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China’s Qixi Festival is a traditional romantic celebration that has been going on for over 2,000 years, creating lucrative business opportunities for both local and global brands as couples search for the perfect gifts to mark the occasion.
Dior was one of the first luxury brands to seize the opportunity, creating a limited-edition capsule of Lady Dior bags for the event in 2016. The launch caused a huge stir on Chinese social media, with locals flocking to purchase the products.
Eight years on, the luxury brand’s strategy remains the same: It launches limited-edition capsules with romantic themes three times a year: on Valentine’s Day, 520 Day (also known as I Love You Day) and Tanabata.
But consumers are showing signs of fatigue.
Domestic and Asian beauty brands are bridging the gap with unique collaborations. Here, Jing Daily examines Qixi’s products with global and local beauty brands.
Florasis collaborated with Su embroidery master Lu Meihong to create the powder packaging. Image: Florasis
Inspired by the Tanabata myth, a bittersweet love story between a cowherd and a weaver girl, C-Beauty brands such as Florasis and Winona have created embroidered beauty gift boxes that evoke the story and incorporate elements of intangible cultural heritage to make gifts even more meaningful.
Brocade weaving (织锦) is a unique activity performed by women from ethnic minority groups in Yunnan. These women are skilled weavers who use vibrant silk threads to create colorful, abstract patterns. This Qixi Festival season, Winona collaborated with brocade weavers in Yunnan to create a beauty gift box containing a cream, lotion, serum to protect sensitive skin, and a brocade bag that celebrates the weaving, an intangible cultural heritage of Yunnan.
Meanwhile, Florasis has collaborated with Lu Meihong, a master of Su embroidery, to create the packaging for its powder. Su embroidery is one of the oldest silk embroidery crafts in the world and is known for its exquisite elegance. By using Nanolite embroidery thread imbued with the elegance of the Song Dynasty, Florasis aims to celebrate the craftsmanship and vividly recreate the vibrant beauty of Su embroidery. Netizens are stunned by the beauty of these makeup products, with many raving about them online.
Proya has partnered with up-and-coming local designer Susan Fang to create the Qixi gift box. Image: XIoahongshu
This year, skincare brand Proya partnered with up-and-coming local designer Susan Huang to create a Tanabata gift box called “Traces of Love”.
The geometric heart-shaped gift box, decorated with bows in various shades of pink and purple, contained a special gift – a mobile phone charm with pearl-like transparent beads – and quickly captured the hearts of consumers, with over 40,000 units sold on Tmall 20 days before Tanabata.
Known for her whimsical, romantic, and girly aesthetic, Fung has dethroned Angel Chen from the collaboration throne and become one of global brands’ most preferred partners: Victoria’s Secret collaborated with Fung on an intimate wear collection this year, And Other Stories partnered with the young Chinese designer on an exclusive capsule collection, and last year, UGG collaborated with Fung on a line of playful sandals.
With homegrown designers gaining greater recognition among local consumers, these independent creators represent a unique opportunity for brands to demonstrate their support for China’s young fashion designers.
SK-II has collaborated with international fashion illustrator Pencil Brian to launch the SK-II Qixi limited edition gift box. Image: Xiaohongshu
SK-II has collaborated with international fashion illustrator Pencil Brian to launch the limited edition SK-II Qixi gift box, which features five different scenes of couples expressing their love. The illustrations on the packaging can be customized, allowing consumers to draw their favorite scenes to create their own unique gift box.
Beauty brands have always placed a strong emphasis on packaging to grab consumer attention, as the items included in the gift box are often iconic products of the brand. However, SK-II’s concept is unique and in line with young consumers’ desire to express their individuality.
A Xiaohongshu user with the nickname Edison (@爱迪生不吃鱼) wrote: “My girlfriend always appreciates a thoughtful gift, and this SK-II Qixi limited edition gift box is perfect with its DIY design. The cover features five pairs representing different expressions of true love, and you can color them to make your gift unique. It’s exactly the gift I want to give.”
Maison Margiela replica fragrance for Tanabata. Image: Xiaohongshu
Many Western brands, including Givenchy, Gucci, Valentino and Yves Saint Laurent, have released heart-shaped Tanabata gift boxes paired with their signature lipsticks and perfumes this year. Brands that aren’t offering heart-shaped boxes, such as Byredo and Lancôme, are simply transforming their usual packaging into different shades of pink.
A bit of a standout is Prada’s triangular gift box, which opens like a fan and features an abstract scene of mint green flowers in the middle of two pink clouds. The Italian brand is just starting to branch out into the beauty sector, and is putting more effort into each celebration. Another standout is Maison Margiela’s replica fragrance, which comes with a luggage gift box, a small crossbody phone bag, a fragrance container bag, and a Starbucks-like reusable cup, all in white workwear style.
International beauty brands are now paying less attention to creating Tanabata gift sets, perhaps because the fierce competition and increased Valentine’s Day celebrations make it difficult to stand out on any occasion.
As a traditional Chinese festival, Tanabata usually attracts a lot of attention, but the lack of innovation by international brands creates an opportunity for Asian and Chinese brands to step in and solidify their image and market share in China.
