Even as Covid-19 closed retailers and stopped people showing off their latest outfits in public, China’s fashion industry proved more than resilient during the pandemic, thanks in part to video-streaming platform Bilibili.
According to a report in March that Bilibili released alongside Alibaba’s Tmall and Alimama, interest in fashion content on the Chinese platform increased markedly in 2020 over 2019. Alibaba is the parent company of the South China Morning Post.
Views of fashion-related videos jumped by 130 per cent, while clips from fashion shows saw a viewership growth of 140 per cent.
Overall, the number of monthly users consuming fashion content nearly doubled, up 80 per cent over 2019.
Bilibili is often described as China’s answer to YouTube. It also has a “bullet curtain” feature, where text commentary from viewers scrolls across the screen. If there are lots of comments, it can engulf the video entirely, like a curtain of bullets.
Bilibili is home to the same type of quirky, mindless content found on many social media platforms: people playing video games, singing or eating. Now it has also become a place for people to set the latest fashion trends.
Louis Vuitton and Gucci are among the big names that have collaborated with or advertised on Bilibili, and Dior became the first luxury brand to open an account on the platform last year. Dior also produced a short film featuring Bilibili star and virtual influencer Xuefei Nova modelling in Paris and Shanghai.
The platform is riding a wave of increased spending among China’s Gen Z, which the report defines as those born between 1990 and 2009.
Overall, fashion spending has gone up by 91 per cent during the pandemic. Spending among Gen Z has grown even more, by 106 per cent. This helped push the amount spent on fashion products by the average young Chinese person to 51,260 yuan (US$7,900), which represents 30 per cent of all spending in the Chinese market.
Finding ways to cultivate and appeal to this younger cohort of big spenders after the pandemic ends will be increasingly important for major brands.
China is on track to become the dominant player in global fashion – with its fashion industry poised to grow by 20 per cent annually, it is set to be the world’s largest luxury goods market by 2025, according to consultants Bain & Company – and young people will be leading the way. By 2025, 55 per cent of all luxury spending is expected to come from young people, according to data analytics company QuestMobile.
Major luxury brands find appeal among this segment. Roughly 10 per cent of Chinese Gen Zers said they had bought at least one product from brands Dior, Armani, Chanel, or Hong Kong-based jewellery company Chow Tai Fook last year, according to a March Vogue Business report.
Still, this group has its own tastes and preferences that are different from those of older generations, and Bilibili is a way to keep up with current Gen Z trends – last year, one in every two young people in China was a monthly active user on the platform.
One current trend blends contemporary fashion with futuristic cyberpunk. Make-up that turns its wearer into a robotic android is now as popular as circle lenses and hair dye as fashion looks among the youth.
Views of cyberpunk-related fashion content more than doubled in 2020 over 2019, according to the Bilibili report. The aesthetic was also used as the theme of the short film Dior released last May on the platform.
Another even hotter trend on Bilibili is for minimalist style that emphasises durability – a move away from the flamboyant luxury brands typically associated with China’s fashion scene. Views for videos showcasing this “new classy look” increased by 240 per cent in 2020.
Other trends are a bit more tacky, and seem perfectly tailored for the Covid-19 pandemic. Views of “glamping” videos – a portmanteau word that combines camping and glamour, where people enjoy nature while showing off their outfits in specially designed outdoor environments – also surged last year.