On the occasion of the 65th Anniversary of bilateral relations between Switzerland and the People's Republic of China, the Ambassador of Switzerland to China, Mr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel, invited us on September 14 to an exclusive fashion happening and cocktail reception at the embassy in Beijing to celebrate it.
In his speech, he membered us that Switzerland established diplomatic relations with China 65 years ago, on September 14, 1950 and that since then, the bilateral relations have been developing in diverse sectors as in the energy, the culture or the tourism. However, the fashion was the center of interest of the official celebration.
People might not necessarily associate fashion and design happening with a diplomatic occasion. However, the organization of such an event requires a closed Sino-Swiss collaboration, dynamism, modernity and innovation. These were used to bring to everyone’s attention in a domain where both countries might not be internationally well known but have a lot to say.
Chinese and Swiss designers presented their collection to 1000 inspired guests. The ambassador de Dardel explained that “Switzerland has been enjoying an exclusive reputation in the fashion and design field thanks to its unique and high quality Swiss textiles as well as a number of emerging designers. Meanwhile in China, a group of talented Chinese fashion designers also consistently refresh the international stage with creative ideas”. A fashion show made then sense and we enjoyed artists’ creativity and talent.
Besides the runway show, an exhibition presenting Switzerland’s know-how in technical textiles demonstrates the country’s revolutionary involvement in the textile industry. We met there again Hans Martin Galliker, a successful young Swiss entrepreneur who lives in China and run his startup NEEMIC, a Swiss fashion & sustainable brand. He is for sure one of the new blood of Swiss entrepreneurs who will make possible to be successful on the Chinese market with ecological arguments in fashion.
In that evening, we got the impression that Hans and the designers symbolized the strong Sino-Swiss relationship based on the past and running together to the future.
Contributed by Laurence Niquille, Junior Project Leader in cooperation with HEG Fribourg.