In keeping with the lunar calendar, which states that 2022 is the year of the tiger, luxury fashion houses have begun to reveal their campaigns and collections to celebrate Chinese New Year. So far, we’ve seen Balenciaga, Prada and Gucci among the brands releasing Tiger-themed collections. We’re running through them and taking a look at their highlights

PRADA
Prada are putting their money where their mouth is, launching an initiative dubbed ‘Action in the Year of the Tiger’. This is set to include a series of activations to raise awareness for tigers, which are already on the brink of extinction.

Prada have tapped singer Li Yifeng and actor Chun Xia for the campaign, and pledges to work with schools in China on a project to harness students’ creative expression and public awareness. Whilst Prada isn’t releasing a collection, they have also promised to donate to organisations that work towards increasing biodiversity and tiger conservation through public awareness campaigns.

GUCCI
With a genuine fascination of nature in the creative director Alessandro Michele, Gucci is reviving and updating its tiger motif collection. The luxury house has gone all out, dropping an 80 piece ready-to-wear collection which includes both womenswear and menswear. Michele first incorporated the tiger motif into his designs at Gucci in 2015, but it has actually been around since the 1960s.

The collection heavily features all-over tiger and floral prints across both clothing and accessories. Standouts from the collection include a reversible bomber jacket, silk dress and embroidered trench coat. Elsewhere, watches and wallets have been swathed in the Gucci monogram alongside tiger motifs, applied by hand in artisanal technique.

BALENCIAGA
The first collection to drop was Balenciaga’s – a 57-piece collection celebrating the year of the tiger in full-bodied texture, prints and colours. At the forefront of the collection is a bright orange tiger-print fleece, featuring a central zip. In other areas, we see a matching tiger print dress and shirt, alongside a complimentary pair of socks.

Perhaps the most popular, though, will be the vintage-inspired t-shirts featuring photo-realistic tiger imagery alongside Balenciaga font, a theme carried through on long sleeves, caps, hoodies and a handful of accessories. In Balenciaga’s first offering for 2022, Demna delivered something for everyone – from lanyards to fluffy sliders. It’s a great day to dress like Carole Baskin.

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