Versace, Gucci ... Ooi? China Designer Makes Splash

Sept. 16, 2006 — -- Model tall and model thin, Joanne Ooi strides confidently into the New York outlet of Shanghai Tang, the clothing line she is working hard to make China's first luxury brand.

Ooi is Shanghai Tang's creative director, and under her leadership the ready to wear line is becoming hot. U.S. sales have grown by almost 50 percent in each of the last two years.

The designs are a place where old China and new China meet, a fusion of 5,000 years of Chinese history and modern style.

Shanghai Tang has now drawn the attention of Hollywood celebrities. Actors from Angelina Jolie and Liv Tyler to Keanu Reeves (there is also a men's line) are big fans.

"I decided very early on that for the brand to really have legs it was very important to present a collection that had real roots in Chinese culture and history," she says in her surprisingly deep, direct voice, "not just some pastiche that I would create every season for commercial reasons."

Once a moribund label, Shanghai Tang has for several years found success in Asia, riding economic growth in that region (outside Japan), which still accounts for 80 percent of its sales.

Ernst and Young forecasts annual growth in luxury sales of 20 percent over the next decade in China. By 2015, predicts Ernst and Young, China will overtake the United States as the world's second-largest consumer of luxury goods, after Japan.

"The goal, even in Asia, is to be the ambassador of the new China," says Ooi. Her spring 2006 collection consisted partly of miniskirted versions of the qipao, a traditional Mandarin collared dress. But the colors were bright, not Cultural Revolution dull, and the dresses were emblazoned with patterns based on paintings by artists in Beijing.

Next spring's collection was on parade recently in New York City. A townhouse in Greenwich Village was transformed into an Asian atelier. Two dancers in colorful Chinese costumes waved huge Oriental fans alternately to ethnic Chinese music and jazz compositions.