This director is vindictive.

Chapter 530 The Epic of Money-Scented Price Tags vs. the Scent of Ink
In fact, the first "Hanfu Millennium Show" had a far more dramatic impact on the fashion world than anyone imagined.

After all, the reason why fashion shows and the fashion industry set so many rules is simply to raise the bar and create a premium.

But in essence, it's still about profit, sales volume, and revenue.

Don't be fooled by the wide variety of limited edition items; the real money-makers are never those so-called limited editions.

Instead, they are the ordinary goods displayed on the shelves.

The products each quarter, those that can be mass-produced.

However, "Hanfu Millennium Show" completely subverted this model.

Instead of using obscure and confusing tactics to project an image of aloofness, they directly engage with the public.

The key question is, does it lower the level of sophistication?
the answer is negative!

As netizens put it: "What's so high-class about Paris Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week? Is it that ordinary people can't understand them at all? They just think they're weird? Is that what high-class means?"

"The Millennium Fashion Show" is completely different; wearing the clothing of past emperors, generals, and famous officials—that's what real class is!"

"Absolutely right! This 'Hanfu Millennium Show' truly embodies the saying, 'The swallows that once graced the halls of the wealthy and powerful now fly into the homes of ordinary people!' This is true class! Beauty that is accessible to the masses and recognized by the public is the only truly top-tier beauty!"

It's not surprising that people react this way.

To put it bluntly, those so-called international fashion weeks and high-end fashion shows are completely incomprehensible to ordinary people—and even to many wealthy people and celebrities—as to what artistic concepts the designers are trying to express. Most people attend simply to show off, ride the wave of popularity, and appear to have "good taste."

They are more interested in pretentious affectation than genuine appreciation of culture.

But for ordinary people, these things are too far out of reach! Why would anyone be willing to spend a lot of money to buy luxury goods? To put it bluntly, it's all about showing off—when you wear it, others can immediately tell "this thing is expensive." The pretentious effect brought by the brand premium is the core reason.

But now, the products of "Hanfu Millennium Show" also have this function.

Its products can also satisfy the need to show off, but they are more high-end than luxury goods!

Wearing luxury goods, people might at most exclaim, "Wow, how much did that dress cost?"—they're all about money, obsessed with nothing but money, and their main trait is materialism!
However, when you wear the products from "Hanfu Millennium Show," you can fully understand the design concept of the outfit and the cultural elements it embodies.

You see, when chatting, you don't need to talk about money at all, but the flavor is still there, and you can still talk about "culture" and "history"!
Wearing the "Hanfu Millennium Show" allows others to discuss: "Is this pattern from the Tang Dynasty? Is this cut from the Han Dynasty?"—the conversation is about culture and history, instantly elevating one's sophistication!

This kind of empowerment is something that luxury brand clothing simply cannot match.

What's even more impressive is the comparison of brand heritage. Luxury brands have at most a hundred years of history, but the clothing in "A Thousand Years of Chinese Costume" is backed by thousands of years of cultural accumulation from the Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties! LV, Gucci, and Chanel are all junior compared to the true five thousand years of Chinese civilization!

Luxury goods sell logos, while "A Thousand Years of Chinese Costumes" sells cultural symbols!

Luxury goods inspire envy and wealth, while the "Hanfu Millennium Show" inspires admiration and cultural refinement!

Therefore, wearing luxury goods can only prove "I am very rich", but wearing the "Hanfu Millennium Show" can prove that "I not only have money, but I also have cultural depth!"

This is the real dimensionality reduction attack!

Of course, these are not the main issues affecting the industry.

The key is still sales volume and profit!
In the past, foreign luxury brands might not have paid much attention to this, since the Chinese market was not their core market in the early years.

However, with the rise of China and the increasing number of wealthy people, the Chinese market has become their core target market.

Regardless of influence, all we need to say is that during this benefits week, no matter what luxury brand clothing you wear, it's not as classy as wearing the "Hanfu Millennium Show" collaboration.

Don't underestimate this gap; in fact, it can be fatal for luxury brands.

However, before they could take any action...

They discovered that even their base camp had been captured.

As is well known, in the apparel industry, it has always been mostly overseas brands that have entered the domestic market, and very few domestic brands have been able to break through international borders and conquer overseas markets.

After all, they've always held the power in the fashion world.

But this time, "Hanfu Millennium Show" succeeded.

This show was watched live not only by domestic audiences, but also by a large number of overseas viewers.

This is partly due to Chen Mo's international reputation, although few of his films have actually been released overseas and achieved particularly good results.

However, the "814 Welfare Festival" made Chen Mo a legendary figure among many overseas netizens. Therefore, his "Hanfu Millennium Show" also gained considerable popularity abroad.

At the same time, the treasures passed down from China's thousands of years of history are what we call national treasures, and what is national is also international.

Some aesthetic preferences may differ due to cultural barriers, but in today's world of greater harmony...

"Open your eyes to the world" is not just a term used by Chinese people back then, but also by netizens overseas.

The internet made them realize that China was not as their media had portrayed it in the past, and the traditional Chinese clothing, with its unique beauty and profound historical significance, was a huge shock to them.

Overseas social media platforms went completely wild after the live stream ended, with the hashtag #HuafuMillenniumShow sweeping global trending topics at an astonishing speed.

The comment section of the YouTube live stream replay was flooded with comments in more than 30 languages.

"Oh my god! This is the most amazing show I've ever seen. I even asked my Chinese-American friend about the relevant Chinese history, and it was absolutely breathtaking! China is awesome! (voice cracks!)"

"Holy moly! The design of those Qin crossbow cufflinks is absolutely stunning! They're a million times cooler than our mechanical watch straps! Where can I buy the same ones? (rubbing hands frantically.jpg)"

"I heard that Chinese netizens can directly buy the same clothes, so why don't overseas netizens have any way to purchase them? We strongly demand that overseas purchasing channels be opened!"

"As a fashion design student, I watched the entire performance on my knees. My professor just emailed us asking us to submit a 5000-word reflection next week (but that's nowhere near enough to express how shocked I was!)"

"Can anyone tell me how they made the sound of the armor plates when the model turned around?! I got goosebumps even with noise-canceling headphones on! This sound effects team must have stolen the soul artifacts from the Terracotta Army! (shaking pointing.jpg)"

"I'm in Milan, and I just saw the editor-in-chief of VOGUE post on Instagram saying 'This show has redefined Eastern aesthetics.' Hilarious! Last year they were calling Chinese style 'outdated collage art' (eating melon emoji)."

"Help! That last magnetic powder lettering technology is amazing! We can't even achieve that level of precision with laser projection in our lab. Have the Chinese secretly developed some kind of magic?? (kneeling in admiration.gif)"

"Please, brand, enable international shipping! I'm willing to pay triple the shipping cost for that color-changing pencil skirt! (Attached: I'll cover the customs duties!)"

"I just sent the live stream link to GUCCI's design director, and he replied with 12 exclamation marks and 'WHERE IS THE APPLICATION FORM' (doge emoji)."

"As a history buff, I burst into tears the moment I saw the characters from the Six Kingdoms period transformed into Small Seal script. This isn't a fashion show; it's a walking epic! (3 five-star red flag emojis)"

With the holding of the second and third "Hanfu Millennium Show".

This wave of "traditional Chinese clothing" has completely swept the globe.

In reality.

In a high-end coffee shop, a meeting between two women unexpectedly turned into a large-scale "cultural crushing" scene.

A woman carrying a brand's latest crocodile leather bag walked in, the clinking of the chain drawing attention from those around her. She deliberately placed the bag on the edge of the table, the logo facing the camera: "I waited three weeks for this bag to arrive after I had to purchase other items."

Before the words were even finished, a netizen wearing a Tang Dynasty-style Dunhuang flying apsara co-branded ruqun (hereinafter referred to as "Flying Apsara Girl") gracefully arrived. A gradient-colored shawl swept across her crocodile-skin bag, and the gold-embroidered pipa pattern on the cuffs shimmered in the sunlight, instantly drawing everyone's attention. A waiter blurted out, "Isn't this a limited edition from the 'Millennium Chinese Costume Show'? I saw it on the live stream!"

She forced a smile and opened Xiaohongshu: "Today's outfit keyword is 'old money style'."

The comments section, however, was full of questions about the flying apsara's dress: "Sisters, please share the link to the ruqun!" "Was the twining floral pattern on the shawl 3D printed?"

What's even more amazing is that when the flying apsara turns around, the magnetic pleats hidden in the skirt unfold layer by layer like the ribbons of flying apsaras in the Dunhuang murals, revealing the digital print of "Mount Wutai" on the inner lining.

The international student at the next table came over and bowed: "May I take a photo with you? My graduation thesis is about the cultural exchange of clothing during the Tang Dynasty!"

The woman tried to salvage the situation: "Actually, luxury goods also have cultural connotations."

But then the flying girl pulled out a "Tang-style scroll" from her pouch-shaped phone bag: "Want to see the AR Easter egg in this ruqun?"—With a flick of her finger across the scroll, a comparison animation of the ruqun pattern and the original murals of Mogao Grottoes was immediately projected in the air, with even the narration being a dubbed version of "National Treasure".

The coffee shop owner immediately offered to waive the bill: "Could we hang a photo of you in this outfit on our wall? Consider it an art display!"

After the party, Shejie quietly changed her Xiaohongshu tag to #TodayIWasAttackedByChineseAesthetics#, while Feitianmei's nine-grid photos went viral on the local hot search, with the caption: "Wearing luxury goods is to let others know you are expensive, wearing 'Dunhuang Flying Apsaras' is to let others know you are incredibly expensive (doge)."

One netizen commented: "Hilarious! Luxury brands are like nouveau riche meeting true aristocrats in front of 'Hanfu Millennium Show'!"

"I suggest that all major brands immediately launch crash courses on 'How to embroider your logo to look like an antique'!"

"This is so true. We had a class reunion and something like this happened. Haha, in the past, people who wore expensive luxury goods were always the focus of attention, but now they've suddenly been outshone."

"I don't know how long this impact will last, but at least for now, simply wearing money on your body is hardly comparable to wearing 'culture' on your body!"

"It's too simple. In the past, these kinds of people became the center of attention not because they really liked clothes, but because they liked money. But now that there are other options, naturally, those who know, know!"

(End of this chapter)