Chinese style cuts a dashing figure

By the late 1990s, Cardin had persuaded Chinese consumers that any attire bearing the logo of his eponymous brand was the ultimate symbol of status, wealth and refinement. Furthermore, he had proved to the world that China, a textile manufacturing giant, could also become a significant fashion market.

The first Western fashion house to be convinced of this was Italian luxury menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna, which made its Chinese debut in 1991, opening a boutique in Beijing.

China is now the largest single market for the century-old business, accounting for about one-third of its global sales.

According to Ermenegildo Gildo Zegna, the fourth-generation helmsman of the family company, these achievements would not have been possible if it hadn't taken the Chinese market seriously by entering early, setting up the right stores and continuing to invest in new areas.

However, it was only after the French luxury brand Louis Vuitton, which entered China a year after Ermenegildo Zegna－opening a store in the same building－that interest in fashion was observed among all age groups and both sexes.

Yves Carcelle, the late CEO of Louis Vuitton, who pushed for this goal to be achieved, believed that China was "sophisticated". This was despite often being asked by local reporters why he was visiting the country, as the "people don't understand luxury".

By 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization and numerous luxury fashion brands had arrived in the country, Louis Vuitton stood out as one of the most coveted by Chinese consumers at home and abroad.