Peng has been called "China's Carla" in the French press for months, says Rotceig, because of the women's similarities as singers and fashionable first ladies.

Peng, a native of the eastern province of Shandong, joined the People's Liberation Army at 18 and gained fame as a performer of patriotic and military songs.

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At a time when China's appetite for foreign luxury goods continues to grow - and Peng's husband is calling on government officials to live more simply - her recent fashion choices appear to say that elegance need not be imported.

In December, Chinese on the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao surpassed US consumers as the world's top luxury buyers, making a quarter of purchases in this segment, according to a study by Bain & Company.

The first lady's double-breasted coat and her black leather handbag aren't available at any of Exception's shops, though copied versions popped up in the Chinese market overnight.

Considering China's austerity campaign, does Peng's support for domestic products mean foreign luxury brands should be worried?

"I certainly do not see this as a threat to today's foreign brands," says Angelito Tan, founding partner of Robert, Tan & Gao Consulting, a luxury consultancy with offices in Beijing and Shanghai. "It is an opportunity to introduce brand lifestyles - foreign and domestic - to potentially a whole new segment."

Might Peng's turn as first lady, then, bring fashion consciousness and taste to a new level in China?

That's a difficult question to answer right now, says Yang Jian, secretary-general of the China Fashion Week's organizing committee. But one thing is clear and that is the first lady has made both her fellow Chinese and foreigners rethink their notions of Chinese design.

Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected].

(China Daily 04/03/2013 page18)