David Beckham appeared in an outlet of the fashion brand H&M promoting one of his collections in Beijing on June 25. Provided to China Daily

Famous pair do a formidable double act in China selling their fashion wear

The celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham have been in China cashing in on the country's fashion industry. David Beckham, who became Chinese soccer's global ambassador in March, was in Beijing on June 24 to donate several items to the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation for a charity auction raising money to promote young football players.

When David Beckham visited Tongji University in Shanghai on June 22 there was a stampede that left at least seven people injured.

On Tuesday he appeared in a shop of the fashion brand H&M promoting one of his collections. In deference to the Chinese predilection for red, the underwear in his upcoming David Beckham Bodywear autumn/winter collection will include that color, he says.

TV advertisements for the Beckham-H&M line show the athletic, semi-naked body of the former England captain and gained more than 100,000 hits soon after it was uploaded to China's video website Youku.com.

A fashionable series of long johns designed for Chinese people is also planned, Beckham says.

On June 24 Victoria Beckham was at the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology speaking with Vogue China's editorial director Angelica Cheung about her designs and her career as a fashion designer. She also visited Lane Crawford, which distributes clothes carrying the Victoria Beckham label, and met customers and dignitaries. The former Spice Girls singer says she will open a boutique in Beijing.

"Reaching my Chinese customers is incredible. I am currently working on e-commerce, which means you can buy clothes online from China. This market is very important because women here understand what I do as a designer."

Shi Zhiqiang, fashion director with Time Out Beijing, says: "The Beckhams know how to use their star power to get attention from the fashion industry. Chinese consumers, most of whom are fans of the two, will spend money on their products, and become hardcore fans of their brands."

H&M China says most buyers of David Beckham's Bodywear products are women who purchase them for their boyfriends or husbands.

The last time Beckham was in China he caused a minor stir at Peking University when he took off his shirt and showed his tattoos during a talk. This time around, a reporter asked him on June 25 to let Chinese fans get a peak at the underwear he had designed, a request the footballer demurely declined.

Victoria Beckham has a huge fan base in China, many of whom grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, when English pop music first came to China and many of them became fans of pop bands like the Spice Girls.

Most of her designs cater to slim lines. There are razor-sharp dresses and corsets, jackets with functional pockets and short, sporty skirts. "Strong, independent women will love her designs, because her creations can empower women," Cheung says. "Her garments help them to become much more confident, elegant, and stylish."

Spice Girls' fans, most of them now in their late 20s or 30s, have become Victoria Beckham's potential consumers, especially white-collared female office workers.

The couple are not shy when it comes to cross-promotion, she saying on June 24 that he supported her in working as a designer, and he saying at the H&M event the next day that she is a very talented fashion designer, worthy of Chinese fashionistas' attention.

But not everyone was eating from the Beckham's hands when they were in China. Yang Qin, a showbusiness observer, says they were another case of outdated celebrities visiting China with little more to do than cash in on their fame.

"The Beckhams are not the only ones. Outdated Japanese and South Korean celebrities come to China looking for opportunities, too. Chinese people buy it, believing in international star power, which is exactly why these people can make money here."

gantian@chinadaily.com.cn

Victoria Beckham says the Chinese market is important because women there understand what she does as a designer. Provided to for China Daily

( China Daily European Weekly 06/28/2013 page28)