In 1979, the early spring weather was cold in Beijing. People were still wearing their winter clothes – the styles were similar and the colors were only blue, grey and green.

In March 1979, French fashion designer Pierre Cardin visited the newly-opening China. He brought with him 12 models, who would put on a fashion show in Beijing.

The concept of a fashion show was entirely new to China. The government treated it with great caution. The fashion show was publicized as, for "internal appreciation", and the tickets were restricted to government officials and foreign trade and fashion professionals. The venue for the first fashion show in new China was Beijing's Cultural Palace of Nationalities.

Officially, Pierre Cardin's fashion shows were for "internal appreciation only" and "not suitable for publicity". The authorities had laid down three rules for anyone who attended: First, they had to be investigated; second, they had to sit according to the seat number they were given and their names would be put on record; and third, they were not permitted to give away or sell their ticket.

In 1979, China was shifting its focus from "building a socialist economy" to "reform and opening". In a report at the time, the Economist magazine wrote that after 20 years of poverty, China's various economic indices were beginning to show signs of dramatic growth. As evidence, it quoted some statistics for 1979: 334 million sacks, 850 million bulbs, 186,000 engines, and 1.3 million TV sets produced. In the case of TV sets, this was an increase of 157%.

Despite the growing desire to enjoy some material comforts, city residents still needed coupons to buy their daily necessities. Among the basic needs, the most pressing were for food and clothing.

Xu Wenyuan was a new product development worker at the Shanghai Fashion Company. She was one of those who got the opportunity to see the fashion show.

Following Pierre Cardin, in 1980 modeling troupes from Japan and the U.S. came to Shanghai, China's most fashionable city. These visits prompted the Shanghai Fashion Company to set up its own team of fashion models.

In December 1980, Xu Wenyuan was asked to establish an amateur fashion model troupe for the Shanghai Fashion Company. The company's management had decided that the models had to be chosen from among people already working in the fashion industry. Xu Wenyuan spent two months visiting more than 60 garment factories, where she had more than 30,000 workers from whom to choose. The first girl Xu Wenyuan selected as a potential model was Shi Fengmei, an employee of the Shanghai Workers and Farmers' Rainwear Factory.

Xu Wenyuan eventually selected 12 young women and 7 young men to form China's first-ever fashion troupe. After two months of training, the troupe made its debut, featuring 126 outfits from 37 factories.

The film Black Dragonfly tells the story of the Shanghai Fashion Troupe. One scene describes how awkward it was for the inexperienced models to take to the runway. But far more trouble would be caused at the first fashion show, by one particular evening dress.

In the early 1980s, fashionable clothes were considered outlandish and were frowned on by most people. However, as the pursuit of beauty gradually overcame people's conservative attitudes, flared trousers and "frog" sunglasses became commonplace among the fashionable youth.

Since the founding of New China, the clothing industry had been overseen by an office of the Ministry of Light Industry. Cotton, as the major material in clothes manufacturing, was under direct government control, via its purchase-and-sales channels. Each citizen was given coupons that entitled him or her to 16 feet of cloth a year. As a result, clothes manufacturing was under strict macro control. Some local governments even included specific designs in their plans.

When the process of abolishing ration coupons began in 1983, the first to go were clothes coupons. From then on, the Chinese clothing industry began to break out of the confines of the planned economy and embrace the market economy. In late April of that year, the Ministry of Light Industry organized an exhibition of clothes, shoes and hats from five provinces in Beijing, and the Shanghai fashion troupe came to Beijing with a Shanghai delegation. At the opening ceremony of the exhibition on April the 28th, the Shanghai fashion troupe made their Beijing debut. During a show lasting an hour and a quarter, 14 models presented 185 outfits to an audience numbering more than 800 people.

The Beijing fashion show was so popular that the Shanghai fashion troupe stayed for over a month, putting on performances. The audience for each show increased from 7 or 8 hundred to more than 1000.
The authorities eventually gave permission for the Chinese-style fashion show to open to the general public.

The success of the Shanghai fashion troupe encouraged Beijing, Dalian, Tianjin and other cities to establish their own fashion troupes. In early 1984, Zhang Jian, an employee with the Beijing Fabric Bureau responsible for new product development, proposed setting up a fashion troupe.

Before the 1980s, the only fashion magazine Chinese people had seen, was published by the Liaoning Scientific Information Centre for the Clothing Industry. It appeared in 1974, and ran for just 4 issues. It featured the most popular designs in China, along with cutting patterns. In the 1980s, new fashion magazines appeared, such as 'Fashion' and 'Modern Costume', which printed photographs of models wearing the latest clothes. The photographs became a key means of publicizing information about fashion.

Youth is always accompanied by beauty.

The central government called for "improving the clothing of the people" and "creating a greater variety of clothing". As a result, a series of clothing exhibitions were held in 1984. Clothing factories across China all came out with new designs, to the delight of ordinary people.

In late September 1984, a fashion show was held at the Beijing Hotel. It had a slogan, "Make the People of the Capital more Beautiful", and was reported the following day on the CCTV news program, Xinwen Lianbo.

The fashion troupes in Beijing and Shanghai began to receive invitations to perform all over China.

Everyone was talking about models. Fashion shows not only took place on stages across China, but also appeared on television. The program "Jiuzhou Fangyuan" showed models on the runway, walking to the music. Originally, fashion shows were designed to promote sales of clothes. But in this show, the clothes were props used by the models.

In other countries, fashion shows were often sponsored by major brands to highlight new trends and costume designs. There were also more avant-garde fashion shows, which allowed the designers to give free rein to their imagination.

In the 1980s, fashion shows were something new in China. They weren't just to promote products; they were also a form of entertainment. Evening galas would include fashion shows, along with singing and dancing, cross talks, comedy sketches and acrobatics. In 1988, the television program Vistavision invited several fashion troupes to its studio.

The film Wan Zhu was produced in the late 1980s. In one scene, an awards ceremony is held. It features a fashion show, which is a lure to bring in an audience.

With the popularity of fashion shows growing, the 1st National Fashion Contest was held in Guangzhou at the end of 1989. A news report at the time read: "Fashion modeling is a profession the Chinese youth are eager to take up. As a means of promoting clothing consumption, fashion shows have become indispensable."

Two years later, in 1992, Chen Juanhong, China's Super Model champion, represented her country in the Super Models of the World Contest held in Los Angeles. She became the first representative of China's models on the international runway.

Today's fashion shows are nothing like those held in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In the middle and late 1980s, the Chinese clothing industry began to release new designs, in the same way that their foreign counterparts did. The fashion runway was not only a place for the models to strut, but also a showcase for Chinese clothing.