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In a time where everybody has an online voice, Chinese digital company HY Link is ranking who’s legit and who’s not and crowning China’s most influential fashionistas in an awards ceremony presented by Marc Jacobs

Decoding and celebrating China's digital fashion influencers through algorithm and search engines

WITH THE ENDLESS stream of digital data penetrating our lives daily, finding legitimate data is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. It seems everybody is claiming to be the best in their field but how can one be sure of this, especially when it comes to digital personalities? HY Link – China's largest digital media agency with US$10 billion annual revenue – teamed up with Chinese digital powerhouse Tencent (with whom Google has just partnered) and found a solution to this problem. By devising an algorithm utilising specific key words and pulling data from global search engines, they are able to filter the raw online information and refine it down to get a statistic of genuine consumer patterns and trends.

The companies are especially focused on fashion and within China, as they believe fashion drives all consumer trends and is one of the most powerful creative forces in the future of China. To celebrate and reaffirm their love for all things fashion and digital, they hosted the five-year-strong annual HYfashion Digital Fashion Festival, which took place in Shanghai and was attended by China's top designers, models, bloggers, media and creatives. The event is split into two parts – the awards ceremony and a charity gala.

Following in Karl Lagerfeld's footsteps from last year's event, this year Marc Jacobs presented awards to winners from five categories: Best Fashion Model, Best Fashion Photographer, the most influential Bloggers for Fashion and Lifestyle; and last but not least, Best Fashion Designer.

Besides honouring the who's who of the fashion industry, HY Link is also an advocate of helping those less privileged but with a dream to become the next biggest fashion designer, photographer or model.

The proceeds of their charity gala will fund a fashion scholarship which helps youths aspiring to make their mark on the fashion industry and wanting an opportunity to hone their skills abroad to realise their dreams. If the future of fashion really is Chinese, then this initiative will certainly pave the way for the next wave of bright young things.