Costumes with Chinese elements shine at Fiji Fashion Week

With vivid music and lighting, models on Friday night displayed designers' works during the Fiji Fashion Week in the country's capital Suva.

This year, the costumes designed by two Chinese professors from the Shanghai-based Donghua University caught the spotlight, winning applause and cheers from the audience.

It was the second time for For Chen Bin, a professor and veteran designer, to participate in the Fiji Fashion Week. This year, he brought Li Jin, a folk brocade of the Li ethnic group in China's Hainan province.

Li Jin, with a history of over 3,000 years, has been listed on UNESCO's "Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding."

In his works, Chen aimed to integrate the traditional techniques with modern design with the theme of "regeneration."

Mao Dan, a Chinese professor and designer, was both excited and nervous to attend this year's Fiji Fashion week as it was her first time.

Mao got her inspiration from Du Fu, a famous poet in the Tang Dynasty. The Chinese poetry in the Tang Dynasty, mostly romantic and vivid, was an important part of the Chinese culture.

In Mao's works, the combination of elements from Chinese poetry and the texture of silk creates a dynamic and magnificent sense of time and space.

Chen and Mao, both from the fashion arts design department of fashion institute in Donghua University, shared the view that China has a long history with abundant culture and if costume designers can take full advantage of this by combining Chinese culture with their design, and take part in more international fashion events, they will surely enjoy a great success.

"The Chinese costume design industry has a great potential and what we should do is to keep abreast with the times and design our costumes with a sense of innovation, and in particular with Chinese characteristics," they told Xinhua.

Yang Hui, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the South Pacific (CI-USP), told Xinhua that by bringing their works to Fiji's fashion week, the designers not only introduced contemporary Chinese costume style to the South Pacific region, but also offered local people a new perspective to understand Chinese culture, as well as China's fast-growing fashion industry.

Ellen Whippy-Knight, organizer and founder of the Fiji Fashion Week, said she was impressed by the Chinese designers and their works.

"I believe that fashion and designing have a great future and thank the two Chinese designers for bringing their wonderful costumes for our fashion week, they really graced the event," she told Xinhua.

The Fiji Fashion Week, first held in 2008, has attracted many local and international designers over the past years. The theme for this year was based on environment.