The recent design by Italian couturier Giorgio Armani comes with an Eastern theme.

He chose lean skirts with the luminous silks decorated with tassels and appliqués dominated the collection.

The shows remaining 62 looks were made of Glossy second skin evening gowns covered in sequins and beadwork.

Pointed shoulders and cuffs on jackets evoked pagoda roofs, while a purple and yellow pantsuit recalled a Chinese martial arts ensemble.

The dresses, in lacquer red and inky black, had a costume-like quality about them. A shift dress in red sequins with black piping was almost crying out to be worn by sculptural Chinese movie star Gong Li.

The models wore severe black bobbed wigs or had their hair swept up into a long thin tower wrapped in black leather. They tottered down the catwalk in the pencil skirts and towering, richly worked heels.

China