Huishan zhang biography definition ap

The Qingdao-born-and-raised, London-based designer gained a rudimentary knowledge of fashion while perusing stacks of magazines as a kid at a shop located next door to his school. Our customers would never buy this. How things have changed.

Huishan Zhang Excited to be

From the moment he saw this image, his mind was set on a career in fashion. A photograph taken by Huishan Zhang of his backlit debut collection, which was inspired by the traditional cheongsam Image: Huishan Zhang. Zhang holds up his hand politely to pause our conversation as a seamstress asks for instructions regarding extra boleros he ordered for our shoot tomorrow.

He responds in Mandarin with a strong regional accent before switching seamlessly to English to answer his buzzing phone. The call, from his London office, is about his coming September show. He checks a few things on his iMac, the only item on his desk bar except for a bit of stationery and a porcelain cup filled with tea. Behind him is a backlit photograph of six modern qipaos, his first solo collection.

A dragon robe or kimono lies flat on any surface, unlike its Western counterparts, which have always been admired for the draping and gathering that enable them to stand, even without a body. The cheongsam, created in Shanghai during an era heavily influenced by the West, is a fusion of the two worlds, with tailors taking the more conservative dragon robe and creating a three dimensional shape.

To Zhang, the vastly improved status today of the Made in China label is the result of the hard work of its people. In uncovering and exploring his own heritage, he had never meant to take up the mantle of reversing the stereotype. Xiaoqian wears a black bolero and the pink Lia skirt.