By John Ruwitch

HONG KONG, Oct 11 (Reuters Life!) - "China chic" may be hot outside the People's Republic, but the fashion-conscious masses in the world's most populous country tend to turn to Western luxury brands when they want to look cool and stylish.

Raphael le Masne de Chermont, executive chairman of the Hong Kong-based luxury brand Shanghai Tang, plans to change that.

"Very soon -- the same way Hong Kong people did, or Singaporean people did -- they are going to go back to their home culture and will basically consider themselves as less slaves of the West and more will adopt their own code," he told Reuters in an interview in his flagship store in downtown Hong Kong.

Shanghai Tang, the self-styled "legendary arbiter of Chinese Chic" founded in 1994, draws inspiration from 1930s Shanghai and other themes including the occasional Communist icon, is out to help China's fashion gurus find their way.

But what exactly is "China chic?"

"China chic is basically an accessory or an apparel which is rooted in the Chinese culture which is truly faithful to 5,000 years of Chinese history and re-translated in a modern way so that it can be wearable and you can travel with it," said le Masne, a French national who lives in Hong Kong.

"Don't mix it with chic for Chinese because chic for Chinese is, indeed, Vuitton, Dior and whatever brands. But it won't be tomorrow. This is just an expression of people eager to absorb modernity and the wealth of the West."

Shanghai Tang's made-in-China creations meld rich fabrics, detailed with Chinese embroidery and other Asian sartorial trademarks, like knot buttons and high collars, with a fashion sensibility that could easily hold its own on catwalks in Milan or Paris.

It has stores in Asia, Europe, United States and Dubai. The brand is a unit of the Swiss group Richemont.

NEW AESTHETIC

From the time the Communist Party took power in 1949 until economic reform and opening started to gain traction in the late 1980s, the development of fashion in China was stunted along with personal and artistic expression.

Four-pocketed, olive drab or indigo "Mao jackets" with turned down collars dominated the wardrobes of men and women alike.

In recent years, however, influences from the West have poured in and most Chinese, save peasants in less developed rural areas, dress in a Western style.

"I think that now we are coming to the next era," le Masne said. "For 40 years, the Mao jacket was a symbol of unity, of Communism in China ... It's basically passe."

Designers in China are starting to experiment anew, but their achievements still lag their countrymen in other artistic fields, like painting, where Chinese works are fetching record prices at auction.

Le Masne hopes to help these designers find their own fashion road.

"That's what we are working on in Shanghai Tang, making sure that we try to find a solution for those people to be aesthetically good looking while keeping their sense of their culture," he said.

"We are trying to bring a new aesthetic to the modern Chinese man of tomorrow and telling them: reinvent your own aesthetic. You're a great nation. You are fast growing. Why on earth would you copy the aesthetic of the West? Reinvent your own cultural revolution in terms of the way you dress."

Earlier this year, Shanghai Tang established the "Mandarin Collar Society" to promote stand-up, Chinese-style necklines and encourage men to ditch their fold-down collars and ties.