China Market. Chinese faces.

      Nowdays, more and more western brands begin to select Asian faces in ad campaigns and eye-catching runway shows from New York to Paris. This sign not only shows the connection with new customers across the region-especially in China-by offering them models with a more familiar look, but also indicates Asia's rising clout in the world of luxury goods. China is the world's fastest-growing market for luxury goods and is forecast to be the world's top buyer of such products as cosmetics, handbags, watches, shoes and clothes by 2015, according to consultancy PriceWaterhouseCoopers. When you look at some of these brands like Louis Vuitton, they are generating a significant portion of their global revenue in China, so it makes sense to have Asian models.

 -----"Savvier companies are using Asian models to penetrate the China market and try to create an emotional bond with consumers, and to give an aspiration that Chinese can look up to," Shaun Rein, the Shanghai-based managing director of China Market Research Group, told AFP.

-----"The use of Asian models by Western brands is a way to look more global," Godart told AFP. "Everyone in the fashion and luxury industries wants to look global and trendy by using models from elsewhere."

----- "You want to keep your global brand heritage, but you need to make sure that your products and ads fit the wants of the Chinese consumer. If you don't, you're going to lose out," he said.