Chinese brands take center stage at Milan show

A model wearing made-in-China brands takes part in a recent event held in a mansion in the heart of Milan.

"Our style is quite simple, but at the same time enriched with handmade weaving in the details," she says.

Meanwhile, John Hooks, CEO of PGM Group, a holding company with a focus on fashion services and luxury brands of which Elite is a part, says that China not only is an enormous market, but also a "workshop of the world".

Hooks says there is enormous space for making "high-quality products and special things" in China.

"They have a wealth of craftsmanship, a long tradition of lace-making and embroidery. They are a fantastic world of inspiration and creativity that we would love to be able to be inspired by," he says.

Elite, a leading modeling agency group with a network of 30 agencies, was the first international agency to open in China.

Hooks says that models are "the human face of fashion" and "China is a very great source of models".

Beppe D'Elia, hair stylist at the event, says: "I find their (the models) look, hair and make-up very suitable for experimentation."

Italian fashion designer Marco De Vincenzo says he is attracted by China's fashion world.

"They have a very personal way of interpreting contemporary fashion. They have millennia of history, but at the same time a newly born fashion world free from some influences of the past," he says.

"We will have great surprises from them."