If you know anything about China, you’d be correct in assuming most of the clothing bought by men and women in China is made in their own country. However, in the last few years, high fashion and designer brands have come to China and are becoming very popular.

China’s annual Fashion Week is big news; last year more than 30 top designers showed their collections in Beijing. Chinese designers too are being schooled in record numbers as Chinese men and women realize China’s more open society is allowing them to be more creative. High fashion with a Chinese-inspired flair is very popular with Western-style white wedding dresses accented with Chinese embroidery coming down the catwalk alongside Mongolian-style jackets and men’s leather jackets decorated with traditional Chinese red.

China’s women are also seeing an emergence of consumer freedom unheard of in what was once a repressive society. As Western designer brand clothing stores and bag stores open up in every major Chinese city, affluent Chinese women are visiting them in droves so they can have the latest DKNY bag or the newest Chanel shirt. Upwardly mobile Chinese men are buying Western designer suits and along with Chinese designed men’s clothing made with a Chinese flair.

Add the new “Made in China” high fashion designers and Chinese men and women really are getting spoiled with choices. These new Chinese designers are educating people that it’s possible to get haute couture or premium clothing from Chinese designers at less than a third of the cost of Western brands, because production costs in China are lower.

For Chinese designed women’s fashion, check out Dorian Ho, whose Ho Couture high-end line of clothing is selling well in boutiques and showrooms in Europe and America. Ji Wenbo, the winner of China’s most prestigious Golden Tripod award, is a Chinese men’s fashion designer who’s also making a name for himself in Europe as well as in China.