Local fashion education pays of as students impress at SFW

International exposure is an essential element in the education of China's homegrown designers, said experts and industry insiders on the sidelines of the 2018 Fall/Winter Shanghai Fashion Week (SFW) which concluded on April 10.

The biannual fashion event has served not only as a stage for established and rising designers from across the world, but also promising talents, especially students from the city's major design institutes such as Shanghai Institute of Visual Art (SIVA), Donghua University and Rafles Design Institute.

During this year's event, students got to showcase their projects, many of which contained elements inspired by Chinese culture, such as hand-drawn illustrations of "The Sea Map" from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a design that juxtaposed Chinese yin and yang, and carved motifs of terracotta warriors on leather outwears.