Malaysia-born designer slaying it in fashion world with royal and celebrity fans

HAN Chong is not just a Penang boy made good.

His is a full-blown success story that is the envy of the countless who want to make it big in the cut-throat fashion capitals of the world. Since Chong established his label Self-Portrait in London 10 years ago, scores of royals, celebrities and high-profile women have been photographed wearing his clothes.

The killer list ranges from the Princess of Wales Kate Middleton, Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, to former American first lady Michelle Obama and celebrities Beyonce, Zendaya, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Priyanka Chopra, Miranda Kerr, Emily Blunt, Selena Gomez and Blackpink.

He has come a long way from the Malaysian boy who was fascinated by the transformation he saw when his mother and aunts dressed up for special occasions, but had no clue that one could make a living from fashion. The son of a bak kwa (barbecue pork) business owner was eventually introduced to London’s famous art and design school, Central Saint Martins, and headed there in 2003. He studied womenswear design before launching his own label, Self-Portrait, in 2013.

If you look good, we look good

The secret to his success?

The first element is his female form-friendly designs. Ultra-feminine and flattering, Chong’s design goal from the start is to “enhance a woman’s mood and bring her joy”.

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“So the rest of what we do, we follow that direction,” he tells The Business Times while on a recent whirlwind visit.

That sounds vague, but what it translates into are dresses that make great use of lace, scalloped patterns, lengths, flow, transparency and even cut-outs at just the right places, so women always have a Self-Portrait piece that makes them look classy and feel confident.

His lace guipure Azaelea dress, for instance, flatters most body shapes and was an instant hit when launched in 2015. Widely copied, it remains a hot favourite today, available in different iterations.

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Secondly, Chong’s very chill vibes and languid speaking style hide a razor-sharp business sense.

Indeed, it is that ability to pick out and respond quickly to everything from shifts in women’s lifestyles to changes in manufacturing and logistics that is his other secret sauce. They drive his already good grasp of numbers and keen sense of what sells and how to go about selling it.

Arithmetic, my dear designer

For that, Chong credits his early years post-graduation when he took on all kinds of jobs to survive. His time working at High Street shops gave him “an understanding of what a business is about and what school doesn’t teach you”.

“When I started this brand, I had a very small capital, so I had to be very sensible about how I used it,” he recalls of the £150,000 (S$256,738) investment from a friend. “From a very early stage, I didn’t have the luxury of doing this just for my creative desire.”

Instead, he worked the numbers and also identified a gap in the market for contemporary luxury fashion – meaning high-quality clothes at “more reasonable” prices – and went for it.

His clothes were picked up by Selfridges, followed by online retailer Net-a-Porter, and sold out quickly.

Tops start from £200 apiece and dresses from £270, going up to around £700 for a wedding dress. “Dresses used to start at about £250 when I started 10 years ago, so we try to keep the price consistent,” says Chong, who also speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien.

His clothes are designed in his headquarters in London, before being sent to Hong Kong for instructions to be translated into Chinese for production by manufacturers in Shenzhen, China.

A lot of thought goes into the development of his collections to keep costs down, including playing with different compositions to create an impact without having to use a lot of the most expensive fabrics. “So the material stays within the price range but we don’t compromise on quality,” he explains.

I like to move it

Chong is also extremely agile at managing his label. During the pandemic, he used fabrics that were a lot more stretchable as comfort was key, and switched focus to small-occasion dresses, as those were very popular for pared-down weddings.

Meanwhile, air freight charges were going crazy while shipping was also much slower, affecting margins and deadlines. “Shipping dates to retailers are very precise, and you can’t be late or they’ll cancel your order,” says Chong.

To deal with this, he planned further ahead and worked faster at what he could. Instead of taking two weeks to design, for instance, he took just one. Chong also edited the collection to be more precise, streamlining the stock-keeping units from 200 to 120, while making sure every single design produced represented something in the collection.

To capture the burgeoning Chinese market, which was confined within the country’s borders during the pandemic, he started opening standalone stores in Asia from 2020. In two years, he racked up 50 stores in China, five in Taiwan, two in Hong Kong and one each in Macau and Thailand. Self-Portrait also has two stores in London and in Singapore, it is sold via multi-label luxury retailer Club21.

All over the world

The pandemic store openings paid off handsomely. Year-on-year sales have doubled annually since 2020, with 2023 looking “very positive as well”. Revenues are now more or less equally divided across the world – 25 per cent each from America and Europe, 30 per cent from Asia, and the rest of the world making up the remainder.

“You can no longer design one collection, hoping the whole world will buy into it,” he says. “You need to think about different lifestyles, cultures and climates, and adjust proportion and sizing.”

Covering the whole spectrum takes some skill, yet Chong – who wants Self-Portrait to be with women throughout the different stages of their lives – manages to deliver about eight collections a year. These include Chinese New Year, Ramadan, wedding and holiday capsules.

He even has a children’s line in which Princess Charlotte (Self-Portrait is reportedly the go-to brand for her mother, the Princess of Wales) was recently spotted at the coronation celebrations; as well as a range of handbags.

Chong has done so well that he bought British label Roland Mouret out of administration in December 2021. He also repaid his friend’s investment by the third year of business, with the brand successfully funding itself after just six months.

“Maybe being Asian, we have a little bit of ‘sense’ with money,” he laughs.

Maybe.

And his designing chops don’t hurt either.