Vicky Zhang, the designer behind the family-focused brand VICKY’Z, designs matching clothing ensembles intended for parent-child duos of all ages and genders. Designing clothing suitable for both children and adults can present a challenge for some designers, but Zhang, with the immense talent she possesses, manages to pull it off with ease.

Her Spring/Summer 2018 collection remained consistent with the playful and elegant nature of her previous collections. Each model walked down the runway with a boy or girl child counterpart. This collection differed from her previous ones because the clothing was heavily influenced by traditional Chinese clothing. Most of the women that walked down the runway had on beautiful silk evening gowns in various pastel hues. The cuts of the fabric were modern and form-fitting, but occasionally women would walk down the runway in beautiful pieces influenced by the clothing worn by women in the Tang and Yuan dynasties.

Although the adult pieces were stunning, it was the children’s clothing that stole the show. The child models, holding the hands of the older models, walked down the runway in pieces similar to their adult counterpart. The maturity present in the other pieces juxtaposed against the whimsical nature of the children’s clothing. The girls that walked down the runway wore dresses that could have drawn inspiration from Disney princesses. One look worn by a girl looked as though it belonged in Lewis Carol’s “Alice in Wonderland”. The boys looked handsome in various silk suits and two-piece sets that drew inspiration from both Walt Disney and Tang-style suits. One boy walked down the runway in a fierce look reminiscent of an ancient Chinese warrior.

The most beautiful moment of the show came at the end, when the children walked down the runway to traditional Chinese music carrying paper lanterns shaped like lotus flowers. As if they hadn’t already charmed the audience enough, after Zhang’s bow, the children came out one final time and danced for the audience.

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