Part of the "China CHIC 2002," China International Fashion and Accessories Fair, the show was jointly held by the China Garment Association and the China Fashion Designers' Association.

The event drew hundreds of fashion designers, garment companies, fabrics producers, models and fashion editors nationwide.

The collections designed for the week were set against a social backdrop that the designers had to take into account, industry analysts said.

First, China's World Trade Organization (WTO) accession has resulted in increased cultural exchanges as well as clashes between China and other countries active in the fashion industry.

Having experienced both the exchanges and the clashes, domestic fashion designers are consciously following the international fashion trends with Chinese twists.

Second, to defuse intense pressure from work and social competition, more and more Chinese tend to wear leisure or sports clothes in their spare time, instead of formal suits.

Meanwhile, as the national economy grows and people's lives improve, many have started pursuing a more diversified life of leisure, and even a few are opting for luxury.

Also, individuality has been strengthened among ordinary people.

Following these developments, the organizers of the 2002/03 China autumn/winter fashion trends used different sets of words for women's and men's collections.

The women's collection featured four themes: "elegant," "clash," "joyful" and "gorgeous," while the men's collection featured "pure" "unconventional," "carefree" and "variation."

Leading domestic garment companies played a key role during this year's event.

Six domestic brands including men's wear, women's wear, leisure wear, down wear, fur and leather garments were invited to stage briefings at the shows.

Industry analysts said this is a positive development.

"Fashion is a kind of art as well as an industry," said Wang Qing, director of the China Garment Association. "The briefings would offer less to guide the producers and the consumers if no garment companies participated in the event."

Fashion trend briefings in China started 10 years ago, and each year the garment association introduces the latest international trends to domestic garment companies.

However, Wang said, in the past, the briefings were divorced from ready-to-wear production realities.

"Only letting the international trends join hands with the ready-to-wear companies can promote the domestic fashion industry to the world market and develop our own brands," said Li Xin with China Fashion Designers' Association.

Leisure collection

Among the shows, the leisure collection "Mark Fair Whale" designed by Mark Cheung, the most reputed Chinese fashion designer, was the most eye-catching.

Simplicity, delicacy and high cultural taste marks the style of "Mark Fair Whale," by Shanghai Meijing Fashion Co Ltd. The company is trying to win world recognition within three years for "Mark Fair Whale," with Chueng's tasteful designs.

The target consumers of the collection are "white collars'' 28-40 year- olds in China's major cities, who are expected to pursue a higher quality lifestyle and enjoy much more fashion and leisure than any other consumer group.

"They are eager to return to the easy and quiet life after the pressing workday, taking off their formal business suits are betting on leisure or sports wear," Cheung said. "That's why I designed the collection.

"I design clothes for those who enjoy life, who know themselves well. And in turn, they feel my knowledge of freedom and comfort while wearing my clothes."

The show entitled "Feeling Harvard and Cambridge" was even more concrete for the young people who study abroad but return to work in China.

Pictures of the campus and young professionals graduated from prestigious universities as background of the T-stage, the catwalk reminded the audiences of the good old days of campus life.

Cheung's works also include a few for women, including the blouson tunic shown by top model Jiang Peiling.

Cheung, 39, has won acclaim in the Western fashion world and market since the mid 1980s.

Having grown up with rich Chinese culture and having widened his experience and knowledge of fashion in the United States and Europe, Cheung always designs clothes of Western style with an Eastern twist. "Originally and purely Western-style clothes do not fit well Eastern men who have their own disposition," Cheung said. "I hope my designs feature both Western carefree attitudes and Eastern reserve."

Cheung demonstrated his fine taste for fabrics and cutting. "Choosing fabric is the most important step for design," he said, adding that only the right fabric can express his inspiration.

For the latest collection, he had rich choices including twill weave fabric, flannel, iridescent fabric, cashmere, patent leather and other more reserved fabrics.

Fabrics with geometrical patterns such as bias lines, curved lines and dots are used for shirts to display the leisurely and humorous style.

"Less is more" is Cheung's philosophy for cutting.

His simple but delicate cutting is well-displayed in the pants of the collection. The normal fit, slim line and super slim line all make Cheung's pants both comfortable-looking and comfortable

Cheung also showed his expertise in matching colours. Unlimited by the basic black, grey and brown for men, he has added celadon blue, grey-red, bright green and white to his collection.

Other flavours

In addition to "Mark Fair Whale," "Angsi" men's wear, "Leyefe" women's wear, "NE Tiger" fur garments, "Yingda" leather wear and "Boston" down coats all featured a unique flavour.

Zhang Zhifeng, general manager and chief designer of "NE Tiger," presented a collection of women's marten coats, with phoenix and dragon patterns painted on the sable.

To match the Chinese flavour, he also designed a dark velvet qipao, a close-fitting woman's dress with a high neck and slit skirt, to wear inside the coat.

"Variation" is what "Yingda" wanted to express in its leather wears for the coming season. "Some friends asked me why you still keep making leather wear. In their minds, leather coats of drab design are out of fashion," said Wu Xuwei, chief designer of "Yingda."

"I hope that after the show, leather wear will no longer be monotonous in consumers' eyes," Wu said.

Wu's designs featured punk and other unconventional street culture.

Besides black and brown, a variety of colours such as bright red, blue, orange and yellow were pieced-together or inserted.

"Leyefe" was as graceful as usual. Black and white are still the season colours for "Leyefe" and a little cream and coffee are added for decoration.

"Angsi" provided men with an entire collection from tailored suits, shirts and sweaters to jackets, pants and underwear. Its three main trend colours were natural colours, blue and red.

Similar to men's wear of "Mark Fair Whale" and "Yingda," "Angsi" also featured Yuppie styles and sophistication.

(China Daily April 11, 2002)