STATELY DRESS: A dress designed by Frankie Xie presented at the fashion show in Beijing on October 31, 2014 (CHUAN LI)

Drawing inspirations from space, nature and oil paintings, Xie presented exquisitely elegant clothing made from fur.

Xie studied fashion design in Japan, where he won a gold medal in a Japanese Young Fashion Designer Award in 1990. He had worked as a designer for various top designer houses including prestigious Japanese brand Nicole before he started his own in 2000.

Xie is a trend-setter not only in design, but also in the management of fashion houses. He partnered with Beijing Shuangfeng Network Technology Co. Ltd. to launch an online-order platform for tailor-made clothing. Through the platform, customers can specify their needs online, then visit brick-and-mortar stores to complete the process.

JEFEN is also the first apparel company listed in the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ), China's version of NASDAQ.

"Getting listed in NEEQ means that we need to withhold the rigorous test of the market," Xie said. He said that JEFEN will raise funds from the capital market to strengthen research and development, and use Internet technology to innovate the marketing model of a fashion brand.

To Xie, fast consumption of mass-made ready-to-wear clothing not only compromises individuality, but also wastes natural resources and pollutes the environment.

Xie aspires to bring haute couture closer to the general public. Haute couture garments are usually expensive, yet Xie believes that it is no longer exclusively for celebrities.

By marrying brick-and-mortar shops with online ordering, they can produce whatever consumers need, and there will be no wasted inventory, he said. Through the Internet, the fashion company and designers can make profits, whereas consumers can enjoy more benefits, which is a win-win for everyone, he added.

"The Internet era is one in which ordinary people can live a better life," he said.

In 2014, due to economic slowdown, China's apparel industry was sluggish, with continuous slips in sales and net profit. Moreover, the industry has long been under the twin pressures of large inventories and the high rental costs of storing them. In the current business environment, high-end brands can hardly thrive only through traditional marketing methods such as promotion, advertising and order-placing meetings.

Some industry analysts think that tailor-made high-end clothing is a promising choice for name brands, since it can meet individual needs and avoid inventory costs while allowing new markets to be explored.

Like Xie, another well-known fashion designer named Zeng Fengfei is also trying to bring haute couture into the lives of common people.

Zeng is one of the designers that made clothes for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held in Beijing in November 2014. A highlight of the annual meeting is the group photo of the APEC leaders donning costumes reflecting the fashion and tradition of the host nation.

The preparatory committee of Beijing's APEC meeting invited 348 outstanding designers in the country to offer their designs. Zeng stood out and was selected for the project.