By Xiao Changyan (China Daily) Updated: 2008-11-12 08:08 Comments(0) PrintMailBlack, white and green dominated the catwalk at China International Fashion Week.
The event ends today in Beijing with the "China Fashion Golden Prize" awards ceremony, the highest honor for Chinese fashion designers.
Ma Yanli's Maryma line. Jiang Dong
But the global financial crisis cast deep shadows over the event, while pure colors and simple designs replaced the previous flamboyant hues and decorative elements in most collections.
Take Aimer's grand lingerie show, for instance. With the theme of "new simplicity", the latest Aimer "Discovery" collection left out sweet floral prints and expensive crystals, cut down on complicated pleats and lace, and turned to low-key colors like purple, green, white and black.
"In the past we put more emphasis on visual effects and luxurious materials for our collection," said Zhang Rongming, the president of Aimer group, one of the most successful lingerie brands in China. "But now we need to find a new expression."
Rational consumption has become a theme for many designers. Xu Yanzhen, designer of the "Discovery" collection, said that through her designs she wanted to promote a simple lifestyle.
"Fashion doesn't mean buying luxurious products, but looking for a natural and simple way of living," Xu said.
Even Erdos, the high-end cashmere brand, has changed its haughty image and is offering a trendy collection with affordable prices.
Meanwhile, international brands that usually comprise 20 percent of shows at China Fashion Week, were absent this time from the catwalk.
There were just two foreign shows during fashion week this time around - Australia's Merino "Woolmark Prize" Collection show and South Korean designer Lea Song's "Ready to Wear" show.
"This was due to the sudden economic turmoil in many countries," said Su Baoyan, the vice president of the China Fashion Designers Association. According to Su, a number of foreign brands canceled their shows a month after the financial turmoil swept the world.
For the first time environmental protection became a theme for the weeklong event. Pollution, natural disasters and landscaping inspired designers.
Aimer's frill-free lingerie. Lu Zhongqiu Liu Xing, the designer of Miidii, gave a unique show, "Awakening", on Friday, to call attention to the worsening environment.
"This year's Sichuan earthquake, pollution in the city, landslides and mud-flow disasters in China made me reconsider the significance of life and death," said the designer.
Liu's show featured depressing colors, somber music and heavy fabrics - showing off the designer's concern for nature.
Later, cocoon-shaped dresses and soft hued designs expressed hope for a clean and beautiful world. To match the ecology theme, the designer made use of many high-tech organic materials, like bamboo fiber, regenerative plant proteins and milk casein fiber.
Young designer Cabbeen brought an optimistic note to proceedings, through his simply styled casual dresses and sportswear.
"An unhappy man usually cannot feel the beauty of life and is unconcerned about the environment," said the designer. "What I am doing now is bringing a cozy feeling, simple lifestyle and happy mood through my collections."
The designer used undyed cloth, environmental-friendly materials like bamboo and organic cotton in designing his collection.
Mark Cheung, the Chinese fashion icon, presented a show inspired by the Yangtze River.
Since 2000, the veteran designer has held fashion shows every year featuring Chinese landscapes and ethnic culture. For instance, "The Soul of the Nations" collection expressed the splendid and varied styles of 56 minorities, while "Royal Flavor" showed off the luxury of the imperial court.
A clean look dominated fashion week. Zhuo Ensen "The beauty of nature has a strong power attracting people to protect it," Cheung said.
The veteran's fascination with nature could be seen in the lavish use of symmetry, bias cutting, carving lace-trimming and beading in his designs.
China Fashion Week's unprecedented emphasis on environmental protection won approval from foreign fashion professionals.
"Since China is the biggest clothing manufacturer and exporting country in the world, it has great significance to enhance environmental awareness in the fashion industry here," said Jean-Pierre Mocho, the head of the French Ready-to-Wear Federation.
According to Mocho, the French Ready-to-Wear Federation will help Chinese clothing manufacturers and designers to implement environmental protection activities through making "green" designs, choosing regenerative fabrics, improving processing, especially dying techniques and promoting ecological fashion products.
AsahiKASEI Corporation, the leading Japanese company in textile and chemistry, will support promising Chinese designers by providing them with high-tech ecological fabrics.
Through introducing environmental-friendly fabrics and advanced processing techniques to Chinese designers, the corporation hope that the China fashion industry will gradually enhance its environmental awareness and make more efforts to protect nature.
