The clichés that are the Mao jacket or the cheongsam have long since disappeared from the Chinese wardrobe. Jeans, sequins and Fendi, for those who can afford it, are now the vogue.

Plastic high heels, splash-es of embroidery and lashings of bling are the height of fashion for China’s less discerning new rich. The age of the Chinese designer and individual style are still far away from the realities of life for a nation who less than a generation ago could scarcely afford one new blue serge jacket a year, let alone keep pace with the latest trends.

A few domestic fashion designers are starting to make their mark. Less than two years after its launch, Chinese Vogue reflects that impact with its introduction of a hugely popular section devoted to local boutiques.

Its editor, Angelica Cheung, Beijing-born but Hong Kong-trained, is the epitome of urban chic in her monochrome slim-fitting dresses and designer shoes. She casts a critical eye over the Chinese fashion scene. She finds that most Chinese women want clothes rather than fashion – principally because that is what they can afford.

“People who are conscious of fashion go for imported labels, clothes that are a status symbol and expensive. And those who can afford it will spend on foreign brands that will be easily recognised.”

That leaves the young designers struggling to make a name. Creators such as Wang Yiyang in Shanghai, with his sharply angled blue trousers and skirts, market their brands to a few style-conscious young buyers from a single boutique on a trendy street in the metropolis. This is the rare avant-garde of China.

Observers agree that Chinese women may have found fashion with the arrival of Chanel, Armani and Celine, among many, but they have yet to develop style. They are caught between the desire to escape their past and the need to conform.

The designer Frankie Xie is sharply aware of the difference. He has two lines – one for the Chinese market and a second aimed at the younger, more international fashionista. His Jefen brand boasts stores in more than 20 cities across China. The customers are women in their thirties and forties with a fair amount of disposable income who want to look good but don’t want to stand out.

Jefen designs are made from imported materials, while the fashionista label dabbles in Chinese-made silks and cashmeres. In his Beijing studio, the walls lined with ancient Chinese clay figurines and papered with sketches of his latest designs, Xie lays out a black and white tweed coat in a classic cut but with a slightly ruffled back. It is sufficiently conservative while retaining an unobtrusive dab of originality to attract the new-rich buyer.

On another hanger he shows a short-sleeved, fine grey cashmere jersey with sewn-in gathered white silk sleeves plus collar and bodice. It’s too quirky for most Chinese women, who would not want the Chinese silk or the eccentric mix of fabrics.

Xie is a realist about the prospects for designers in China. “For the next 10 or 20 years Chinese clothes will follow the Western road. This is decided by economics and is inevitable. But maybe after 30 or 40 years China will create its own style.”

He laments the difficulty of convincing Chinese women of the joys of wearing fashion rather than merely clothes.

“China is a culture that values harmony rather than individuality.”

While Xie recognises the need for conformity in China, he is prepared to be bold. He became the first Chinese designer to show in Paris last autumn. From the southern city of Hangzhou but trained in Japan, Xie admits that it was a daunting experience and a bigger gamble for an established designer than for an untried young adventurer. “There was a big risk and we were nervous, but it went well and I think we were well received.”

He believes his more main-stream line of clothes is better suited to the modern Chinese woman, who wants to look chic without attracting undue attention. It is not so long since the Cultural Revolution, when women could be stripped and beaten for diverging from the ubiquitous drab Mao suit.

Fashion watchers divide Chinese women by generation. The young are much readier to try out something new. Angelica Cheung said: “Girls are starting to appreciate individual style. Something that is not necessarily flashy. They don’t want to impress with their wealth but with their taste.”

Frankie Xie is confident that greater exposure to international trends will gradually enable Chinese women to decide for themselves what constitutes style and they may cease to rely too heavily on Western trends.

And the average Chinese woman has access to one resource that few Western women have. She can pop down to the nearest tailor, who will run up a version of the latest Paris fashions from the latest copy of Vogue for scarcely more than the cost of skirt in a city shopping mall.

Times Recommends

• The Afghan grave that began decades of war
• Science thinks big for better IVF
• China jails monks to silence Olympic protests