Shanghai remains the primary hub for any major brand with serious ambitions in China’s vast market. The giant ship-shaped space unveiled by Louis Vuitton last year is just the latest example. While much of the attention this century has been on the ups and downs of European luxury, consumer trends in China’s commercial capital are fast-moving with increased competition from domestic brands.  
 
The best in class embrace a broader view of luxury and modern lifestyles to deliver international looks that reference Eastern traditions. They also invest more in their offline shop windows, notwithstanding the significance of Tmall, Xiaohongshu and other e-commerce channels.

Shanghai’s retail scene is sophisticated, full of confidence and less mall-centric than other Asian megacities. Heritage houses are being transformed into monobrand maisons, while art deco architecture by László Hudec and the like are being restored and put to use as shopping compounds and public spaces (Robert Ho Tung’s former residence at Shaanxi Road 457 has just opened to the public after nearly a century). Zhangyuan’s historic shikumen (traditional stone-gate houses) are opening in stages, a quarter of a century since the Xintiandi district was pedestrianised, setting the bar for developers to do better. 

So if you’re in town, touching down or planning a trip, here is a selection of 15 must-visit addresses across six districts that offer Shanghai’s singular take on fashion, design and the future of retail.

Icicle
Icicle has been at the forefront of Chinese sustainable fashion for almost three decades, using natural fabrics from ethical sources and incorporating eco-friendly pigments such as pomegranate peel and pu’er tea. Married owners Ye Shouzeng and Shawna Tao continue to run their understated brand, which now operates in two timezones. Global expansion started 13 years ago with a design studio in Paris and the label has since grown to include four shops in the French capital and ownership of couture label Carven. The first Garden Store concept debuted in Shanghai in 2024, combining the two brands with a restaurant and café in a restored 1920s villa.
icicle.com.cn

James Chambers is Monocle’s Asia editor. For more opinion, insight and analysis, subscribe to Monocle today.

Our first pop-up shop and café in Shanghai opened over the weekend at the Jing An Kerry Centre and tonight we’re having a party – no RSVP required. Come meet the Monocle editorial team and celebrate the launch from 18.00 to 20.00.

If you can’t make it tonight, be sure to swing by for a coffee and a bite to eat courtesy of The Monocle Café team tomorrow (open until 22.00). There’s a great selection of print products to enjoy in a space designed in partnership with Switzerland’s USM and Shanghai-based Stellar Works. See you there.

Independent, design-led hotels are booming in China thanks to strong demand for domestic travel and a growing number of visa-free international arrivals (writes Simone Chen). Many of these properties are next to postcard lakes and mountains but not all require boarding an internal flight or high-speed train.

An hour’s drive from downtown, the 65-key Muh Shoou Zhujing hotel opened earlier this month in Zhujing, a scenic town in Shanghai’s southwestern Jinshan district. It’s a quiet escape among rice fields, waterways and forest paths, where each room boasts its own garden. It’s a far cry from the country’s commercial hub up the road, with the highest building being a modest two-storey teahouse and a neighbouring flower park sitting beyond the walled compound.

For general manager Alex Li, a 23-year veteran of Aman, Four Seasons and Hyatt, this is his first time working for a local brand. Why the change? “The project and the owners,” he tells Monocle during a tour. Muh Shoou Zhujing is the second hotel under the Muh Shoou brand. The first, Muh Shoou Xixi Hotel, is in the wetlands of Hangzhou. Both were designed by Group of Architects (GOA), which is headed up by Zhang Xiaoxiao, who is also the co-founder of Muh Shoou. 
 
According to Xiaoxiao, the design philosophy is a “way of seeing the land”. Replicating a successful template isn’t in their remit – GOA and Muh Shoou want to celebrate the hotel’s unique surroundings. He compares the “wild, cold, seclusion and quiet” of the award-winning Hangzhou property to the “misty rainforest and marshland” of Shanghai’s new outpost.

To learn more about Muh Shoou Zhujing’s design and how the hotel acts as an inviting hinterland for Shanghai’s urbanites, click here.

Here’s a round-up of three China-related stories that are worth read.