'What I hope for is to be able to highlight the idea of people coming together, of belonging. There's no other global activity that can bring so many different cultures together: sport is one, fashion is the other.

'We wanted to make the museum a stadium, where the artist becomes the athlete,' he says.

With its vaulted ceilings and open floor plan, the venue certainly boasts a grandiose atmosphere. The entrance is reached via two steep walkways on a steep slope, on which a gleaming new Audi is precariously parked. The car is a shiny reminder of Driving Dreams, the charity organisation behind the event.

Visitors are first hit with Flying Colours, an exhibition by Lanvin's Alber Elbaz. Five floor-length trapeze dresses, each representing the Olympic colours of black, blue, yellow, green and red are brought to life by giant fans in a corner of the museum's reception area.

The dynamic Elbaz dresses are the opening act for The Collective: Synergy in Motion - Lane Crawford's show-stopping exhibition. The luxury retailer commissioned a group of international designers to create one-off pieces inspired by Olympic events. The contributors read like a who's who of modern fashion: Alexander McQueen, Givenchy, Burberry Prorsum, Costume National, Stella McCartney, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Neil Barrett, Alberta Ferretti, Rick Owens, Maison Martin Margiela and Yves Saint Laurent.

'Some of the designers don't have free-standing boutiques in Beijing yet,' says Joanna Gunn, vice-president of marketing and communications. 'This is a chance for them to get known.'

The pieces were displayed in a circle around sheaths of white material pulled taut at the corners. Videos of the designers' runway shows or abstract images of their chosen Olympic event were projected onto the tent-like material and the surrounding walls.

'We're working to spread the word that [Beijing fashion] is not just about the Pearl Market,' says Amy Schmitt Seabolt, Lane Crawford's public relations and communications director.

The rest of Fashion In Motion consists of fashion photography and video installations. A retrospective from Guy Bourdin shows gritty fashion images from the 60s and 70s. On the next floor is a powerful display of athleticism with Solve Sundsbo's Invitation to Dance.

Around the corner, portraits by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin line a narrow hallway, showing stark black and white images of Chinese model Du Juan, Sean Penn, Gwyneth Paltrow and the like. The fourth floor is divided between video installations from Wing Shya, Sean Kunjambu and Stephane Sedanoui.

Du Juan herself, clad in a Diesel Black Gold jumpsuit paired with a studded Gucci belt and shoes, was found musing over a montage of Polaroid portraits of Chinese women shot by Shya and Kunjambu.

The event raises the bar for fashion exhibitions in Beijing. Chua and Lane Crawford assembled some of the best names in the fashion industry and managed to fill three floors of a large modern art museum without compromising content.

Lane Crawford will auction all 12 pieces from The Collective. Other fundraising efforts will include sales of limited edition Diesel-designed T-shirts, totes bearing images from the exhibit in the museum's gift shop and Today Art Museum's ticket sales. All proceeds will go to the Special Relief Funds for Children affected by the Sichuan Earthquake, established by Unicef under its Driving Dreams project.

Fashion in Motion, Today Art Museum, 32 Baiziwan Road, Beijing. Telephone: (8610) 5876-0600. Monday to Sunday, 10am-5pm, to July 18. Tickets 10 yuan (HK$11.30).