Appeal of bling dims

Brands must raise their game if they want to win over China's growing number of middle-class consumers

Purse strings are tightening in China as the economy cools, which is hardly good news for those overseas luxury brands that have been banking on selling the signifiers of status and an upwardly mobile lifestyle to Chinese consumers. However, it is likely to be only a short-term setback.

Although the number of middle-class buyers of luxury goods in China has grown from 1 million in 1995 to 37 million today, many of them are expected to stop spending on luxury items now the country's economic growth has slowed.