Cult followings and Vogue editorials aside, staging a massive show in China is the latest way to show the world you’re a fashion force to be reckoned with. And so, Thursday night Alber Elbaz & Co. descended on the posh Beijing Hotel to present a 61-model, 70-look fall ’12 runway show, marking the designer’s 10th year at Lanvin’s helm.

The fact that it’s been five years since Lanvin had held a show in the Chinese capital meant there was some heavy celebrating to be had—Parisian-style, bien sur. Following the red-carpet event, guests including Chinese starlets Fan Bingbing, Ni Ni and model Godfrey Gao filed into an elaborate soiree complete with flower-clad May Day poles and a waitstaff decked out in Lanvin velvet jackets, transporting the crowd to the City of Light and calling to mind that old adage: “You can take the girl out of France, but…”