Huishan Zhang
Words by: Katie Ross
The highs and lows of Huishan Zhang AW24
The Dior-trained London-based designer’s most recent collection was one of contrasts
I have a love/hate relationship with Huishan Zhang’s AW24 offering. Hate may be a strong word, but I found myself either enamoured or dispirited by looks, with no real inbetween: the highs were high, the lows low. The Chinese-born, London-based designer (who cut his teeth at Dior haute couture) delivered his show yesterday afternoon at Whitehall’s Banqueting House.
The venue, erected in 1619 and used as a courting spot by Elizabeth I, boasts an ornate, Biblical-inspired scene (complete with cherubin) has almost too many windows and was saturated with white light from the grey outside. This combined with the bright white lights within and floaty Italian technopop created a pleasing effect, contrasting neatly with the historic interiors of the room itself.
Zhang is known for his East meets West approach to design, merging his heritage with Western influences. Unfortunately, several of the looks where this was most apparent were ones which flopped the most, with several heavily embroidered satin gowns – one in a particularly unfortunate murky green – missing the mark and, taken out of context, would have the propensity to look cheap, and not in a good way (it’s worth mentioning that the average Huishan Zhang dress is around the £3,000 mark). The most disappointing were a black chiffon gown and two piece covered with oversized gold disc sequins in a large rectangle on front and back.
The colour palette was generally muted, with a lot of black and the occasional pop of colour, such as a frothy red netted mini dress with enough layers to make the model look as if she’d been inflated and should have a string attached to her at a fairground. Another notable pop was a sheer green lace midi peeping out from under an oversized brown leather blazer.
In fact, sheer fabric and tailoring stole the show. Memorable moments were a maxi graphite blazer with oversized waist tie, cropped, a midriff-baring jacket and huggy midi skirt set in grey lace, an all black leather fitted pant suit and several sheer gowns lined with silver quilting adorned with maxi faux-diamonds in assorted baguette and star shapes. A true highlight was a cream boucle cropped sleeveless jacket and midi skirt that fell just this side of “Margot Robbie is wearing Chanel” in the best way.
Recurring features tied the show together neatly. Every shoe was patent and acutely pointed, most models sported aggressively heavy morning-after the-night-before black kohl eyeliner, and arguably the main character: gargantuan faux-diamond earrings, which I truly have been thinking about ever since.
