Barneys launches a Met Gala Theme collection by Huishan Zhang
Huishan Zhang, one of the most famous Chinese young designers, is highly reputed in the West fashion world.
The concept East meets West has been expressed clearly in his new 4 pieces capsule collection for Barneys New York.
He has been inspired by the Chinese exhibition: China: Through the Looking Glass. Zhang chose to use the color red, the dragon motif, and China’s lucky number eight as starting points for the collection. The number eight has been combined in a flower embroidery: “It’s something quite special to me,” Zhang explained “It’s my home, it’s my culture, and when you multiply it into this flower shape, it becomes a good idea for me to use. And what I’m demonstrating here is how to use [Chinese culture] in a very light way.”
Huishan studied at Central Saint Martins and he has an internship at Dior’s Haute Couture Atelier.This is where he learnt the lightness.
His entire collection has been made at his atelier in China and it is labeled “Made in China”. Usually this has a bad connotation but in this case it means that Zhang could oversee the quality of the garments.
“The reason it’s important to make things in China for me is, I’m from China. I have to be truthful to myself. I always believe we can do something better. At this time it’s pretty difficult to find a supplier who can consider producing something high end, so we decided to build our own atelier from nothing. At the beginning, it was only me and my aunt in my parents’ apartment,”
