After 30 years in fashion, Chinese designer Han Feng revels in freedom to do her own thing
She arrived in New York a scrappy young immigrant from Hangzhou, and within seven years was showing at Fashion Week; after hitting the heights she’s scaled back her output, giving her freedom to pursue her interest in art
Han Feng rose to prominence in New York as an almost accidental fashion designer in the early 1990s – part of the same generation as Hong Kong’s Vivienne Tam.
“Someone introduced me to a PR company, who told me, ‘We’re gonna make you rich and famous’. I said, ‘How about just rich?’ And that’s when I did my first ready-to-wear collection and fashion show, in September 1992,” Han recalls.
Shanghai next for prize-winning Hong Kong menswear designer
As the first Chinese fashion designer to show at New York Fashion Week, the native of Nanjing, eastern China, borrowed a friend’s gallery to serve as venue. “I even mopped the floors myself and bought a huge roll of paper for the runway. But the press were all over it, and it was well received.”
Soon Han was selling her eponymous label in several big American department stores: Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys, Henri Bendel and even Brooks Brothers. “In those days they, were very receptive to unknown young designers,” she says.
This year Han will have been in fashion for 30 years, but her brand has remained niche. You can still buy Han Feng clothes, but by appointment only, direct from her New York or Shanghai studios.
