RelayColumn: Trust Around Haute Couture & Art (Kayin Chen)

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PROFILE

Kayin Chen

Kayin Chen graduated from the master's program of the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the University of Tokyo. She is a research associate at the Graduate School of Human and Social Sciences at Saitama University. Her areas of expertise are cultural sociology and sociology of art. She conducts fieldwork in art districts and art markets in Beijing and Shanghai, China. Her papers include "Institutionalization of the Contemporary Chinese Art Market and the Value Practices of 'Intermediaries'" published in the Winter 2020 issue of "Waseda Bungaku."

1. Chinese Fashion Influencers & Haute Couture

Since around 2019, I often watch YouTube channels of Chinese fashion influencers. For example, a YouTube channel run by a male and female duo called AHA LOLO (1) delivers commentary on the latest collections each season of Paris Fashion Week, job situations in the fashion industry, and evaluations of celebrities' outfits on the red carpet. AHA is a graduate of a prestigious Chinese university who studied fashion design at Central Saint Martins in the UK, then later became a jewelry designer.

The first video I watched on the AHA LOLO channel was a commentary video on the "VALENTINO Haute Couture 2020 Spring Summer." For ordinary people like me, haute couture (2) clothes are things that we can neither own nor even touch in our lifetime. Watching a video that clearly explains the innovations of a haute couture show, which has even more artistic value than ready-to-wear, I felt that even a layman like me could get a slight understanding of the aesthetic sensibilities of world-class top designers.

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