The idea of fashion in China started in 1978, the first year after the opening-up policy was established. Clothes such as bell bottoms, body-building pants and jeans were accepted by ordinary people. Western-cultured, Hong Kong and Taiwan styles paced into mainland China rapidly and led the latest trends among young men and women. The 1980s was a spring of fashion.

French fashion designer Pierre Cardin held the first fashion show in China in 1979 and brought in Western-style clothes.