Italy was the first G7 country to endorse China’s Belt and Road initiative, making it easier to access each other’s products. Meanwhile, the Italian fashion industry is working to break the stigma around Chinese designers.

Young people look obsessively through heavily filtered photos of influencers on Instagram, Snapchat and Weibo, and of themselves, then ask surgeons to copy them – a phenomenon known as Snapchat dysmorphia.

Despite their celebrity status and huge Instagram following in the West, many influencers lack understanding of how Chinese social media works. That Kardashian and others post their Weibo content in English shows the problem.

Quant opened a boutique on London’s King’s Road in 1955, gave the miniskirt its name and dominated young women’s fashion in the ’60s. An exhibition of her work which runs until 2020 is a reminder of her place in fashion history.

From Nigeria to Cape Town, African fashion designers are going out to the world and winning fans. Maki Oh, Lisa Folawiyo, Kenneth Ize, Thebe Magugu, Laduma Ngxokolo – these are some of the names fashion followers need to know.

Since setting up her label in 2014, London-based designer Rejina Pyo has produced some of the most talked about items in the fashion industry.

Think yellow, floral, checks and boho this spring and summer – and don’t forget bags

Goddard’s designs have a real girlishness underlaid with rebelliousness. The designer talks about starting out, Brexit and the avoidance of perfection.

Mirroring social change, many top brands are producing luxury sneakers – think the Gucci Rhyton Logo, Fendi Rocko-Top Sock and Maison Margiela Thick-Sole Rib-Knit – that are fit for any and every occasion

Today’s model activists aren’t afraid to campaign on the catwalk and in social media, as they share their negative experiences, champion women’s rights, and battle the bigotry and oppression that exists inside and outside their industry

This year has seen a halt in the growth of bricks-and-mortar fashion stores in China, leading to major strategy changes among the industry’s leaders. We look at how integrating online and offline services helps retailers grab market share

The annual event brings the French city’s magnificent architecture to dazzling life

The City of Light remains the epicentre and spiritual heart of design, as Paris Fashion Week brought in top labels from around the world, some moving their shows from Milan and New York, and others showing for the first time

Ahead of her first-ever retrospective, at London’s Fashion and Textile Museum, the daughter of Chinese immigrants reveals why she chose to remain fiercely loyal to her boho-chic aesthetic

Fashion designer’s new athleisure label to appear in Lee Gardens this summer, while her foundation’s Embrace Ambition campaign is pushing the message that women need to be loud and proud about their dreams

The fashion industry has flourished in a globalised world, but experts suggest Asian designers and manufacturers would be wise to shift focus from the West to regional consumers if US protectionist policies and Britain’s EU exit unravel traditional markets

The role of creative director at a fashion house is so all-consuming even some men struggle for work-life balance; for women, it’s harder still to balance such responsibility with family duties and face down sexist attitudes

Yan Wang Preston, who gave up a medical career when she married a Briton, thought creating an objective portrait of the Yangtze would restore her sense of identity. It didn’t, but spawned a project that won the 2017 Syngenta Photography Award

British labels big and small are hoping to emulate the success of London-educated Chinese designers such as Masha Ma and Huishan Zhang, who have successfully conquered both markets

Since the 1920s, artists from China have revelled in the cultural freedoms of the French capital, blending Western and Chinese aesthetics and giving expression to ideas that could never have flourished at home

From the Queen and the Churchills to Julia Roberts, the London hotel, located in posh Mayfair, is popular with royalty and celebrities alike. So what is it about this Mayfair hotel that attracts the creme de la creme of society?

In his quest to build the ultimate machine, Enrico Dini lost a lucrative job, his home, even his family, but the creator of the world’s first industrial 3D printer refuses to give up his dream of making the world a better place

African artists are using their works to define their continent’s sometimes fraught relationship with China, a big investor, while Chinese collectors, like some in the West, are turning to African art, writes Melissa Twigg

Empty is the word most often used to describe a country the size of France with a population of two million, writes Melissa Twigg

Red Dragonfly Productions’ Diao Chan: The Rise of the Courtesan is about as British as a Chinese play can get, writes Melissa Twigg in London