Dior Lights Up Shanghai With Christmas Pop-up at Zhangyuan
SHANGHAI — For the holiday season, Dior has transformed a courtyard garden in Shanghai’s newly opened retail shopping mall Zhangyuan into a delightful dreamlike garden.
A giant illuminated compass rose sculpture, inspired by the Rêve d’Infini motif created by artist Pietro Ruffo for the Dior cruise 2023 collection, lights up the courtyard garden.
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Eight Chinese celebrities, including Dior China ambassadors Chen Feiyu and Victor Ma; Dior Prestige ambassador Likun Wang; “friend of the brand” Yihan Sun, and film stars Huang Xiaoming, Chun Wu and Maggie Jiang attended the pop-up opening last Friday.
The three-story pop-up store echoes Dior’s Harrods holiday takeover in London, a joyous gingerbread fantasy world infused with caramel, cinnamon and powdered sugar white hues. The shop features the French luxury maison’s 2023 cruise and men’s spring 2023 collections.
A Dior Café, outfitted with delicate purple furniture and floor tiles in Ruffo’s compass motifs, is a second for the brand in the China market.
A display of the brand’s Miss Dior Chair reimagined by Philippe Starck, which was first unveiled at the Salone del Mobile in Milan last June, is presented in its entirety at the Zhangyuan pop-up for the first time in China.
The pop-up store will open its doors to the public from Thursday for a month. According to the brand, the expansive courtyard shop will continue to operate as a pop-up store with evolving themes.
The Dior pop-up store is a part of the western section of Zhangyuan, a newly launched retail complex in downtown Shanghai.
After four years of construction and weathering delays due to the Shanghai lockdown, Zhangyuan’s western section will be soft-launched on Thursday.
Brands such as Louis Vuitton, Dior, Gucci, Moët et Chandon, Vacheron Constantin, Bulgari, By Far and Blue Bottle Coffee have signed up for the project, each taking up one of the 16 stand-alone historical buildings in the western section of the Covent Garden-like retail complex.
As a part of Shanghai’s West Nanjing Road commercial district, Zhangyuan is Shanghai’s first “protective urban regeneration project.” It is a joint venture between Shanghai Jing’an Real Estate Group and Hong Kong real estate company Swire Properties.
Formerly an entertainment venue and public garden in the late 1800s, Zhang Yuan later became a residential area until the government took over in 2018. The 645,800-square-foot Zhang Yuan is Shanghai’s largest Shikumen compound, with around 170 historic buildings in the Shanghainese and western architectural styles.
Zhangyuan’s east section, which is still under construction and preservation, plans to be launched by the end of 2026.
A Zhangyuan Museum designed by renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will be a part of this section of Zhangyuan.
