The curtain finally came down on Shanghai Fashion Week (SFW) on Tuesday with a closing show presented by renowned local designer Helen Lee.

Each of the exhibiting names at the six-day event gave a glimpse into the likely trends of the 2013-14 autumn/winter season, with pieces from local designers remaining a regular highlight.

"It's an important mission for SFW to promote Chinese designers and to give them a platform to show their talent," said Shao Feng, deputy secretary-general of the SFW organizing committee. This year's SFW included 35 shows featuring 45 brands, and more than 80 individual designers from both home and abroad. Some 600 models participated in the event at Xintiandi and at 800show (800 Changde Road).

Under the spotlight

A regular face at SFW for the past 10 years, Shanghai-based designer Ji Cheng and her brand La Vie were back again. Her 2013-14 autumn/winter collection, themed around fish, debuted in London earlier this year. The designs feature multi-layered, intricate handmade crafts which emulate the texture of fish scales.

The new collection from Qiu Hao, another Shanghai-based designer and the Woolmark Prize winner in 2008, was also highly praised by critics and audiences alike. This season, black and white are the dominant colors in Qiu's designs, and which make use of a variety of materials including silk, wools and calfskin. His overcoats, meanwhile, have a muscular, almost aggressive feel to them, although the inclusion of a bowknot around the waist helps to feminize the overall look.

Xiamen-based independent designer Shangguan Zhe impressed fashionistas with the new collection from his brand Sankuanz. Inspired by traditional Tibetan clothes and religious-themed handicrafts, the collection includes many symbols and images that have been created using embroidery and prints on wool. The designer said that most of his artistic inspiration is derived from his travels. Shangguan's latest collection has been created in co-operation with the artist Chen Tianzhuo.

"Among the popular trends in the shows was the inclusion of long overcoats over the knees," said Wang Zigang, a Shanghai-based fashion consultant and stylist. "My favorite collections were from Qiu Hao and Shangguan Zhe," added Wang who said that he had attended more than half of all the week's shows.

Gothic touches

The last day of SFW saw the first show in China from the acclaimed, London-based Chinese designer Wang Haizhen. Earlier in February, it was Wang's show that brought the London Fashion Week to a close.

A postgraduate of London's Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in women's fashions, Wang has worked in the UK for a number of high-end fashion brands. In 2012 he won the Fashion Fringe Award, and was spoken of by Burberry's creative executive officer Christopher Bailey as "having an effortless talent."

And the designer also made the Red Pages' 2013 UK Hot 100 list which recognizes talent across the worlds of film, TV, music, fashion, literature and sport.

Inspired by the kind of Gothic-style churches found in many Western countries, Wang's 2013-14 autumn/winter collection delivers "a strong visual impact" in his own words.

"The waist and buttocks are the two body parts I mainly highlight. I raise the waistline up to outstretch the lower half of the body, and I enlarge the buttocks to make the waist look slimmer," Wang told the Global Times. "Through my designs, I want to express the independent, confident attitude of women from all walks of life. To me, fashion signifies an attitude towards life."

Wang said that he is currently researching the upcoming London Fashion Week in September. "After I get a better idea of the Chinese domestic market, I will consider whether I should enter this market."

Elegance and confidence

A number of overseas brands also laid on a visual feast for show-goers.

"From my observation, leather, British-style capes and colorful floral prints continue to be key popular elements in women's fashion trends," British brand Oasis' creative director Ran Ran told the Global Times. She said the inspiration for Oasis this season came from the TV series Gossip Girls, and which she hoped reflected "elegance and confidence from women's hearts."

Creative director Giancarlo Mossi of Paris-based, custom-made wedding dress brand Aolisha said that the company's latest collection is inspired by "romantic French-style gardens and butterflies."

There was also a variety of new types of show presented at SFW for the first time, including some well-established online women clothes brands on taobao.com, and graduate works from local design schools.

"The fashion week would be better if its schedule was more thoughtfully arranged," said Wang Zigang. "For a start they should avoid staging several highlighted shows on the same day. And it should focus more on local, emerging independent designers and present less commercial shows by bigger brands who are only using the event for advertising."