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"    Photo: Courtesy of Huishan Zhang    Huishan Zhang has quite the international pedigree, complete with a degree from Central Saint Martins and a resum\u00E9 that includes a stint at Christian Dior. Even so, the self-professed &amp;quot;family man&amp;quot; says he&amp;#039;s never happier than where he is right now, finishing up his latest collection from a studio based in his native country, China. As the designer preps for his return to London for his spring 2014 presentation, he is enjoying one last respite that involves spending time with his family, and particulary, taking comfort in his mother&amp;#039;s delicious shellfish soup. But that doesn&amp;#039;t mean Zhang&amp;#039;s career is slowing down as he was just named as a finalist for the 2013 Dorchester Collection Fashion Prize. He will also soon debut two exclusive dresses for My-Wardrobe.com.    &amp;quot;For our last collection we used Mandarin printing and also Chinese Mao suits, so it&amp;#039;s a new clash to see how West and East can be combined together,&amp;quot; he says of the dresses, due to arrive by early August. &amp;quot;These two dresses are a very extreme example of how this unique theme can work.&amp;quot; To learn more about how Chinese culture influences Zhang&amp;#039;s life, ELLE.com served him with our standard 10 questions. What is your favorite smell? I just got a new Issey Miyake perfume on the way back [home], L&amp;#039;Eau d&amp;#039;Issey. YSL M7 is another long-time favorite that I use all the time. What do you consider to be the epitome of happiness? Basically, it&amp;#039;s to follow your heart. To be around your family and do what you want to do, that is happiness to me. How do you define luxury? Luxury is a way of expressing yourself, what you believe and want to achieve. In this sense, luxury is something that needs to be pure and needs to be something that keeps people dreaming. What is the last dream you remember? My latest dreams are all about fashion week, like how do I present [my collection]. Hopefully [they&amp;#039;re] not nightmares. So far, I&amp;#039;ve had good ones about the new collection, so I&amp;#039;m happy. What&amp;#039;s your favorite childhood memory? For me, it&amp;#039;s all about having time with my family. In China, the tradition is that on the weekends we have to go to our grandparents&amp;#039; homes. Every time I went there I would always catch up with all of the cousins, so that was always one of my favorite times. What&amp;#039;s the last book you read and loved? I recently just bought a new book that&amp;#039;s about China, actually. It&amp;#039;s about the Forbidden City. It talks about the old Qing Dynasty and how all the people dressed differently, and how the clothes reflected society. To me, it&amp;#039;s really fascinating. I&amp;#039;m trying to understand my own culture while at the same time I&amp;#039;m trying to find something that will inspire me as well. It&amp;#039;s quite fascinating to read something about myself and my own culture. Describe your home&amp;#039;s aesthetic. I like a very minimalist style, but I also like to bring some warm elements to the minimalism. My friends always laugh at me because I told them I really want my home to be decorated in all marble, but I&amp;#039;d put lambskin on top of it. So you have something that&amp;#039;s very clean, but you have some warmness to it. What are your vices? Thinking too much, really. I&amp;#039;m constantly thinking. I&amp;#039;m a Virgo, so people say it&amp;#039;s a natural thing for Virgos. I&amp;#039;m always trying to pay attention to details, but maybe sometimes I pay too much attention. That can be a bad habit that sometimes drives people mad. Describe yourself in five words or less. Professional, very fussy about things (sometimes), and lovable. I love my friends, my friends love me, and also my family, so I think I&amp;#039;m a lovable person. And then I think I&amp;#039;m responsible. I want to take on responsibility for what I&amp;#039;m doing, and I&amp;#039;m really proud of that. That&amp;#039;s pretty much me. What possession will you never throw away? Anything old. I don&amp;#039;t really throw things away. Also, shoes. I am such a shoe freak. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a23455/huishan-zhang-interview/>