Is there anything Margaret Zhang can’t do? She’s a model, Instagrammer, surfer – and now the new editor-in-chief of Vogue China

Influencer and front-row regular Margaret Zhang has been appointed as the editor-in-chief of Vogue China and will succeed founding editor-in-chief Angelica Cheung, who left the glossy last year and recently announced her new role as a partner at investment fund Sequoia Capital China.

“Margaret creates content on so many different platforms and brings a new perspective and voice to Vogue China,” said Anna Wintour, global editorial director of Vogue and chief content officer of Condé Nast. “When Angelica Cheung founded Vogue China 15 years ago, she brilliantly broke new ground and now Margaret will continue that tradition of leading the incredibly creative and influential fashion culture in China.”

It was only last year that we profiled Australia-born Zhang, and even back then it was clear that she was just more than a pretty face with a big following on social media.

She is a filmmaker, photographer, fashion model, stylist, pianist, ballet dancer, million-fan Instagrammer, millennial marketing expert, computer coder, law graduate, conference curator, and surfer. Over-achiever should probably also feature on 26-year-old polymath Margaret Zhang’s biography.

An internet sensation – first with a thoughtfully curated website, later with an Instagram feed – she began dabbling in fashion while studying for a law degree. Brands were captivated by the smart, gregarious and eloquent young Chinese student, so much so that Zhang ended up modelling on the other side of the world from her native Australia, and used the long-haul flight time to complete university essays.

Zhang is a dab hand on the other side of the camera, too, having learned photography and darkroom skills from an early age, a talent she has parlayed into short films and – funding permitting – a full-length film that will focus on the lives of Chinese women.