Rising year for 'dragon robe' designer

A model presents creations by Laurence Xu at the Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. Photo provided to China Daily

When Xu was young, his architect father told him about Dun-huang and how many Chinese artists learned painting and copied murals at the caves. Those beautiful folktales haunted him for many years until last July when he finally visited Dunhuang and was inspired.

"From those paintings, I not only saw Buddhist rituals and beautiful dance, but found 'fashion'. I found people in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and earlier dynasties wore trousers with braces and trench coats!" Xu says.

"I borrowed my ancestor's designs for my work and wish to create a modern look juxtaposing both Western silhouettes and the Chinese flavor," he says.

Like all luxury brands, special materials are vital to Xu's collections. He paid homage to the traditional handicrafts of China, as each couture piece was made in the Nanjing Yunjin brocade.

Literally meaning "beautiful could in the sky", Nanjing Yunjin was a complicated textile incorporating materials such as silk, gold and peacock feather yam. Only made in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu province, it was once used to produce royal garments. In 2009, UNESCO named it among the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

"Xu's vision involves all the necessary elements for a luxury haute couture brand: craftsmanship, history, cultural heritage, storytelling, emotion and endless elegance," says Christine Zhao Qian, director of Paris Chinese Haute Couture Association, who recommended Xu to the Paris Haute Couture Week.