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In one signature design, she works with Thai silk as the main fabric of a one-piece, a line dress inspired by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) outfits, and cleverly replaces the dragon embroidery at the hems and the collar with colorful wax. Sidney names her collection "Habesha," which, according to her, means "to mix" in a local dialect from Ethiopia. Born in Guyana with Haitian parents, Sidney was brought up in Paris, the capital of style and design. A trip to Shanghai to visit her friends in 2006 changed her life - she was a marketing executive in the airline industry, now she's a fashion designer. "I fell in love with the local fabric markets immediately," she recalls. "And I happened to bring some African wax with me. One day, when I walked in a fabric market, the idea came to me all in a sudden - why not integrate Chinese style with wax? "I've really wanted to become a fashion designer for a long time," says the 31-year-old. "Unfortunately, I couldn't do it in France because the market there is already saturated. I think China is a great place to realize my dream because people here are quite open to new things." Sidney visited China a further 10 times that year before she finally decided to make the move. The young designer labels herself a self-taught fashion designer, who draws inspiration from reading, traveling and simply, "looking around." Her design philosophy is to "look at a Chinese piece and to envision it as a new piece combining African inspiration." It certainly works.