“Su Mingyu Effect”: Why is the female suit the next fashion opportunity?

In the West, women's suits played an important role in the feminist movement of the 1970s. Photographer Helmut Newton presented a controversial feminine charm on Vogue in France in 1975 – the woman in a tuxedo made Yves Saint Laurent's Le Smoking a cultural manifesto. And in the 2019 TV series "It's quite good," Yao Chen's suit and attire can be regarded as the beginning of the Chinese version of Le Smoking.

For the 20th consecutive year, Weibo ranked top 10 in Weibo search volume, and more than 390 million online traffic, "Everything is good" has caused a national sensation in the past two months. The TV series depicts the life of a typical Chinese middle-class family. The family in the story follows the traditional values ​​of patriarchal women, who are considered second-class citizens. The protagonist Su Mingyu (played by Yao Chen), while facing the gender bias in his family, publicized his spirit of independence and especially evoked the resonance of Chinese women. Su Mingyu dominated the social media topic with his handsome suit style and led the trend of women's suits across the country.

On the lifestyle sharing platform Xiaohongshu, there are now more than 4,600 posts on “Su Mingyu Matching”, which analyzes the character's fashion choices from head to toe: Burberry suit, Max Mara jacket, Erdos cashmere sweater, Valextra bag, Stuart Weitman Boots and so on. Most of her dresses are modern and office luxury brands, creating the image of successful women in China. Su Mingyu represents the ideal personality that most Chinese women are eager to possess but some distant: even if they face gender discrimination in their lifetime, they can be economically independent, wear luxury goods, and remain mentally strong.

But the fire of Su Mingyu is by no means accidental. For more than a year, many Chinese women have been chasing a strong and tough image. According to the "2019 China Fashion Trend Report" released by Alibaba, "suit" is the keyword with the highest search volume of female shoppers on Taobao. Last year, the sales of women's suits surpassed that of men for the first time on January 27, 2019 "big brother" The search volume of words increased by 317% year-on-year and sales increased by 39%. Although Alibaba's data shows that Chinese women are pursuing a more 'masculine' appearance, Chinese men are pursuing a more "feminine" style in the fashion world: search for keywords such as lace, transparency, and earrings is among the best. The report predicts that the number of Chinese women with suits will far exceed that of men within ten years.

Before the Su Mingyu suit Fan Ba ​​occupied the Internet, the shape of the star sports suit has begun to attract public attention. On February 27th, actress Tang Wei wore a beige oversized suit and a pair of street-style sneakers to the airport. #唐嫣西 assembling sneakers# climbed on Weibo. Recently, no girl star suits and matching posts have been circulated on the Internet.

The current demand for women's suits is not only a style trend, but also a deeper cultural connotation. After all, until recently, a strong female image was widely accepted by the Chinese public. In the past, the big screens tend to portray women as docile or grumpy characters, and have not yet created a confident and successful character like Su Mingyu. Despite the rapid modernization of the country, the values ​​of patriarchy are deeply rooted in the daily social structure.

Su Mingyu’s experience of gender issues, such as her willingness to prove her personal value through her professional performance is the same as that of her brothers. In this case, suits have become their armor, freeing them from the shackles of society.

In the West, suits are still a key tool for women to convey empowerment information. For example, in October 2018, Lady Gaga wore a Marc Jacobs suit to post resentful remarks. For the global #MeToo shipped sound. Although the #MeToo campaign is much smaller in China, the gender issues facing women are equally complex. The degree of self-confidence and freedom that Chinese women seek in clothing is often proportional to the level of unfairness in their daily lives. For any brand that wants to remain relevant in the Chinese economy, considering this social shift is critical to delivering a positive and powerful message.