Fashionable China: A journey into the development of the Chinese fashion industry

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is not only to describe the development of the modern fashion industry in China, but also to deeply analyze the path toward the rise of an autonomous, innovative and independent Chinese fashion system. The first part of this thesis, after a brief introduction to textile and apparel industries, aims at presenting the growth of the modern fashion industry in China, which spread all over the country thanks to the proliferation of mass media, the establishment of fashion education system and also through the foundation of fashion institutions and events. Despite the world still see China as the “copycat” of Western fashion, the country is nowadays working very hard to fight against different stereotypes it has been attributed, in order to show to the world that it is gradually becoming more independent and innovative in the field of fashion. After the unprecedent economic expansion and due to the challenges the nation faced in 1980s, both the Chinese society and the government feel the need to give China a new image of a “modern country”. They both believed that fashion could be a good starting point in order to accomplish this goal and this is the reason why the country is now trying to shift from the “Made in China” to the “Created in China” label. In the second part of this thesis, we will focus more on cultural issues that affect the fashion system and that, in some ways, represent an obstacle for the recognition of Chinese fashion at an international level. The last part introduces the most important fashion figures, namely the Chinese fashion designers, their characteristics and the way they generally operate. Nowadays, Chinese fashion designers, with the support of the government, are deeply focused on the creation of recognizable Chinese fashion brands and on fashion innovation, in order to establish an independent Chinese fashion system and to finally see China among the most powerful countries in the global fashion arena.