Chinese Label on Show in New York

The image of Chinese fashion, still in the west associated with cheongsam dresses and Mao jackets, has been brought up to date by a catwalk show in New York. The show by Cabbeen, a hugely successful menswear label in China, which now plans to go global, marked the first time a designer from mainland China had taken part in New York fashion week.

The collection, by the 35-year-old designer Cabbeen, featured faded jeans, "vintage" look T-shirts, customised blazers and designer trainers - all key elements of popular contemporary men's casual wear in New York, Milan and London as well as in Cabbeen's native Guangzhou.

China is already a powerhouse of production in the fashion industry, the base for more than half the world's textiles manufacturing. Increasingly it makes clothes for European and American labels, and has a fast-growing interest in fashion.

When Chinese Vogue launched 18 months ago the first issue demanded a second print run within a fortnight, and all copies still sold out. The appetite of the growing Chinese middle class for luxury goods already has western labels such as Giorgio Armani and Louis Vuitton competing for Shanghai's prime retail locations. China is increasingly restless with its role as the manufacturing arm of other countries' fashion brands.

Cabbeen, launched in 1989, now has 300 stores on the mainland, and is favoured by fashion-conscious young Chinese celebrities. The style is international and expensively casual.

At his show the designer himself appeared in black jeans and with artfully dishevelled hair and diamond earring studs. On the catwalk faded jeans were worn with rock'n'roll T-shirts and pinstriped blazers, a look already much favoured by boy band members and successful off-duty young .

Cabbeen maintains a distinct identity using Chinese elements; there is a mandarin-collar velvet blazer but worn with white jeans and trainers; traditional pink cherry-blossom embroidery, but juxtaposed onto a suit jacket.

"The Chinese are often viewed as somewhat stiff and conservative," says Cabbeen, "and so I am always trying to relax that."