Selling the stars of tomorrow
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"At the moment, Galeries Lafayette is the only department store (in Beijing) selling my work," said Liu Qingyang, a Beijing-based designer, who studied at London's Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. "I previously approached a local, high-end store, but was bluntly told that they didn't have any room for a newcomer."
The rejection came despite the fact that Liu, who often goes under her English name Christine, can count herself as one of the most promising, high-profile young Chinese designers, and is rapidly achieving star status thanks to extensive media coverage.
For Jiang Yi, a local designer who, despite almost 15 years in the business is still reluctant to open his own store-in-a-store, the problem is one of simple economics.
"For any independent designer, the threshold for entering a major department store is prohibitively high. None of the preferential treatment given by department stores to their star tenants - the big household brands - will be available to us. As independent designers we are asked to go through a maddeningly strict approval process, and we have to surrender a higher percentage of our monthly income to the store than the established brands," he said. "This is especially true for local department stores. In foreign-owned ones, the policy is much more flexible, and I might say humane."
In addition to Liu, Galeries Lafayette's Beijing store has opened its arms to a handful of budding designers. One of them, Gao Yang, also known as Simon Gao for his eponymous brand, has launched a special collection that will be sold exclusively in the store.
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