Understanding fashion's obsession with immersive exhibitions in Asia

If in these months we were traveling between China, South Korea, and Japan, we would encounter a very high number of fashion-themed exhibitions organized by Western brands. There is If You Know, You Know by Loro Piana, which opened two Saturdays ago in Shanghai, the one by Penhaligon’s inaugurated in the same city last Tuesday, while last Friday Gucci Bamboo: Decoding an Icon was unveiled to the public. Last Saturday, Loewe: Crafted World arrived in Tokyo, where in April, the Kyoto Costume Institute will also host Love Fashion: In Search of Myself. This month, Dior will bring Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams to Seoul, already presented in China, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Starting in mid-March, Iris Van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses will be available in Singapore, while in Korea, Bulgari brought its Bvlgari Serpenti Infinito last Monday, which debuted in Shanghai in January. Last October, Swarovski landed in South Korea with Swarovski – Masters of Light from Vienna to Seoul. Last Wednesday, Valentino presented a new installation at the Tokyo National Museum with a celebrity-packed event, while next June, Prada Mode will arrive in Osaka with an exhibition on the projects by Kazuo Sejima for the transformation of Inujima Island into a pavilion designed by the SANAA studio and located in Osaka’s Umekita Park. Also in Osaka, at the Osaka-Kansai World Expo, there is another exhibition, Hymn of Love, of which LVMH is the golden partner, running until October. As is easily understood, the reason behind all these exhibitions is not so much humanism but rather the desire to create identity connections and engagement with key foreign markets. This is a new strategy that, instead of relying on campaigns and activations, bets everything on experiences, a category that, as reported by Jing Daily, is becoming increasingly important for luxury clientele in Asia, especially in China. In a period when luxury has started to lose momentum across the entire South Pacific area, the inauguration of retrospectives by fashion houses, involving celebrities and VICs from the country, represents the latest marketing move of a fashion industry that aims to boost sales through culture and immersive experiences.  

Until recently, brands focused on mega-destination shows, opening new stores, and world tour fashion shows, repeated across the globe to seduce the wealthiest clients. Now, it is the time for exhibitions: meticulously curated, inaugurated with exclusive parties, sometimes even available by reservation to fuel the audience’s FOMO, they are perfect for strengthening the bond between brands and local markets. By abandoning the exclusive approach of events reserved for VICs and celebrities, exhibitions bring brands closer to that segment of aspirational customers who were once neglected in favor of dramatic price increases. The idea of attracting only ultra-wealthy buyers with lavish events that have short-term media impact is giving way to more inclusive strategies aimed at solidifying the brand’s positioning in the minds of local aspirational consumers. The exhibitions we have listed are not just storytelling tools but opportunities for brands to allow the audience to experience their uniqueness. In the case of Penhaligon’s exhibition in Shanghai, the reservation-based entry model created a sense of urgency that made the event go viral on RedNote. As Lisa Zheng, operations director at WB Immersive, the agency behind such events, told Jing Daily: «The luxury market here has matured beyond logo worship — people seek emotional identity investment. This exhibition isn’t just a showcase; it’s a participatory ritual». This applies to all exhibitions of this kind. And the success of these individual exhibitions greatly helps reinforce the image of major brands and groups that are currently reorganizing their retail presence in these markets. 

The adoption of exhibitions as an engagement tool is the result of a combination of cultural, economic, and strategic factors. According to Jonathan Siboni, CEO of Luxurynsight, cited in a WWD article on the phenomenon, in 2024, China hosted 192 exhibitions from 48 luxury brands in the fashion, jewelry, and beauty sectors. The rise of these events responds to the need to create experiences that go beyond a simple economic transaction, emphasizing craftsmanship, tradition, and creativity within a more narrative and emotional context. At the same time, Chinese cultural nationalism has fueled interest in traditional craftsmanship and local artistic heritage, leading many exhibitions to include collaborations with local creatives to celebrate the history and artistry of each country. This is not just about flattery but, more importantly, about recognition and relevance. Loewe’s exhibition, for example, includes interactive environments created in collaboration with Studio Ghibli and Kyoto ceramists Suna Fujita, a documentary on the Onishi family, which has been making tea ceremony kettles for centuries, and works by contemporary masters such as Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, Moe Watanabe, and Genta Ishizuka, winner of the 2019 Craft Prize, as well as creations by artists from the ARKO Salon, like Hafu Matsumoto and Jiro Yonezawa. Prada’s exhibition in Osaka, on the other hand, will serve as a framework showcasing architect Kazuyo Sejima’s urban planning work on an entire island. 

In short, it is not just about selling but about conveying values and identity – especially for a class of affluent individuals for whom luxury is also a cultural investment. As Pooky Lee, who runs the curatorial agency Poptang, explained to WWD, exhibitions are becoming increasingly versatile and far-reaching communication tools. Unlike fashion shows, which are more excluding than exclusive, exhibitions offer novelty and longer duration, allowing brands to tell stories, create visual spectacles, satisfy existing clients, and attract new ones, all within an environment that encourages social media sharing. Furthermore – we add – they create the feeling that the brand is in some way visiting the city, generating key moments in the collective social calendar, much like what happened in Europe with Dolce&Gabbana’s exhibition, which successfully moved from Milan to Paris in recent months. The interesting aspect is that, despite being heavily promoted, these events do not risk saturating the market: «While the volume of brand exhibitions in China suggests a possible saturation point», Siboni explained, «our data showed that there were as many exhibitions in the first two months of 2025 as in 2024 and a few factors confirm that this is more than just a passing trend». It would also be useful to understand how these exhibitions could represent a source of profit for brands, considering the large audiences they attract and the relatively low fixed costs compared to the significant brand image return. 

From a purely cynical marketing perspective, these exhibitions are equivalent to large trawl nets sweeping the ocean floor, capturing both small and large fish along with everything else caught in their meshes: there is Earned Media Value, service to important clients, brand image return, and also the seduction of aspirational customers for whom, thanks to the exhibitions, the brand seems more accessible as well as desirable. However, it remains true that this type of cultural marketing can impact and favor sales in a limited way since it does not address the root problem of declining sales, which is consumer distrust and the now exorbitant prices that can no longer be reduced without a loss of prestige that, in fashion, would be unforgivable. In China, as demonstrated by the Hurun Research Center survey cited by Jing Daily, the problem is cultural: not only has the average luxury customer in China become a 35-year-old with a minimum of $6.5 million in the bank (we assume there are many but not that many relative to the overall population), but they also have more vacation days than in the past and tend to save more. As explained by the president of the Hurun Research Center, «the average household consumption of China’s HNWIs was down 12% in the past year».

According to the same report, cited by Il Sole 24Ore, the number of Chinese families with a net worth exceeding 6 million RMB (about $830,000) decreased by 0.3% compared to the previous year, dropping to 5.128 million. Among wealthier families, those with assets over 10 million RMB (about $1.4 million) decreased by 0.8%, and those with over 100 million RMB (about $14 million) fell by 1.7%. Ultra-rich families globally (with a net worth exceeding $30 million) recorded a 2.3% decline, with a loss of 2,000 multi-millionaire families, while already in 2023, the number of billionaires in China dropped by 142, reaching 753 as of August 30, 2024. The country, in short, has lost over a third of its billionaires. Perhaps this is why, from exclusive dinners and ultra-exclusive experiences, major brands have returned to appealing to the general public. But will these exhibitions be enough to drive sales? The problems in the fashion system are not easily attributable to brand reputation alone—which is perhaps essential, but certainly not everything. This leads us to ask, given the many difficulties faced by the Chinese market, whether these exhibitions represent for fashion a remedy or a last-ditch attempt at recovery.