Chinese New Year: in 2026, luxury brands put spectacle centre stage

Lantern installations, festive lighting, tea ceremonies, and sugar painting. A few weeks after Chinese New Year 2026, one trend became clear: luxury brands were no longer content to simply roll out campaigns. They took over venues, invoked tradition, and reimagined how they tell the story of the festival.

This is the thrust of Luxurynsight’s latest analysis, which unpacks the key dynamics at play this year. For several seasons, luxury houses have vied to tailor their communications to the Spring Festival. But in 2026, a threshold was crossed: brand activations stood out for their more nuanced integration of cultural references and their hybridisation with contemporary narratives.

Within this context, celebrity endorsements remained central even as they evolved: brands favoured younger, culturally connected talent capable of embodying these hybrid stories.

In 2026, Chinese consumers expected more from brands than mere symbolism. In response, some luxury houses shifted their marketing from a simply ‘local’ approach to a truly ’embodied’ presence, embedding themselves in real-life contexts to move beyond traditional advertising.

This transformation has redefined festive storytelling, turning it into a genuine space for exploration and connection rather than a purely visual spectacle.

The case of Céline illustrates this shift perfectly. Shot in Yunnan province, the campaign centres on a tree covered with thousands of scarves, inspired by wish-making traditions. The experience continued in Shanghai, where the brand recreated this installation during an exclusive dinner around a century-old tree.

Loewe took over the historic Yuyuan Garden in Shanghai with lanterns inspired by a Chinese animated film, complemented by projections on the water and a collaboration with a renowned local artisan. Valentino, meanwhile, transformed Shanghai’s Tianhou Temple into an immersive space, featuring handcrafted lanterns, light shows, and participatory workshops in paper-cutting and the writing of New Year couplets.

In Shanghai, Miu Miu took over Donghu Road for Chinese New Year, bathing the street in light installations and offering interactive experiences across three venues- Fufu Shanghai, Blaz, and Sugar Plum- with seasonal menus, bespoke tableware, and a ‘fortune draw’ area. The activation was rounded out by an emblematic art installation and the short film ‘The Encounter,’ starring Lexie Liu and Zhao Jinmai.

In a different vein, Prada presented the ‘Prada Red Horse’ installation in Shanghai and Chengdu, with a dynamic projection of the red horse on the façade of the Prada Rong Zhai residence and a Lantern Festival celebration. Fendi transformed its Wukang Road pop-up into a hybrid space, with large BFF Charms figures, Peekaboo bags, interactive experiences such as the ‘Inner Color’ test, and a café offering themed drinks. Finally, COS took over Shanghai’s Tianhou Temple with an inner courtyard and a tea room, wish trees and red cotton decorations, offering a contemporary, minimalist reinterpretation of traditional rituals.

For Luxurynsight, this evolution reflects the strong expectations of Chinese consumers, who seek cultural resonance and authentic experiences. It also marks a strategic turning point for luxury players, who are being called upon to rethink their presence in this key market.