A SPECIAL party was given at the La Waterfront Hotel in Dameisha beach resort, Yantian District Monday to welcome Liang Zi, chief designer of Shenzhen Liangzi Fashion Industrial Co. Ltd. back home from Paris.

On Oct. 13, Liang, with her 2004 spring and summer collections, participated in a catwalk show entitled "Fashion China --- Top Contemporary Chinese Designers'  Works" at the Museum Louvre.

Six designers were selected by the Chinese Fashion Designers' Association from the top 10 winners of the last 10 annual national fashion competitions, including Wu Xuekai, Fang Ying, Wang Hongying, Gu Yi and Luo Zheng.

Also, 10 Chinese models, including Jiang Peilin, Li Juan, Feng Na and Zhang Te, were selected from annual national modeling competitions over the past decade to join 10 European models on the T-stage.

The event was an important part of the 2003-04 Chinese Culture Year in France, which involves a variety of exchanges and activities around the theme of "Old China, Colorful China and Modern China."

Significantly, the event was the first time that, invited by Federation Francaise de la Couture, Chinese fashion designers found the opportunity to walk into the French couture circle in Paris.

The theme for Liang's 2003-04 spring and summer collections is "Sounds of Nature."

"The theme is a kind of combination of contemporary Chinese art and the 5,000-year traditional Chinese culture as well as modern world trends and Chinese national costume," said Liang.

The cloth Liang used for her 2003-04 spring and summer collections includes liangchou, also called "gambiered Guangdong silk" in English, the most popular material for Tangy clothes, as well as Chinese brocade, which Liang recently developed for the Tangy brand.

Generally, Liang's design is characterized with the natural, simple, elegant and flowing style.

In her design, viewers can always find some delicate, smart and amazing details.

A slender parallel button can be extended to replace shoulder girdle, and a pretty traditional Chinese scroll can immediately become a long skirt when being opened.

The barefooted performance of Chinese and European models in Tangy clothes on the T-stage fully illustrated Liang's design philosophy that human beings are an integral part of nature.

The poetic show of Liang's works won lasting and warm applauses from all audiences present at the event.

"I felt so proud that audiences in the Louvre were conquered by Chinese designers' works and they were so amazed by Chinese culture," Liang said.

In fact, this is the third time that Liang has had contacts and communications with the French couture circle in Paris since she initiated the brand Tangy in 1994.

In July 1999 when the Tangy brand succeeded with its sales network covering more than 150 major cities throughout China, Liang quietly left her husband and daughter at home and went for three-month study in the French Senior Fashion School in Paris.

At the end of 2000, Liang had a joint fashion show, entitled "Century's Dialogue," with French fashion designer Lecoanet Hemant in Shenzhen.

In Liang's works can be found a style or a feeling, which is typical of Chinese women: gentle and moderate at first sight, but profound and refined at close examination.

"In my design, I neither attempted to imitate the Western patterns nor tried too much to stress Chinese national style," Liang said.

"What I'm doing is to experience life, know consumers and grasp the market with a natural and peaceful mind, and finally to express all of them with a genuine and loving heart," she said.

 
Editor: Wings