Mapping China: Fashion - Development of Taste

Chinese people are more and more interested in fashion from foreign countries. If it is about style and experimenting, they catch up quickly with countries in the western world. A big and interesting change, thinks Elisabeth Koch from Elisabeth Koch Millinery.

Elisabeth Koch: ‘Nowadays Chinese dare a lot more’

She has Dutch parents, but was born in in America and also grew up there. It would be obvious that hat designer Elisabeth Koch would use the United States, the country where the fashion world is at its biggest, as her origin. "But I do not. I always call myself a Dutch designer.”

Because: Netherlands is still known as a creative country. ,,In the field of fashion", says the designer, ,,Netherlands is well known in the world as a real design-country. As an entrepreneur you can for sure take the benefits from that. "

Koch - since 2007 in China – is running a successful business. She is internationally praised for her unique creations. Several world stars wore her hats already: Kate Middleton (the wife of Britain's Prince William called now Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge), Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Lady Gaga and the famous Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi (known from the movie ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ').

Especially her ‘moment of fame’ with Máxima was special. When Willem-Alexander (then crown prince) got off the plane in Netherlands after visiting the Beijing Olympics in 2008, he carried a huge box with him, with the name of Elisabeth Koch on it. This giant box kept the hat that she had designed specifically for Máxima – and the queen liked it very much.

The Dutch hat designer is popular with leading fashion magazines as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue and Madame Figaro. Amazing, if you realize she had no detailed business plan at all when she started in China. ,,I am quite impulsive, have not done any market research beforehand. I just put all my stuff in a container ship, came to China and started to work. "

"I've always been creative", she continues. ,,Already from my childhood. This has never been different. I have done a course in millinery in England and then I became even more enthusiastic. I've been searching my own materials, and then just made what I could make from it."

Koch - who also lived in Berlin, Luxembourg, England, Amsterdam and Brussels – considers her 'pink label’ as her master piece. Exclusive designs which are being sold easily in China. Besides that, Chinese are also very interested in her needle and thread made special (for some people bizarre) creations. She also has a 'blue label' now, which will be on sale on the market and in stores in more quantities.

"I call it affordable luxury. Because in the Chinese fashion world it’s of course not only about the rich people who can afford an exclusive hat. The country is much bigger, the target groups are very diverse. The focus on fashion grows enormously here. Colors different than the usual ones are also becoming more popular here.”

Biggest difference from a few years ago, she notes, is that Chinese dare a lot more now than before. "You can see that with the elite (when a new shop of LV, Armani or Prada is opened, there are many women with hats), but if you look at the average Chinese, you can see it as well. If friends go together to a party and one of them is wearing a nice hat, the rest wants one too. "

Chinese also learn quickly, Koch noticed. , There were quite a lot of Chinese who do not know how to dress. They wore a nice suit for example, but had the ‘wrong’ shoes. This is one of the reasons why I also started my 'hat etiquette classes’. My Chinese clients really appreciate that. They are excited to see and hear, they want to learn a lot. I love it, because it makes my work very personal. "

Her success also has another side, she admits. "For a while I have worked with a company that had a factory in Shanghai. Business all seemed to go well, until I suddenly discovered a plastic bag with all little parts of my fabric in it, and name cards I had received and which were taken from somewhere. I was furious. Apparently they wanted to see if they could make money with my work, behind my back. I immediately terminated that cooperation. In China, you need to stay alert.”

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