Thank you for letting me fly

Zhang's latest collection is semi-couture with affordable prices. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"I want it to be a modern contemporary lifestyle brand," Zhang says. "Basically it is something associated with China but on a very international level and exclusive."

The collection is semi-couture with a price that is affordable. Every season is referenced by Chinese and Western culture, with modern-art influences. The Chinese element is more like a hidden trace rather than something obvious, Zhang says.

The clothes are for modern-day women who travel and have a real life. The fabric has been designed so it does not wrinkle, whether it is silk or cotton. That is the trademark.

Zhang is now based permanently in London, working from a Victorian building close to the British Museum in Bloomsbury, but he travels back to China most months to supervise production in Qingdao.

"I grew up in Qingdao which was isolated and conservative, but I had a big dream," he says. "I loved fashion. I always liked to put combinations together - an orange jumper over skinny jeans. I was big and fat at that time but I liked the look."

Zhang says he was very bad at school. The only thing he could pass was art class. "I told my parents that any further education would kill me. They were worried at the time, but they let me go and study abroad," Zhang adds.

Ironically, his father began his entrepreneurial career running a boutique in Qingdao before going on to found a successful electronics manufacturing business, which helped fund Zhang's education and career.