The ongoing China Fashion Week S/S 2025 is blending advanced digital technologies with creativity in fashion design and presentation, offering a unique and novel experience for its participants.
The fashion week, which started in Beijing on Tuesday and will run until Sept 13, has attracted around 260 brands and more than 400 designers from several countries including the United States, Russia, Austria and Vietnam.
Over 160 fashion events are set to unfold during the fashion week, which will demonstrate the latest trends in menswear, womenswear, and a whole catalog of other eye-catching items to attendees through a series of special releases, fashion contests, and business exhibitions.
Among these events, digital virtual shows stood out in blending Chinese aesthetics with digital clothing design, presenting traditional fashion in a quite modern way.
Events like holographic interactive shows allow attendees to experience virtual fashion changes, motion capture, and digital photo opportunities in person.
"In this fashion week, we made a lot of blending of traditional fashion design with virtual technologies to offer consumers an immersive experience. They can explore the latest advancements in fashion industry through digital innovation. Enhanced virtual reality lets them try on outfits and change their appearance on digital displays. Digital patterns and 3D printing allow them to choose styles and fabrics, and even simulate models' catwalk, opening up more space for imagination," said Xie Fangming, vice chairman of the China Fashion Association.
Fashion designers also benefit from the digital technology which brings them more inspirations and improves their working efficiency. Digital tools can now automatically generate promotional texts and clothing designs, saving much them for them. Digital models are also used in runway shows, saving manpower while lowering the costs.
"Before large (AI) models were available, a lot of work had to rely on professionals brought up through long-time training. Now, thanks to the large-model technology, the threshold of creating is much lowered, so more people are able to get involved in the creative industry. The iteration of technology has rendered more inspirations and liberated more productivity," said Liu Bo, a technical director of an internet company.
Digital technologies give novel touch to China Fashion Week
A large array of newly developed products and technologies for smart construction is on display at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) in Beijing, demonstrating how smart manufacturing facilities can make engineering more efficient and energy-saving.
At the Shougang Park in western capital city, one of the major exhibition areas of this year's CIFTIS, a total of 123 leading construction enterprises from home and abroad have been showcasing their groundbreaking achievements of intelligent engineering construction.
One of the highlights is an unmanned tower crane designed by China Construction Eighth Engineering Division. With multiple sensors and intelligent control systems, the equipment can be operated remotely and reduce costs by more than one-third.
The product is part of the company's engineering solution of 5G smart construction sites. The overall architecture of the system is supported by a 5G telecom network and various advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and Internet of Things (IoT). According its developer, the solution enables effective labor management, workplace safety inspection and quality control.
"The 'smart construction site' significantly reduces costs, saving about 70 to 80 percent, which greatly lowers our management expenses," said Liu Dawei, design manager at General Contracting Company Beijing Branch of China Construction Eighth Engineering Division.
China Construction First Group showcases its containerized concrete modules at the exhibition. This structure, integrating interior and exterior decorations, electromechanical, equipment piping, kitchen and sanitary facilities, can be directly lifted and assemble together, making house construction as easy as building blocks.
"The modules produced by the factory are already rooms with decoration done. When assembling them on site, we mainly use the dry operation including welding and bolted connection, free from the need for another concrete pouring. This approach significantly shortens the construction period and minimizes weather-related limitations, allowing an early completion of the entire building," said Ruan Hao, head of the design manager department of the Design and Research Institute under China Construction First Group.
The five-day CIFTIS 2024 kicked off simultaneously at the China National Convention Center (CNCC) in eastern Beijing and the Shougang Park in the western capital area on Thursday, spotlighting the latest achievements and trends of trade in services, with activities ranging from summits and exhibitions to business negotiations and promotions, as well as achievement releases.
Smart construction technologies displayed at CIFTIS 2024
