Huishan Zhang has been thinking about the excessive lives of Truman Capote’s Swans and the minimal designs of the Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer Constantin Brancusi.
He pitted two ideas against each other: restraint and liberation. He started his thesis with a short-sleeve golden bouclé jacket paired with high-waist washed jeans shown against the marble walls and chandeliers of The Dorchester hotel in London.
There were a white dress subtly cinched in at the waist with soft boning popping out like Marie Antoientte’s dresses, which are currently on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum; short dresses with trains; tweed bouclé jackets turned into floor-sweeping coats, and cocoon dresses reminiscent of Cristóbal Balenciaga.
Zhang directed his vision toward soft glamour and toned down the prints and extravagant embellishment he’s known for.
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“This season is all about shape,” Zhang said, referring to the bows at the back of dresses and the overall clean cuts he’s created.
According to the designer, the modern Swan is a woman with style and substance.
Zhang called Malala Yousafzai, whom he dressed recently in a red number, his ultimate modern-day Swan.
“She brings an elegance to the garment and that’s really important when someone is wearing one of my dresses,” he said.