Huishan Zhang launches portfolio celebrating Asian-owned businesses to support anti-racism charities

Huishan Zhang’s new portfolio promotes Asian businesses and highlights the rise of anti-Asian racism, says the fashion designer – as well as celebrating women around the world

Dressed with a purpose: Two of Huishan Zhang’s flamboyant designs (Huishan Zhang)

Fashion designer Huishan Zhang has launched a new visual portfolio celebrating Asian-owned businesses and supporting organisations that are working to combat anti-Asian racism in the UK.

It is the second of Zhang’s projects of this kind, having released a portfolio in 2020 to support the charity Women for Women International, that featured different women in the public eye discussing the things they’d learned during lockdown, all dressed in his trademark flamboyant designs.

This time around, Zhang has recruited several high-profile working women around the globe, including Thai singer Ploi Horwang, British journalist Tish Weinstock, Canadian stylist Leith Clark and communications entrepreneur Alessia Bossi in Milan.

The photographs, accompanied by interviews, feature the women posing in relaxed environments, such as gardens and homes, all dressed in Zhang’s clothing.

The garments featured range from matching patterned silk pyjamas to full-length gowns trimmed with maribou feathers.

Krys Marshall, actor (Huishan Zhang)

In one shot, the British stylist Kate Foley is pictured wearing a workwear look, comprising a gingham blazer and wide-leg leather trousers.

In addition to championing Asian-owned businesses that have been affected by the pandemic, the portfolio was also made with the aim of highlighting organisations and charities supporting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the USA, and East and South East Asian Britons in the UK who have been affected by a rise in hate crimes and racism.

Zhang will also be donating the proceeds from the sale of two runway looks to the AAPI Community Fund and to Stop ESEA Hate.

Kate Foley, stylist (Huishan Zhang)

Additionally, he will be offering one Asian student from a UK university the chance to be mentored by him, offering insight into the workings of a successful fashion brand, access to key knowledge, contacts, and experience that will be invaluable to their career.

“We wanted to create a moment of community and togetherness in the isolation as well as an opportunity to share stories and celebrate women,” Zhang explains of the portfolio.

“I was genuinely interested in getting to know more about the women and their experiences and opinions about the pandemic or current social issues.”

Tilly Macalister-Smith, writer (Huishan Zhang)

As for how he went about choosing the women he wanted to feature, Zhang explains that he picked those who had “strong yet very different personalities and lives”.

“We chose women who would wear the collection in a multitude of ways,” he tells The Independent.

“It really shows the collection through a variety of lenses and the true versatility of the brand.

“The interviews were also an opportunity to hear what all of the women are doing in life at the moment, from new business ventures, to the new mothers juggling different projects, or even training to be a pilot alongside their full-time job.”

In terms of what he hopes the portfolio will achieve, Zhang explains that he hopes it will inspire others to pursue an idea in their own lives. 

Ploi Horwang, singer (HUISHAN ZHANG)

“I think that both the previous portfolio published in December last year and this portfolio felt relevant in these strange times,” he says.

“Both portfolios were to bring attention to these important conversations and just a handful of some the organisations doing wonderful work to support these.”

Zhang, a Chinese-born, London-based designer, is a prolific name in the fashion industry – actor Gemma Chan wears one of his designs on the cover of the September issue of British Vogue – and has made a name for himself as a go-to for statement eveningwear that is both aesthetically playful and masterfully crafted.

Having studied at Central Saint Martins, graduating in 2010, Zhang was eventually handpicked by Delphine Arnault, then the deputy chief designer at Christian Dior, to spend his third year working in the House of Dior in Paris, in Dior’s Haute Couture Atelier.

You can view Zhang’s visual portfolio here.

You can find out more about Stop ESEA Hate here.