Business is booming at Self-Portrait. Since 2020, Han Chong has opened over 40 stores in China along with a flagship in London’s tony Chelsea neighborhood, his second in the city. Self-Portrait’s success is not a fluke, Chong takes careful consideration of the wants and needs of his customer, wherever in the world she may be. “Because of the extension of the business, we have to make sure we have a very diverse category offering,” he explained over Zoom, mentioning the importance of denim, knitwear, day wear, and of course eveningwear, which made the brand what it is today. Despite these varied offerings, it was one of Chong’s most pared-back collections. “A lot of the shape is cleaner, and more streamlined in terms of silhouette,” he added. “The focus is on materials and an effortless flattering shape.”

Indeed the collection has a restricted color palette of black, white, and blue, punctuated by splashes of pink and gold. A long sleeve version of the short denim skirt suit that Michelle Williams wore to a recent Oscars luncheon is represented here, and this season’s jeans feature curved seams on the front and two exposed zippers at either side of the hips (“We try to make them very elongating”), in both a blue mineral wash and black. These are paired with a wide array of “going-out tops,” like long sleeve cropped tops with an asymmetrical neckline done in all over gold sequins, or a little white knitted sweater embellished with micro sequins and crystal buttons that, upon first glance, resembles a classic tweed jacket. Though Chong favors tweed separates—and there are plenty of mini-dresses, and skirt suits on offer made from houndstooth tweed—the big story this season was the faux-tweed knitwear. “It looks a lot younger, and when you wear it is much more comfortable,” Chong explained.

The Self-Portrait girl clearly loves to show off her legs, but a few of the maxi-length pieces in the collection were some of the most interesting, like the tweed jacket-inspired navy long knitted cardigan coat with silver embellished button details. The model wore it with simple pointy-toed flats and Self-Portrait’s Bow bag made from fuzzy pale yellow fake fur (“Very Easter,” Chong declared). It was effortlessly glamorous. Another look featured a floor-length all-over gold sequin mermaid skirt paired with a cream tweed jacket; it was a more modest, or perhaps older version of the Self-Portrait woman, but it wasn’t missing any fun.