Chinese New Year 2026 brought the Fire Horse, and with it, a shift in how brands are approaching seasonal design. The usual red envelopes and zodiac symbols are still there, but the campaigns that landed this year brought something deeper. A cultural weight and craft that goes beyond surface-level celebration.
Loewe collaborated with Shanghai Animation Film Studio to create an animated short film based on Peng Wenxi's fable "Little Horse Crossing the River." The film follows a young horse tasked with fetching lanterns for its village, meeting a deer, a platypus, and brand ambassador Wang Yibo along the way. The animation style references traditional Chinese visual storytelling whilst feeling completely current.
Celine took a different route. Their campaign centred on the symbolism of wishing trees, a folk tradition representing hopes and renewal. The brand suspended over 1,000 silk scarves from a 100-year-old oak tree, shot by Hong Kong photographer Kin Chan Coedel in the Lijiang alpines.
Burberry launched their campaign with a hero film directed by AJ Duan and photographed by Anton Gottlob in the streets of Shanghai. The film captures the poetry of movement in the city's rush hour, following brand ambassadors Chen Kun, Tang Wei, Wu Lei and Zhang Jingyi as they race towards a reunion. At the heart of the collection is the Knight, Burberry's house code from a 1901 public competition, playfully reinterpreted as a watercolour and ink sketch brought to life through metallic embroidery, cross-stitch and appliquéd badges.
Guerlain partnered with Paris-based jeweler L'Atelier Truscelli to reinterpret their iconic Bee Bottle. This year's edition arrives in scarlet red, adorned with a horse's head gilded in 24-carat gold and set with 78 Swarovski crystals.
What's clear across these campaigns is that brands are moving away from treating Chinese New Year as a box-ticking exercise. The Fire Horse symbol has pushed designers to think about how cultural symbolism translates into visual language more than ever. It's not enough to slap a horse on a product and call it seasonal. The execution has to carry cultural respect and design integrity.
The shift is noticeable. Where previous years leaned heavily on red, gold, and zodiac imagery, 2026 saw brands investing in craft collaborations, animation studios, and artists who understand the cultural weight behind the symbols.
Chinese New Year campaigns have become a proving ground for how seriously brands take cultural engagement. The Year of the Horse raised the bar in our eyes.
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