Chinese faces are increasingly appearing on the catwalks of the world’s fashion capitals. But can they stay the course? Gan Tian mulls over the issue

 

Although the fashion world has still not recovered fully from the impact of the economic recession, Chinese models are getting a firm foothold on the international runway.

The just ended New York and Milan fashion weeks saw not only old faces, such as those of Liu Wen, Du Juan and Pei Bei, but also some new ones, such as those of Qin Shupei, Sun Feifei and Huang Xiaomeng.

“The number of Chinese models appearing at the four major fashion weeks (New York, Milan, Paris, London) may peak this year. In previous years, they have usually been three or four models, but (this year) there may be six to eight,” Yi Lingna, former fashion editor at sohu.com and now editor-in-chief of fashion website onlylady.com, predicts.

The industry has grown most significantly in the past two years. Even as recently as 2008, Du Juan was complaining to the media that she was too “lonely” during the fashion weeks.

Another model, Mo Wandan, also said: “I met only one or two models from China during fashion weeks.”