PHOENIX RISING

The return of Shanghai Tang menswear

- JONATHAN HO

FOUNDED IN 1994, Shanghai Tang was a brainchild of anglophile Sir David Tang, an entrepreneur-socialite who envisioned a revival of traditional Chinese fashion and by making it relevant to a modern audience. Tang’s own flamboyance was interpreted with the brand’s bold use of colours and prints ‒ most iconically, the upturned sleeve cuffs of the velvet Tang jackets (唐装) with silk embroidered motifs. On 14 January, accompanied by the stirring soundtrack from renowned Shanghai-based violinist Mengla Huang, the brand celebrated Milan Fashion Week coinciding with Chinese New Year with a long-awaited debut at the 2023 Fall/Winter Milan Fashion Week. 

A vanguard in promoting Chinese contemporary artists on the global stage, Shanghai Tang’s aptly “Reunion” show at Milan Fashion Week pays homage to the occasion of Italy and China re-embracing. Since the 46th Venice Biennale in 1995, the brand has long been a pioneer in adopting the heritage and history of the Italian art scene through Chinese cultural lenses, marrying traditional Chinese elegance and oriental allure with contrasting bold western influences.