuses in Xinjiang cannot be ignored – including mass detention and surveillance, reports of torture and forced sterilisation,” Raab said. The four Chinese officials targeted are Zhu Hailun, a former secretary of Xinjiang’s political and legal affairs committee; Wang Junzheng, Communist Party secretary of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; Wang Mingshan, a member of the party standing committee in Xinjiang; and Chen Mingguo, director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau. The UK and Canada sanctioned the same officials, and the US Treasury Department added Chen Mingguo and Wang Junzheng to its own list of sanctioned individuals. Zhu Hailun and Wang Mingshan had appeared on US sanctions lists last July. Xinjiang’s leaders must ‘optimise’ governance of region, Communist Party’s No 4 says The entity sanctioned on Monday by the EU, UK, and Canada is the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau, which the EU said “is responsible for serious human rights violations in China, in particular large-scale arbitrary detentions and degrading treatment inflicted upon Uygurs and people from other Muslim ethnic minorities”. One name not on the EU, UK, and Canada’s list was Xinjiang party boss Chen Quanguo, who is also a member of China’s 25-member Politburo. Instead, Brussels opted to target mid-ranking officials. The US sanctioned Chen in July. Washington also sanctioned the entire XPCC in July – an escalation that the EU has not yet taken. The US government and Canadian parliament have also labelled China’s actions in Xinjiang a genocide. “Chinese authorities will continue to face consequences as long as atrocities occur in Xinjiang,” Andrea Gacki, director of OFAC, said on Monday. The human rights sanctions regime allows for travel bans and the freezing of assets of individuals and entities. Individuals and entities in the EU will also be forbidden from making funds available to those on the list. China responded by imposing sanctions on a range of European individuals and organisations for what it described as “severely harming China’s sovereignty and interests and maliciously spreading lies and disinformation”. The 10 individuals include five members of the European Parliament – Reinhard Butikofer, Michael Gahler, Raphaël Glucksmann, Ilhan Kyuchyuk and Miriam Lexmann. Also targeted are parliamentarians Sjoerd Wiemer Sjoerdsma from the Netherlands, Samuel Cogolati from Belgium and Dovile Sakaliene from Lithuania, as well as German scholar Adrian Zenz and Swedish academic Björn Jerdén. The four entities are the Political and Security Committee (PSC) of the Council of the EU, the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics) think tank in Germany, and the Alliance of Democracies Foundation in Denmark, a forum headed by former Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Those named – and their families – are banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, while companies and institutions associated with them are also restricted from doing business with China, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. European capitals have been reacting to China’s rapid fire sanctions response. In response to the Chinese retaliatory sanctioning of Raphaël Glucksmann MEP, as well as a simmering row between Chinese embassy officials in Paris and a French researcher, France said it plans to summon Lu Shaye, Chinese ambassador to France, to the ministry for Europe and foreign affairs. Shortly after the different countries’ various sanctions were announced, Blinken joined the foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand on a separate joint statement calling on China to “end its repressive practices against Uygur Muslims and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, and to release those arbitrarily detained”. “The multilateral piece of the Biden agenda is emerging today with this multilateral agreement to impose sanctions on China,” Henrietta Treyz, director of economic policy at investment advisory group Veda Partners, said in a research note. “We do believe that as the US shifts away from a unilateral trade strategy and towards a multilateral trade strategy, it will coordinate with [Canada, the EU, the UK], and other nations to contain China and compel change on fronts ranging from climate change to human rights and market access,” she said. “Today this means sanctions, tomorrow it could well mean coordinated tariffs.” ‘Uncomfortable signal to China’: Japan raises Hong Kong in call to India The PSC comprises the ambassadors of the 27 member states based in Brussels and is chaired by the representatives from the European Union External Action Service, the EU’s de facto foreign affairs bureau. Major foreign policy moves – such as sanctions – are discussed in the committee before going to the EU Council, where they are taken up by member states’ ministers. This move means all 27 ambassadors are forbidden from setting foot on Chinese soil, including in Hong Kong and Macau. Merics has become one of the most influential research houses on EU-China relations in recent years, hiring a succession of high-profile academics and issuing a series of widely read reports on issues ranging from China’s Belt and Road Initiative to China’s growing influence in Europe. Lexmann, one of the MEPs on China’s retaliatory list, said that she was “sad to see that instead of addressing the point of the sanctions, China is engaging in threats and counter-sanctions”. In an interview for the South China Morning Post’s China Geopolitics Podcast in March, Bütikofer, also a co-chair of the hawkish Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said “if we muster the courage to apply that mechanism against the atrocities that are being reported from Russia, why would we refrain from also applying the same kind of mechanism to the cases of Xinjiang and Hong Kong?” The sanctions mark a major turn in EU-China ties, coming less than three months after the pair agreed a bilateral investment deal that has yet to be ratified. George Magnus, an associate at the China Centre at Oxford University, said that China‘s retaliation may mean “the kiss of death for the investment deal”. “I don’t know how the Parliament actually gets it through after this,” Magnus said. Chinese observers had expected a measured response from Beijing. Before the retaliation was announced, Wu Xinbo, head of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, said: “The form of sanctions will be similar to that of the EU, including travel bans and asset freezes. Whether China will use trade as a tool of countermeasure depends on the development of the situation. At present, China may only impose personnel sanctions.” EU trip to Xinjiang ‘in stalemate’ over access to jailed Uygur: diplomat Manfred Weber, chairman of the European People’s Party, the biggest grouping in the European Parliament, said they “support our colleagues who have been sanctioned by the Chinese government”. “Attacking freely elected Members of Parliament shows us the contempt Beijing has for democracy. We will not be intimidated. The EU measures against China have our full support,” Weber said. In response to US sanctions related to Xinjiang, China steered clear of senior government officials but targeted some of the most vocal China hawks in American politics, including Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, Congressman Chris Smith and US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom Sam Brownback. It is the first time the EU has used its new human rights sanctions regime on China, but it was deployed last month against Russian officials over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. The sanctions were adopted by the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels on Monday and then signed into EU law. Additional reporting by Rachel Zhang and Robert DelaneyMore from South China Morning Post:Xinjiang sanctions not enough to convince China hawks to support EU investment dealXinjiang: EU ready to ‘cross a threshold’ with China sanctions, but unlikely to match hardline US approachChina likely to respond in kind to EU sanctions on Xinjiang, observers sayChina would welcome UN Human Rights Council visit ‘because there is no genocide in Xinjiang’This article US, EU, UK, Canada launch sanctions blitz against Chinese officials; Beijing hits back first appeared on South China Morning PostFor the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2021.

Louis Vuitton to hold first physical fashion show in Singapore amid Covid-19 pandemic

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SINGAPORE - Fashion is returning to the catwalk at Louis Vuitton on Tuesday (March 23).

Even though recent fashion weeks in Paris, London and Milan have gone completely digital due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the French fashion house will stage a fashion show in Singapore, complete with masked guests seated 1m apart.

To be held at ArtScience Museum, the Louis Vuitton Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show will be the first full-fledged physical fashion show in Singapore in the new normal.

There will be three shows - at noon, 4pm and 7.30pm - with just 112 guests each and a slew of safe management measures in place, such as temperature checks and SafeEntry scans on arrival. All surfaces will be sanitised between each show.

Guests will be segmented into zones, with no intermingling among zones, and Louis Vuitton face masks have been included with the invitations. Also, arrival, departure and seating timings will be staggered.

Safe distancing ambassadors will be deployed at the venue as well.

The 41 unmasked models walking the show will be at least 3m away from the guests. They will also observe safe distancing on the runway.

They and the backstage crew, including hair and make-up artists, will also be segregated into zones.

The final show will be live-streamed on Louis Vuitton’s website so everyone can have a front-row seat from the comfort of his or her home.

The last time Harper’s Bazaar Singapore editor-in-chief Kenneth Goh attended a fashion show in person was a year ago. PHOTO: HARPER’S BAZAAR

A total of 69 looks - from the spring/summer collection, presented in a “distanced” show in Paris last October by Louis Vuitton’s womenswear artistic director Nicolas Ghesquiere, and a Summer Capsule collection inspired by the beach - will be featured.

For fashion editors, celebrities, influencers and clients who used to jet-set to fashion capitals for shows, this presentation signals that the industry is taking baby steps towards recovery.

It promises to be a star-studded event and the guest list includes home-grown actresses Zoe Tay and Rebecca Lim as well as singer Stefanie Sun.

The last time Harper’s Bazaar Singapore editor-in-chief Kenneth Goh attended a fashion show in person was a year ago. Coincidentally, it was the Louis Vuitton presentation, held at the Louvre, which closed Paris Fashion Week.

“I’m very excited to attend the show in Singapore for Louis Vuitton. It’s the first replica womenswear show by Ghesquiere outside of Paris in this new normal,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase the importance and significance of Singapore in the global fashion scene as Louis Vuitton will be live-streaming the show at ArtScience Museum.”

Dubbed a “phygital” show, the event will combine physical and digital elements, with green screens playing a major role.

They form a backdrop for the projection of footage from director Wim Wenders' film, Wings Of Desire (1987). The romantic fantasy classic - which tells the tale of angels who choose to experience life, thanks to the power of love - was employed to great effect in the Spring/Summer 2021 show in Paris last October.

Louis Vuitton worked closely with the Singapore Tourism Board to leverage the country’s talent, infrastructure, resources and luxury consumer landscape to bring about this show.

Working behind the scenes are fashion industry veterans such as Fran Borgia (left) and Daniel Boey. PHOTOS: LOUIS VUITTON

Local models as well as Singapore-based ones will be in the spotlight.

Notably, Singapore’s top international model Kaigin Yong, who was in Paris for fashion week earlier this month, will strut the runway.

Working behind the scenes are fashion industry veterans such as Singaporean show director Daniel Boey and Spanish film-maker Fran Borgia. Borgia - who has been based here for 15 years - will take on the role of live-stream creative director.

Mr Goh of Harper’s Bazaar Singapore believes that if Louis Vuitton’s show is a success, many other brands will follow suit.

“Nothing beats the excitement and the immediacy of a live show and to be able to see beautiful fashion on the most interesting models in a captivating space - it’s what sartorial dreams are made of.”

Q&A with Louis Vuitton’s CEO Michael Burke

Mr Michael Burke talks about the Louis Vuitton Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show, effects of the pandemic and the maison’s approach to sustainability. PHOTO: LOUIS VUITTON

Louis Vuitton’s head honcho talks about the show, the effects of the pandemic and the maison’s approach to sustainablity.

How has Louis Vuitton navigated the past year and what would you say are the three main takeaways from the pandemic?

What this current pandemic has taught us is to show resilience, agility and creativity:

We have nurtured our relationships with our clients and have stayed connected on a deep level with a personalized one-to-one approach.

As travel became complicated, we virtually met with our clients through all means possible.

We know people are not going to be able to travel, so let’s not have people travel to the venues - let’s have the clothes travel to the venues.

The spin-off show in Singapore is a way for Louis Vuitton to cultivate proximity with a global audience by bringing the show to a new location and addressing current challenges faced by clients/travellers who are used to looking towards fashion capitals for the latest season’s inspirations and to shop the collections.

Louis Vuitton will be the first brand to hold a full-fledged physical (and digital) fashion show in Singapore, especially in current times, to rejuvenate Singapore’s fashion event scene.

It is in difficult times that great ideas are always born.

Everyone’s talking about sustainability, from fast fashion to luxury goods. What is Louis Vuitton’s stand and position on this?

Louis Vuitton is on a committed journey to have 100 per cent of its raw materials responsibly sourced by 2025, eliminate single use plastic by 2030, act on climate change, taking into account everything from cotton and viscose harvesting, to reinforcing its contribution to the objectives defined by the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Luxury, as we understand it at Louis Vuitton, goes hand-in-hand with high-quality craftsmanship.

By definition, we produce in very limited quantities. In addition, our products are intended for the long term. Louis Vuitton products are made to last. We are mainstreaming the environment into every step of the creative process.

Throughout these stages, we are reinventing how we design our creations and exploring pathways to sustainable creativity.

To do so, it is vital that we 1) source environmentally-friendly materials 2) optimize the use of these materials (no additional production) and 3) manufacture products that can be repaired (Louis Vuitton provides repair services all over the world whereby over 1/2 million products are repaired every year).

At Louis Vuitton, we control our entire production chain, our logistics platforms and our distribution network. This gives us free rein to take tangible decisions and to act for change.

How will live fashion shows and digital versions co-exist and evolve, now that everyone can get a “front-row seat” in front of the laptop?

Digital should “augment” fashion shows, not replace them. It is a fantastic opportunity to create one-of-kind experiences.

For Women’s Spring-Summer 2021, Nicolas Ghesquière and his teams imagined a strong concept combining physical and digital: a “phygital” show giving access to different experiences while seated in the venue or in front of your laptop / mobile device.

The last Women’s Fall-Winter 2021 by Nicolas Ghesquière - which was fully digital due to sanitary restrictions - counted more than 100 million views worldwide. The digital buzz was phenomenal.

In parallel, travelling to the venues will remain, such as the example of the spin-off show in Singapore.

LV to hold fashion show in S’pore

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Fashion is returning to the catwalk at Louis Vuitton on Tuesday.

To be held at ArtScience Museum, the Louis Vuitton Women’s Spring/Summer 2021 Spin-Off show will be the first full-fledged physical fashion show in Singapore in the new normal.

There will be three shows - at noon and 4 and 7.30pm - with just 112 guests each and a slew of safe management measures in place, such as temperature checks and SafeEntry scans on arrival. All surfaces will be sanitised between each show.