Designer Hu Sheguang reimagines iconic print for new car wrap

The Longteng edition of Bestune B70 with a Dongbei Dahua-themed car wrap. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

When Chinese automaker FAW-Bestune launched the new Longteng edition for its B70 sedan on April 15 in Luoyang, central China’s Henan province, a new car wrap featuring Dongbei Dahua, or the “Northeast China big flower” print, wowed and mesmerized the audience.

The wrap was a crossover collaboration between the automaker and renowned fashion designer Hu Sheguang, who recently released an haute couture collection themed on the classical print during the the 2024 A/W Shanghai Fashion Week.

Fashion designer Hu Sheguang reimagines the Dongbei Dahua pattern for the FAW Bestune B70 car wrap. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

To make the car wrap compatible with Bestune B70’s black body, Hu made some tweaks to the traditional Dongbei Dahua pattern, which features blossoming peonies and phoenixes against a red background. He de-saturated the vibrant and almost gaudy print, blended gold and blue to achieve a quiet luxurious effect.

In addition, borrowing inspiration from the valuable gold-flecked paper, the designer scattered gold flecks into the print’s red background, adding more culture and elegance to the design.

Fashion designer Hu Sheguang drives the Longteng edition of Bestune B70 with a Dongbei Dahua-themed car wrap. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Dongbei dahua has been a popular print for blanket covers and bed sheets for a long time in Northern China, especially in rural areas, thus making it a part of Chinese people’s collective memories.

In 2014, Hu transformed the ubiquitous print from his childhood memories into his first Dongbei Dahua-themed collection Dahuaao (big flower cotton-padded jacket). The recent years have witnessed viral short videos in which influencers strut in Hu’s Dongbei dahua-themed clothes on the streets around the world, catapulting the once controversial print to national prominence.

The picture shows models dressed in Dongbei Dahua-themed clothes by Hu Sheguang with the Longteng edition of Bestune B70 on the streets of Shanghai. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]