In June, 2002, over 130,000 Chinese culture lovers embraced an exhibition of photographs of Alberto Giacometti and his stick-like sculptures, shown in a museum next to Tiananmen Square. The camera lens belonged to the artist’s great friend Ernst Scheidegger.

“These photographs tell nothing but the truth,” said the exhibition’s curator, Huang Qi. “That is why they appeal to the Chinese – nothing didactic, nothing artificial.”

The artistry of Alberto Giacometti has returned to China, celebrated in a special supplement of Harpers Bazaar China’s [IG] September 2026 issue, marking the 60th anniversary of the artist’s passing.

The issue is a collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti, creating dialogue with China’s culture lovers as a massive retrospective dedicated to Giacometti, which opened at the Shanghai Minsheng Art Museum on July 17th and runs until December 6th, 2026.

"Alberto Giacometti: A Life of Creation" challenges the common perception of Giacometti, a person often seen as "isolated and dedicated solely to his art." Instead, it aims to reveal the side of his artistic career that is infused with warmth and emotional textures by presenting a more intimate narrative.

AOC is pleased to say that Fendi is the lead sponsor of the Giacometti exhibition in Shanghai and this special supplement of Harper’s Bazaar China’s September 2026 fall fashion issue. In this fashion story ‘Echo of Beauty’ styled by Jihan Diao, models Sara Caballero and Rosalieke Fuchs are lensed by Ziqian Wang [IG].

Creative direction is provided by Dou Qianlin Latrubesse./ Hair by Quentin Lafforgue; makeup by Marie Dufresne

Sara Caballero and Rosalieke Fuchs are photographed at the Fondation Giacometti [IG] in Paris. A main focus of the fashion story — and very much a focus of Maria Grazia’s debut collection for Fendi [featured here] — is the concept that every fold and silhouette becomes a measure of the space we inhabit, and of the body within it.

Art meets fashion not simply to be seen, but to be felt — leaving beauty to reverberate across time. These themes were also central to Chiuri’s July couture debut for Fendi.

The Re-Emergence of Maria Grazia Chiuri, Italian Style

We find it interesting that in huge contrast to the nonstop, near daily PR assault around Jonathan Anderson’s arrival at Dior, Chiuri has quietly emerged from the shadows at Fendi, into a level of respect and influence afforded the designer that Dior denied her.

In early August, this intellectual ‘take’ on Chiuri was being picked up in Italy, with suggestions that she was already rivaling Demna and Alessandro Michele in the intellectual space, in terms of quiet but very significant influence and a voice critical of Italy’s lack of sufficient support of the world of fashion.

In China the story has been somewhat different, except for a couple ‘oops’ in the cultural appropriation space [which AOC finds to be absurd in one big case, in particular]. Chiuri’s reputation remained very solid, even during her hiatus between leaving Dior and her Fendi debut.

Chiuri has gained nothing but respect in China, as women VICs evaluated her clothes, in contrast to Anderson’s nubile creations. Obviously, Chanel has hit Dior hard in China — like everywhere else — but AOC has been getting very solid reports on Fendi in China since last October.

We have no idea if Fendi was always the LVMH sponsor of this Giacometti show in Shanghai. These events are booked years in advance. Or LVMH signed the original contract without knowing which maison would have the actual honor in 2026. The latter seems more likely.

In my China call this weekend, the possibility was seriously raised that in the deck of cards I continually refer to as Pietro Beccari shuffling money and marketing around among his brands — including going to Delphine when he must — based on who is hot and who is struggling, Fendi emerged as the must-lead brand in China, for such a prestigious exhibition.

LVMH cannot dodge the Chanel bullet train coming straight at Dior, with much more modest impact on other brands. But just as Beccari expanded [but could not meet] Louis Vuitton’s support for women and girls, with the news that Leena Nair had upped Chanel’s financial support to $125 million, the argument that Chiuri at Fendi is a much better ‘face’ in China than Anderson at Dior is very believable to AOC.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all, but AOC can’t prove the dynamics in play here. I have observed this weekend dramatically that — with no leaning-in from me — colleagues in China were eager to stress how positive the sentiments are for Maria Grazia Chiuri and Fendi among China’s VICs.

Not rivaling Chanel in China, based on just how brilliant Leena Nair’s strategy is developing in China. But can Fendi do better in China than Dior? Anne says ‘yes’.

The Chanel CEO is incredible. Dior is building museum-grade shopping fortresses and Nair’s out renting lovely apartments for her neighborhood associations of Chanel VICs to meet and plan strategy.

While Delphine’s Sun King Jonathan Anderson drowns in the reflection of his own self in deep water, Leena Nair is making her global VICs into co-creators. I called them her ‘Queen bees’ and my China squad said “Yes, Anne. Exactly!”

Then I said, “But there’s only one Queen bee in the hive, right?” Heads nodded. Knowing I’m right, I then said “ . . . but when you’re leasing [or buying] residences in the VIC neighborhoods, you can probably spread your most competitive Queen bees around, correct?” They were all smiles “Oh, Anne, we love how your mind works.”

I responded: “That’s because I’ve negotiated with some of China’s premier and formidable businesswomen. They’re Queen bees for certain, but with me, only nice Queens. Very smart and strategic, deep-thinking women — the ones I just love to work with.”

Then, back to bees, I said: “Now we have one small problem. When two queen bees are in the same hive, they usually fight to the death until only one survives . . . though they occasionally coexist temporarily during a transition.”

In Praise of Peace Treaties

None of us wanted to rewrite the laws of nature when it comes to Queen bees, as most often it’s a cage match to the death of one Queen bee. Still, I forged ahead. “But if they want to teach a lesson to Dior about removing their beloved personalization on the book totes, to make room for Anderson’s decadent, in-the-gutter, Eurocentric book titles that have nothing at all to do with Chinese culture — except to degrade it with their authors’ fears of immigrants and people of color and women with rights — maybe Chanel’s Queen bees could come together in the name of honor for the nation and work together . . . until Nair can reassign one of the Chanel Queen bees to a new district, created in her honor.”

We’ll leave this challenge to percolate in our fine minds. And without us, Leena Nair will come up with an equally effective “Less I/More Us” Maria-Grazia-Chiuri-grade solution to the challenge of competing VICs.

Back to Fendi, the Giacometti artistic convo will continue in a separate article. ~ Anne

Related: Fendi’s sister brand Louis Vuitton features actor and singer Liu Yifel, LV global house ambassador since January 2021 on the primary cover of Harper’s Bazaar China, with the fashion story