Harbin Beer brings 'China Vogue' to the world stage at NY fashion week

"China Vogue," an emerging trend that fuses traditional Chinese culture with worldwide fashion, was showcased at New York Fashion Week in a runway show organized by Chinese beer brand, Harbin Beer, on Feb 9.

As the first-ever brewer to present a fashion collection at New York Fashion Week, Harbin Beer is bringing to the global stage a "China Vogue" that is unlike others. Beyond a marketing campaign, the company is promoting traditional Chinese culture and delivering a crossover of Chinese elements with Western fashion to a global audience.

Pedro Earp, global CMO of beer giant AB-InBev that acquired China's oldest local brand Harbin Beer in 2004, shared the brand's insights behind its fashion show with China Daily.

According to Earp, the creative Chinese traditions, under the name "China Vogue", are now sending off a modern vibe, breaking stereotypes and arousing self-recognition and self-confidence among Chinese youths toward their culture and traditions.

To carry out such commitments, the century-old Harbin Beer collaborated with rising young designer CHENPENG* and New York brand PONY, a mix-and-match that delivered promising results.

"The collaboration is a fusion, and we hope to catch the Chinese youths' eyes with that integration," said Earp.

"We think that there's an increasing interest for Chinese culture around the world and that's what we want to do here, to bring a little bit of that Chinese culture to New York," he added.

The youth, Chinese youth specifically, is a primary target of the brand, Earp told China Daily. Considering the popularity of hip-hop and street culture in China, the brand brought them together with other art forms prevailing among the younger generation like electro music, and merged them with Chinese elements. "I think the new generation - not only in China but all over the world - is really a generation that integrates things," said Earp.

"They like the traditional, but they like the contemporary - they are fans of R&B but they like traditional opera; they like street art but they like fashion as well," said Earp, adding that they are thus called "the slash generation", a generation that is "a little bit of everything".

The cultural concept of the new "China Vogue" is redefined by Harbin Beer under such a context, representing crossover, Earp said. "Ink Beer," a special edition beer bottle introduced by Harbin Beer as a representative of the "China Vogue," is one such example.

On the bottle was Chinese calligraphy saying "Hapi (Harbin Beer) together" written by calligraphy artist Zhu Jingyi, also art director of Harbin Beer's "China Vogue". Ink was recognized as a necessary component of the new "China Vogue" as defined by Harbin Beer. "Calligraphy is an important part of the Chinese culture. By fusing those awesome and distinguishable Chinese cultural heritages with the fashionable elements, we are creating a new form of popular culture," said Matt Che, vice-president for marketing at AB-InBev's APAC region.

Having visited China and being impressed by how Chinese youth embraced Chinese traditions but in a trendy and modern way, Earp defined "China Vogue" as "tradition meets contemporary meets fashion".

"The idea is how do we bring things that do not necessarily go together to create a new culture," he said, adding that the fashion show itself is a thorough illustration of Harbin Beer's definition of the "China Vogue".

"We are bringing fashion; we are bringing street art; we are bringing music," said Earp. "We thought bringing the 'China Vogue' through Harbin to New York will be an opportunity to not only have it in China, but also bring it to the stage in fashion in the world." Featured on the show are clothes and accessories that blend Chinese art with Western fashion trends. Chinese characters and traditional calligraphies, for instance, are decorative elements on some of the designs. The whole show, according to Earp, was a fusion that broke the cultural boundaries and displayed Chinese art while adding a Western and modern taste to it. The show was opened by a Peking Opera performance with R&B music. As the models showcased the collection that has street culture features, a calligraphy artist wrote "Hapi (Harbin Beer) Together" on a scroll that was the same length as the runway using a giant Chinese brush.

"With the fast development of China, the younger generation is becoming more self-confident in our own culture," Che told China Daily.

"There is increasing awareness and appreciation of the Chinese culture around the globe," said Earp. Harbin Beer is a brand that is getting increasingly popular among the younger generation.

Creating and promoting the new "China Vogue" is a better approach to interacting with consumers, Earp said, adding that the brand plans to gain popularity among the younger generation in the next five years.

Last year, Harbin Beer made the top 10 list of the most valuable beer brands in the world by UK-based consulting company Brand Finance as the only Chinese beer band on the top 10 list. "The question now is, what can we learn from China," said Earp, who talked about AB-InBev's path of development in China.

"I think this is happening not only with our company - this is happening with the whole world," he said. "The youth across the world has a lot of curiosity about what's going on in China, what's going on in China's culture."

Harbin Beer is trying to approach consumers in a more authentic way, to impress them with what they are genuinely interested in, Earp said, adding that Harbin Beer's new "China Vogue", the integration of Chinese culture, hip hop and street culture, was thus their brand message.

"We believe that Harbin is the 'China Vogue' of beers" in a way that it is bringing people together in a very fun and integrated way, said Earp.Huang Ping, Chinese consul general in New York, said in remarks after the show that it is a combination of history and reality, the East and the West, and thus "a bridge to bring people together wherever you are from".

"If every one of us here can play together, we can work together," he added. "Beer is a product that brings people together - this is ever-time more important in the global arena," said Earp.

Huang Ping (center), Chinese consul general in New York, Pedro Earp (first from right), global CMO of AB-InBev, Frank Wang (second from left), vice-president of Legal and Corporate Affairs at AB-InBev APAC, Matt Che (second from right), marketing vice-president of AB-InBev APAC celebrate the Hapi New Year by wearing "Harbin Beer" special collection. Photos Provided To China Daily