As the fashion sector reels from the novel coronavirus outbreak, there has been at least one silver lining to the crisis: the fast-forwarding of the industry's digital push.

A brave experiment under epidemic circumstances led to a special online presentation of Shanghai Fashion Week on March 24 in an attempt to seek a better solution for the industry at a critical time.

This major instance of companies jumping on the digital bandwagon used technologies ranging from live-streaming to augmented reality saving the gala from a temporary blackout.

Organizers of the event, which has grown in reputation over the years, are hopeful that the tie-in with the country's top internet powerhouses will not only rescue but also help rewrite the global catwalk playbook.

Shanghai Fashion Week introduced the newest collections from over 100 brands online for the first time, said the organizers. Collections including men's and women's ready-to-wear, children's wear and accessories made their debuts online during the Shanghai Fashion Week Special Edition – Tmall Cloud Fashion Week.

The brands will also be able to live-stream sample garments from their autumn/winter collections and sell items from their new spring/summer collections on Alibaba's Tmall marketplace in a bid to help reduce inventory pressure.

As a bold move in a special period, this season's Shanghai Fashion Week presents a special presentation, which provides valuable experience and reference for all designers, brands, enterprises, platforms and for the development of the fashion industry at home and abroad.