Shanghai Fashion Week (上海时装周) is two things at once: a catwalk programme for Chinese and international labels, and a buying season built around its trade fairs. This guide sets out how the week is organised, what each platform is for, what the public can attend and how to follow it from another time zone.
The short answer
Shanghai Fashion Week runs twice a year, with catwalks in late March and October and a cluster of trade fairs alongside. The SS27 catwalks ran 8–16 October 2026, opening with HEMU at Xintiandi. Use it for Chinese design and the buying season. Skip it if you expect a public ticket to every show: most are by invitation.
When is Shanghai Fashion Week?
Twice a year: autumn/winter collections in late March and spring/summer collections in October. The SS27 catwalks ran 8–16 October 2026, according to the official schedule, and the AW26 season ran 25 March to 1 April 2026. Dates for AW27 had not been announced when we checked on 22 October 2026.
The official SS2027 schedule runs longer than the catwalks. Trade showrooms opened on 8 October, and the public Shanghai Fashion Weekend programme continued in the shopping streets around Xintiandi and Yongyuan Road until 25 October. When a listing says “8–25 October”, it means the whole programme, not the runway.
Shanghai keeps China Standard Time (UTC+8) all year. An 18:00 show there is 17:00 in Jakarta and 11:00 in London while British Summer Time is in force, or 10:00 once the clocks go back.
Who organises Shanghai Fashion Week?
The Shanghai Fashion Week Organising Committee, with the city government behind it. Its secretary-general is Lv Xiaolei, and a deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce spoke at the SS27 launch. Accounts of the founding differ: a 2025 interview with the organisers dates the week to 2003, while earlier city clothing festivals ran in the 1990s.
That civic backing shapes the week. It is promoted as part of Shanghai’s consumer calendar, and the city’s own English-language site lists it among its major events. We give no single founding year because the sources do not agree on one.
What are MODE Shanghai, Ontimeshow and LABELHOOD?
The platforms around the catwalk. MODE Shanghai is the week’s official trade show. Ontimeshow is an independent wholesale fair that has partnered with the week since 2015. LABELHOOD, launched in 2016 out of the Dongliang concept store, is a festival for independent designers. Buyers come for all three as much as for the shows.
For SS27, MODE Shanghai ran 8–12 October at Crystal Plaza in Hongqiao, with more than half of its brands from overseas, according to Yicai. Ontimeshow ran on the same dates at the West Bund Art Center, and LABELHOOD held its 22nd season on Yongyuan Road.
At the SS27 launch, organisers promised nearly 100 debut shows and nearly 1,000 brand launches across the season. Treat those as the organisers’ targets rather than counted results.
| Platform | What it is | SS27 (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Catwalk programme | Official shows, opening at Xintiandi | 8–16 October |
| MODE Shanghai | Official trade show | 8–12 October, Crystal Plaza, Hongqiao |
| Ontimeshow | Independent wholesale fair, partner since 2015 | 8–12 October, West Bund Art Center |
| LABELHOOD | Independent designers’ festival, launched 2016 | 22nd season, Yongyuan Road |
| Shanghai Fashion Weekend | Public programme in shopping streets | 16–25 October, Xintiandi and Yongyuan Road |
Can the public attend Shanghai Fashion Week?
Partly. Most catwalk shows are by invitation, but the city government says selected shows open to the public, and the Shanghai Fashion Weekend programme takes place in public shopping streets. Do not buy a “show ticket” from a reseller; follow the official site and its channels for public events.
The official schedule marks some entries as invitation-only. The closing Douyin fashion designer competition trend show on 16 October, for example, gives its venue only as “see invitation”.
How is Shanghai different from China Fashion Week in Beijing?
They are separate weeks with separate organisers. China Fashion Week (中国国际时装周) is run in Beijing by the China Fashion Association, with editions in late March and early September. Shanghai Fashion Week has its own organising committee and shows in late March and October.
Beijing also has a third event: the city-run Beijing Fashion Week, whose SS2027 edition ran 7–17 September 2026 on Wangfujing. If a source just says “China fashion week”, check which one it means before you quote a date.
Sources: Shanghai Fashion Week — official SS2027 schedule (checked 22 Oct 2026), Shanghai Municipal People’s Government — Shanghai Fashion Week AW26 (18 March 2026) (checked 22 Oct 2026), Shanghai Municipal People’s Government — selected Shanghai Fashion Week shows open to the public (10 July 2026) (checked 22 Oct 2026), The Paper — HEMU opens Shanghai Fashion Week SS27 at Xintiandi (checked 22 Oct 2026), China Financial Information Network — SS27 launch press conference (22 September 2026) (checked 22 Oct 2026), Yicai Global — SS2027 season to draw nearly a thousand brands (checked 22 Oct 2026), Yicai — LABELHOOD and its 2016 launch (checked 22 Oct 2026), Inside Retail Asia — interview with secretary-general Lv Xiaolei (2 June 2025) (checked 22 Oct 2026), Beijing Municipal Government — Beijing Fashion Week SS2027 (8 September 2026) (checked 22 Oct 2026), China Fashion Week — official site (English) (checked 22 Oct 2026) · Facts summarised in our own words; text under CC BY-SA where sourced from Wikipedia.
