As China fashion week played out its 18th edition, both design newcomers and old presented attention-seeking FW15 collections. The biggest driver? To win over brand-focused luxury consumers more concerned with big name logos on their clothes than the use of exotic silks, cotton and lace. At a time where China continues to be dominated by foreign brands, fashion graduate, Liang Xiudon presented a collection full of black capes, silver epaulettes and oversized sleeves – hinting at the modernization of new Chinese design from Western influences picked up from London, Paris and New York. Appeasing the tastes of the big fashion trio remains a real pressure on the Chinese; especially those designer intent on selling to China's luxury elite who still favor European and North American labels, over local wares. According to research consultancy McKinsey, China will make up nearly half of the global growth in women's ready-to-wear luxury markets in the next 10 years. So, what does luxury fashion look like to a Chinese woman? Most associate luxury and fashion with expensive foreign labels. China’s customer remains tied to the prestige of foreign brands. The attachment isn't helped by the fact that multi-brand retailers (usually starting points-of-sale for emerging brands) are scarce in China, meaning unknown, individual designers aren’t getting the much-need exposure on the racks alongside Chanel or Louis Vuitton in posh boutiques. To appear luxurious, many young designers are price matching the French maisons in an effort to build their brand reputation – but without the recognized monogram or embossed logo, grabbing the consumer's attention. And because of production costs and fabric sourcing issues, some Chinese designers are forced to use cheaper fabrics and poorer manufacturing centers; meaning the Made In China items are far from luxurious – despite the high price tag. In a recent article produced by AFP, fashion commentator Hung Huang told reporters that the high cost of small-scale production in China is a major roadblock for emerging designers, within an inflexible textile industry. Hung said that for a production run 500 shirts, "you need totally different equipment" than that required for larger orders and already the small-scale luxury Chinese firms are at a cost disadvantage, compared to foreign brands. "No one is willing to supply you, they just hang up the phone on you. The costs are too prohibitive," she told AFP.And if the order is too small, it can be difficult getting accepted by a factory. According to Beijing-based fashion journalist and consultant, Alice McInerney, the minimum orders at Chinese factories are too high for the typical new designer. And if they are allowed to order, the small outlay cops a higher price point for each garment that eventually makes it way onto the retail floor. "This can be a hard sell for a customer when comparing a more established international brand having the same price point as a Chinese designer they have never heard of," McInerney told AFP. One the most talked about fashion week shows for FW15 was from designer Hu Sheguang, whose name became infamous last season when models, wearing ridiculous heels, fell during the presentation. This Fall, towering shoes remained part of Hu's repertoire. So to did a tribute to his Mongolian heritage. Grey quilted winter jackets walked the runway decorated with chunks of China red and green floral prints – masking the face of the models. The fabric technique and pattern was once popular in China's northeast and served in making people remember his designs. “When everyone thinks of cotton padded jackets, they will think of memories from their childhood," Hu told Reuters, backstage after the show. Hu’s method of tapping into ancient Chinese design (known for its opulence in the Twenties and Thirties) indicates a viable way for new designers to link both their heritage and luxury to their work. And standout from the West. "Everyone's searching and exploring for the most sophisticated way to elevate Chinese fashion to the highest level, how to do things with especially Chinese flavors ... We can see lots of forward-looking designers who have their own ideas. I think things are developing in a good direction," said Hu.
And perhaps the rise of Western labels will ultimately be the cause of their distasteful fall? "Not many Chinese customers appreciate unknown independent designers," Manix Wong, a Hong Kong designer who is helping several Chinese labels try to make a name in Europe, told AFP. "But people are (becoming) more educated and sophisticated in fashion. They start to get bored of Gucci, Prada, Louis Vuitton - and also too many rich people using the same bag and wearing the same clothes." And prominent China fashion editors agree.
"If you look at the sales in the Chinese market you can see that in the past it was always the products with logos that were selling the best," Su Mang, Editor-in-Chief of Harper's Bazaar magazine in China, told Reuters.
"Now this kind of expenditure is gradually decreasing, everyone is advocating real fashion design and a more vibrant fashion wave, and this is currently diluting the logo."