Do you often see products labelled (贴标签) "Made in China"? "Made in China" is becoming a fashionable one.
The story of Chinese fashion began when Feiyue and Huili, both Chinese sports shoe brands, suddenly got international attention. Their products were seen all over the world. Chinese sportswear brand LI-NING was at The New York Fashion Week in September. They showed their new designs—sweaters and jackets with Chinese characters.
Shaun Rein, the founder and managing director of Chinese Market Research Group (CMR), said that the latest Chinese brands no longer catch customers' eye by low prices. It is because China's young people are now more confident about their own culture. They don't show immediate interest in Western culture anymore.
"Today's young people in China are more and more fond of Chinese cultural elements (元素)." Jin Qu, the manager of a clothing shopping website, said at a cultural festival, "They like these elements printed on their clothes, even the picture of Laoganma. Now, young Chinese people are proud of these Chinese symbols."
In fact, many stars in Western countries are now interested in Chinese cultural elements in fashion. Rihanna, a US singer, for example, wore a shiny, heavily embroidered (绣花的) yellow dress to this year's Met Gala to match the theme "China: Through the Looking Glass". The dress was designed and made by Guo Pei, a Chinese designer.
"We have to move from making to creating." Aric Chen, a Chinese-American designer, once told The New York Times, "We want to replace the words ‘Made in China' with ‘Designed in China'."
