The Autumn/Winter 2025 season of Shanghai Fashion Week (SHFW) arrives against a volatile economic backdrop in China, as consumer spending has hit historic lows in recent months. And yet shows must go on: the event will kick off on 26 March and continue through 31 March, following the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, which took place on Sunday.
SHFW has become a key fashion event to watch among the non-big four cities, right alongside Copenhagen, Seoul and Tokyo. Not only is China’s consumer economy one of the largest in the world, slowdown aside, but its budding fashion scene has been making a splash in the Western pocket of the industry.
Unlike most other fashion capitals, the majority of the labels on the SHFW schedule are independent businesses, and many have millennial and Gen Z designers at the helm. The calendar is split in two. It includes the larger scale establishment shows that are hosted by SHFW in two main spaces in Xintiandi, the affluent shopping and entertainment district, and the Labelhood line-up named after the retailer-cum-fashion incubator helmed by Tasha Liu, which has The Bund, the city’s famous waterfront area and historic district, as its home base.
The former is headlined by names like Comme Moi, which celebrated a decade in business in 2023 and was founded by model Lü Yan, one of the first globally recognised Chinese models. The latter specialises in smaller, younger businesses that have penetrated the global industry more nimbly, like Mark Gong and Shushu/Tong. The shows are hosted at the same locations for the ease of both designers and attendees, though in some instances designers will host off-calendar shows at locations of their choosing. This season’s rebels include Jacques Wei and Samuel Guì Yang, two of the week’s habitual standouts.
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