Fashion models present the works of local designers at the 2015 Fall Winter Shanghai Fashion Week. Lu Kun, Ban Xiaoxue and Guo Yirantian were among the top Chinese designers to have their clothes showcased.

"I see world-class creativity here," said Imran Amed, the editor-in-chief of London-based Businessoffashion.com.

Amed attends around 25 fashion weeks a year and said he is "more interested in the less glamorous and more business side of the industry".

As his website launched a Chinese-language version late last year, Amed visited Shanghai Fashion Week for the first time to engage more closely with what he called the world's fastest-developing market.

"The most exciting thing here is the young designers. If China is going to have an international fashion capital, they must be the ones making it possible," he said.

He said they lack support at the moment and that China is still missing a healthy fashion industry ecosystem.

The showroom, which was open for three days, might help plug some of the gaps. Called Mode Shanghai, it welcomed over 200 fashion brands and independent designers. It saw Chinese fashion buyers feel fabrics and talk to designers while also offering a free platform for less-established designers and brands to mingle.

In contrast, the cost of a fashion show at the event ran from 60,000 to 100,000 yuan ($9,670-16,110).

Some 1,500 people registered an appointment at the showroom, up to 80 percent of whom were professional buyers and industry insiders, the organizers said.

"It saw many more visitors than its counterparts at shows in Europe," said Guo Yirantian, a 24-year-old designer who attended the latest fashion weeks in Paris and London.