Chinese fashion KOL Natasha Lau and socialite Lisa Xia on sharing wardrobes, China’s rise, and the Dolce & Gabbana fiasco
- Front-row regulars at Dior shows and ever present at China’s big fashion events, mother and daughter talk about their love of high fashion
- Xia grew up in the frugal era before China’s opening up, whereas Lau was hooked on fashion young and splits her time between studying and her influencer career
“In Shanghai all those years ago, my father owned a clothing factory and workshop, which the government eventually took over,” says Lisa Xia. “When I was little, he would make me beautiful clothes all year around – these great coats in the winter and gorgeous silk long dresses and skirts for the summers.”
An avid buyer of European couture and ready-to-wear, the stylish Xia, a socialite once voted one of Asia’s best dressed women, is a regular in China’s society columns, decked out in the latest styles and gemstone jewellery. Her daughter, 21-year-old Parson’s New School of Design student Natasha Lau, who was born in Hong Kong, acquired her mother’s taste for fashion early. The pair often sit front row at Dior shows and flit around China’s most important fashion events.
Emblematic of China’s new social elite, the savvy mother-daughter pair are at home in the world of high fashion. They have favourite places to shop and dine in New York, Shanghai and Paris, and are coveted clients of luxury brands both foreign and Chinese. They share impressive designer wardrobes and even borrow each other’s clothes.
“My mother is so sweet. Whenever she buys new clothes she thinks about me. She’s smaller, but sometimes she’ll buy clothes a little bit looser just so I can wear them,” says Lau.
