America has Tom Ford. Europe has too many to mention. Even tiny Singapore has Jimmy Choo. China, though, still lacks that all-important brand-name designer - but not for long, if the showing of homegrown talent at the ongoing Shanghai International Fashion Festival was any indication, as Zhao Feifei reports

　　China's claim as the world's leading garment producing and exporting country may be true, but the reality is that the domestic clothing industry lacks its own brand names.

　　As a platform for gifted domestic designers, the Shanghai International Fashion Festival has spared no efforts to promote China's own Tom Fords.

　　During this year's festival, which is running through next Sunday, the creations of domestic designer were out in force.

　　One of the most remarkable shows was the talented Mark Cheung's extravaganza, "Desert." Cheung, one of the top 10 fashion designers in the country who was trained in France and the United States, has been a back-to-back winner of China's best designer award.

　　Held at Donghua University's stadium, Cheung's collection was the only solo show held by a Chinese designer at this year's event.

　　With spatial lighting, music, makeup and design that embodied his theme by integrating the abstract and the concrete, Cheung's show captivated the audience from the outset. Besides, the Chinese calligraphy for "Desert" ("Da Mo") was projected on the stage, enhancing the ambience of uninhibited passion.

　　For three solid months, Cheung searched for a muse for this 108-piece collection, inspired by northwest China - by the landscape, the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) utensils and the Tang-era (AD 618-907) frescoes in the Dunhuang Grottoes. He found it in renowned model Jiang Peiling, who blazed down the catwalk in Cheung's signature red evening gown.

　　Another runway eye-catcher focused on asgroupsof Chinese designers who have stood out with their own labels and brands. The joint show featured seven designers from Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhongshan, Tianjin, Taipei and Hong Kong. The show was a microcosm of the "urban chic" way of life with modern silhouettes, superb tailoring and designs.

　　Rowena U, vice chairman of the Hong Kong Fashion Designers' Association, presented a riot of colors in soft leather skirts and suede jackets.

　　Chen Jimin, from Taipei, embraced the minimalist and the urbane, showing a marriage of East and West in her chiffon evening gowns.

　　The elaborate knitting works from Pan Yiliang, who also comes from Taipei, yielded a vibrantly slinky, elegant collection of nightwear.

　　Shanghai-native Liu Canming paraded a series of floral fantasies in see-through gossamer fabrics, showing a creativity that belied his youth.

　　Yet as German designer Karl Lagerfeld has said, "a set of 10 is not a collection." With the designers showing about the same number of pieces each, it was difficult to accurately perceive the depth of their creative range. However, the designers' show did exactly what it set out to do - raise local, and especially international, awareness of top made-in-China stars.