Miu Miu introduced their 2025 Literary Club for the first time in Shanghai, titled “A Woman’s Education,” where three female literary masters were explored. 

French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, Japanese novelist Fumiko Enchi (the pen name of Fumi Ueda), and Chinese author Eileen Chang were among the most influential female writers of the twentieth century—each shaping literature in her own cultural context.

The Miu Miu Literary Club launched in 2024 in Milan to showcase a reflection of the past and present lives of women through the written word.

The first conversation, Simone de Beauvoir: The Power of Self-Awareness, featured literary scholar and translator Cao Dongxue, professor Yuan Xiaoyi, and researcher Zhang Pingjin. They discussed The Inseparables, de Beauvoir’s 1954 novella, which was considered too personal to publish until 2020. The book has renewed interest in the feminist icon, tracing a young girl’s path to womanhood and the role of female friendship in shaping identity.

The second conversation, Fumiko Enchi: Love and Resistance, featured writer and translator Yoshii Shinobu, editor and novelist Huang Yuning, and scholar Ye Zi. They explored Enchi’s 1956 novel The Waiting Years, a quiet but powerful critique of patriarchy. The story follows Tomo, the wife of a high-ranking politician, who is forced to find a concubine for her husband, highlighting how her own desires are sacrificed for male authority.

The final discussion was Eileen Chang: Growth and Runaway, which brought together writer Li Zishu, editor and Chang scholar Zhang Xi, and novelist Di An to discuss Chang’s The Fall of the Pagoda. Chang, a Shanghai-born writer educated in both China and the West, is one of the most influential voices in Chinese-language literature. Her semi-autobiographical novel, written in English in 1963 and published posthumously in 2010, follows Shen Pipa, a young woman whose love for literature and art pushes her to leave her declining family and study abroad, symbolizing her break from a restrictive, traditional world.

Over 600 people were invited to witness Miu Miu’s push to further the fields of culture, literature, art, and fashion in Shanghai.