China’s Lunar New Year gala has become an unlikely event to turn attention to fashion and beauty trends.
The outfits worn by celebrities at Saturday night’s gala have become a trending topic online, with thousands rushing to e-commerce platform Taobao to update their wardrobes. The pink V-neck sweater with a ribbon she wore became an instant hit when “Jing Jin’s sweater” trended on the microblogging platform Weibo.
First televised in 1983, the Spring Festival Gala is held annually on China Central Television, the state broadcaster, to mark the Chinese New Year. The gala’s massive viewership — about 655 million users who watched the live show this year — has turned into a platform for brand sponsorships as companies look to profit from the event. .
As soon as Jin’s sweaters trended on social media, Taobao vendors quickly offered similar clothes in their stores. There were some newly added costumes labeled as “.
On lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu, many users said they carefully analyzed Gala’s hair and makeup to predict the next beauty trend. One of our hosts even posted a DIY tutorial for the “bunny eye” makeup she found, saying it will be popular in the Year of the Rabbit.
In recent years, e-commerce sites have been flooded with post-show gala-related items, from clothing to face masks. In 2019, a shade of lipstick worn by one of the organizers went viral, with one online retailer saying demand for lipstick in similar shades surged exponentially after the gala.
Given the potential business prospects from the Lunar New Year Gala, many suggest online could be the ‘best live streaming’ opportunity for sellers to reach millions of consumers. Earlier this year, one livestreaming company said it tried to work with CCTV for virtual sales at the celebration, but the state broadcaster rejected the offer.
Editor: Vivek Bhandari.
(Header image from Weibo @ChunXiao)
