How luxury can truly celebrate Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year is an increasingly key event in the luxury calendar. An immense opportunity to tap into a huge gifting occasion, it is also a chance for brands to reaffirm their commitment to and cultural cachet in this major luxury market, as well as throughout the Chinese diaspora.

These days, brands demonstrate a deeper understanding of what the festival means, combining Chinese symbolism with their own codes and heritage - gone are the days of the major missteps seen throughout the 2010s. Instead, safe communication norms have emerged for this time of year: the launch of a limited edition capsule; prominent use of the colour red; creative tie-ins with the zodiac animal of the year; homages to Chinese cultural tradition.

For CNY 2025, Gucci, Max Mara and Hennessy all launched red-led limited editions. We saw different ways to incorporate the snake, from Jil Sander’s snakeskin to Moncler’s curving, snaking quilting, and of course, Bvlgari’s launch of a new Serpenti collection, supported by an immersive art exhibition in Shanghai.

These examples represent the foundations of luxury comms, campaigns and collections for Chinese New Year. But as brands look ahead to the Year of the Horse in 2026, in the context of a luxury slowdown in China, the stakes to truly stand out are higher than ever. 

Here are some ideas we’ve cooked up at Al Dente, designed to do exactly that:

SPEAK TO THE WIDER MOOD OF THE SEASON

Of course, CNY is a time for celebration, the biggest festivity of the year when people migrate en masse across the country to reunite with family and friends. But its cultural significance goes beyond this too.

In a harsh working culture with little annual leave, CNY is one of the few times of year when urban workers can enjoy a long period of time away from their desks. As such, as well as celebration, the New Year break is also about downtime. It can be a time to reconnect with hobbies and interests, to reflect and set intentions for the coming year. For the young and affluent, breaking with tradition, time off may even present an opportunity to travel, whether for winter sports closer to home, or flying much further afield to discover somewhere new.

Bottega Veneta and Burberry have tapped into ideas of hope and new beginnings in past years. Singaporean womenswear label Love, Bonito has meanwhile taken a more fun and optimistic approach, with the offer of new beginnings through makeovers in collaboration with Dyson. And Lululemon, drawing on the cultural meaning of CNY as the beginning of spring and in turn, the association of spring with youth, led with the campaign ‘Return to spring’, showing people of all ages regaining a sense of youthfulness in the New Year.

THE TAKEAWAY: Brands looking for fresher inspiration for Year of the Horse can look beyond the core meaning of CNY as a time for family and celebration. Instead, there’s potential to tell stories around hope, optimism and renewal, to speak to the nationwide pause that happens this time of year – and for brands really looking to break new ground and connect with younger generations, to communicate around new adventures, winter sports and travel around the world.

SHOW UP IN THE LIVED RITUALS & TRADITIONS OF THE NEW YEAR

The CNY campaign film is by now a category convention in luxury. But CNY itself is a lived tradition: not just a single day of celebration, but an entire festive period alive with rituals, customs and practices. Alongside the campaign film, some brands are meeting people where they are, finding space within those lived rituals and traditions to play a truly active and interactive role in people’s celebrations.

For CNY this year, Louis Vuitton invited VIP customers into stores for papercutting, red packet and fei chun (decorations with auspicious calligraphy) workshops, making a space for the brand in the annual practices of giving lucky money to children and decorating the home to invite in good luck for the New Year.

Miu Miu too notably committed to showing up in New Year’s rituals, with takeovers of Guangzhou’s flower market and Beijing’s Shichahai ice rink. Popping up with coffee stores, record stores and fortune telling booklets, Miu Miu’s activation was designed to speak specifically to the interests and attitudes of China’s Gen Z. And importantly, the brand demonstrated their understanding of China’s rich regional subcultures too, with flower market strolls and the purchase of auspicious flowers being a uniquely Cantonese part of the lead up to CNY, while ice skating and Miu Miu’s tanghulu (candied hawthorn) carts in Beijing felt completely in step with Northern Chinese traditions. 

THE TAKEAWAY: Brands looking ahead to CNY 2026 might consider building on the usual campaigns with experiences and activations that earn them a place in the rituals of the New Year period. There is still wide space for luxury brands to explore customs around decorating the home, preparing the home for feng shui, reading and responding to zodiac readings for the coming year, and more.

Plus, opportunity to embed in diasporic CNY celebrations – from the practice of ‘open house’ in Malaysia, with people opening up their homes for family and friends, Chinese or not, to visit and enjoy New Year’s foods; to the grimy alley of Dansey Place in London’s Chinatown, home to Lo’s Noodle Factory and the place to buy nian gao in the lead up to CNY. By showing up in spaces and rituals like these, brands can embed deep within local, diasporic communities, while also speaking to the influence of Chinese culture around the world.

TAP INTO NOSTALGIA

As we’ve seen from Loewe, Burberry and Harrods, CNY has become a time for luxury brands to honour Chinese cultural tradition and craft. At a time of year when many Chinese people are themselves reconnecting with their own cultural traditions (including the country’s Gen Z, for whom CNY has become a particular occasion for hanfu, traditional Chinese clothing), this makes complete sense. But as more and more brands look to incorporate Chinese craft into New Year’s collections and campaigns, it will become harder to drive standout by doing so.

Instead, tap into nostalgia. This route takes us into a similar emotional territory, like craft and tradition, offering a grounding connection to the past and warmth, comfort and familiarity - but also more room for fun and playfulness. 

Self Portrait’s retro Hong Kong campaign from 2025 is one example of New Year’s nostalgia, featuring screen legends from the golden era of the 1980s and 1990s. Miu Miu’s campaign from last year, set in a neon-lit Cantonese tea house, also referenced this era. 

THE TAKEAWAY: Nostalgia may feel counterintuitive at a time when people are looking forwards to the coming year, but this period is also a time for looking back, as people in China return to their hometowns and reunite with childhood friends. By harking back to the TV dramas of 80s and 90s Hong Kong, these brands can also drive nostalgic resonance across South-East Asian markets like Singapore and Malaysia at the same time.

LOOKING AHEAD

Chinese New Year is not only the biggest moment in the luxury calendar: it’s also one of the few seasonal platforms with true regional and global resonance. From Beijing to Singapore, from Shanghai to the diaspora, what brands say at this moment reverberates far beyond Mainland China.

The challenge for 2026? To move past safe, expected capsules and campaigns. Imagine a CNY dining experience at the Park Hyatt in Niseko, Japan, offering affluent Chinese travellers a ‘home away from home’ during the New Year; or picture CNY activations in Paris, Singapore and Shanghai, showing up in deeply local ways, and connecting Chinese traditions across the world; or for Year of the Horse, a Pokémon collab featuring Ponyta to drive 90s nostalgia across Asia and beyond. Ultimately, for a CNY campaign that’s truly standout in 2026, it’s about multi-dimensional experiences that feel authentic, distinctive, and unforgettable.

At Al Dente, we help brands find these moments of cultural depth & distinctiveness. If you’re looking to reimagine your Chinese New Year storytelling, we’d love to talk contact@aldenteparis.com.

This Insight was cooked up by Al Dente contributor Zoe Liu.