At Self-Portrait, Han Chong is constantly looking for new ways to fill a void in his customers’ wardrobes. “A very significant part of the revenue comes from direct-to-consumer,” the designer explained on a Zoom from his studio in London. “So resort is a very important dynamic category for us.” Chong is thinking not only about what his woman wears to “dress up” and to “go to work,” he’s also making clothes for a global consumer. “Whether they are American on the East Coast or the West Coast, or they are in Asia where they have a different lifestyle and culture, we need to create a range that is able to have all of these elements in there.”
That means this collection includes his signature tweed dresses and tailored separates trimmed with crystals, a corded lace shift dresses with enameled floral buttons, mesh dresses with crystal details, cotton poplin pajama-esque sets, and denim pieces that are consistently one of the best parts of his offering. For resort, he chose a dark, slightly washed denim for femme-but-baggy shorts with a matching bustier and a scalloped edge detail, and a pair of excellent high waisted, straight legged jeans cropped right above the ankle that served as the perfect grounding foil to a flouncy blouse with a curvilinear design at the bodice.
“It’s a bit sexy, but still a quite clean look,” he said. “I feel like after the pandemic, you have to think of the girl dressing up. She wants to be comfy but she wants to make a statement.” A black sequin-knit jacket with bronze-colored embellished trim at the edges was certainly a statement piece, and he showed it two ways: with a matching mini-skirt and over a cutout swimsuit-worn-as-a-bodysuit, and those boyish-cut jeans. It was an instant way to show the versatility of such an item in a wardrobe and surely one of the many reasons why his girls keep coming back for more.
