Three emerging Italian designers showed their collections last Friday and Saturday at the St Regis Tianjin, at what the organisers - the hotel, Greber Management, Bridge IT and Fun & Fan magazine - dubbed the city's first fully fledged fashion week.
On both evenings, the 420 square metre Diamond Ballroom on the 18th and the top floor of the luxurious Starwood property was packed with a local audience looking for a taste of authentic Italian style. The three creators, all in their 20s, are recent graduates of some of the top fashion schools in Italy.
'They represent the new faces of Italy,' says Stefania Pellegrino, a project manager at Bridge IT, a talent company set up three years ago with the aim of bringing young fashion designers from Italy to Tianjin.
The runway show on Friday night kicked off with a series of cheongsam from Ruifuxiang, a century-old Beijing tailor.
Later, 22-year-old Ginerva Cupellini from Rome presented her autumn-winter 2012 collection. The short jackets and knee-high skirts had a casual, youthful look. And many of the muted pastels she employed are inspired by Claude Monet's Water Lilies.
'For the past 10 years, we've seen a lot of black and grey in design,' she says. 'I like to break it up a little bit and experiment with colour.'