Through the Looking Glass

In today’s digital landscape, celebrity clout takes much greater priority than telling stories. So much can be done in post-production that physically constructing fantasy seems a little redundant.

33 Comments
June 16, 2016Sydney, Australia

margaret-zhang-disney-seduce-alice-megan-blake-irwin-tea-party

With today’s commercial state of all editorial and advertising image creation, there’s seldom any opportunity to build out a magical set capable of evolving with a storyline. Gone are the glory days of Tim Walker and British Vogue – and that’s not even a reflexive bitterness towards the democratisation of image creation, or the perceived dilution of the profession as a whole. Rather, the reality is that publications and brands have less money to spend on provoking the imagination. In today’s digital landscape, celebrity clout takes much greater priority than telling stories. So much can be done in post-production that physically constructing fantasy seems a little redundant.

So, you can imagine that working on this incredible set with the Seduce and Disney teams for their collection in celebration of the new Alice in Wonderland movie was pretty spectacular, as it was for the whole team. It’s refreshing to reinvigorate your curiosity with the other-worldy facets of your creative craft beyond the limitations of a sterile studio, or soulless street style settings.

Thank you so much, team, for having me onboard.

MODEL // Megan Blake Irwin @ IMG

PHOTOGRAPHER & STYLIST // Margaret Zhang

HAIR // Jenny Kim @ MAP Ltd

MAKEUP // Kellie Stratton @ MAP Ltd

STYLING ASSISTANT // Georgina Ferguson

ART DIRECTOR // Al Weekes

SPECIAL THANKS // Kirrilly Sams

See all behind-the-scenes shots and footage at ELLE AUSTRALIA

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-jenny-kim-kellie-stratton

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-1 copy

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-mirror-tea-party-1

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-mirror-bts

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-mirror-cake

margaret-zhang-disney-seduce-alice-megan-blake-irwin-mirror

margaret-zhang-megan-blake-disney-seduce-love

About

Margaret Zhang 章凝 is an Australian-born-Chinese filmmaker, photographer, consultant and writer based between New York and Shanghai. Since establishing her website in 2009, Zhang has gone on to work with global brands including CHANEL, Swarovski, YEEZY, Bulgari, Gucci, MATCHES, Under Armour, and Louis Vuitton in a wide range of capacities both in front of and behind the camera, while completing her Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws at The University of Sydney. Zhang’s directing, photography, and styling has been employed by the likes of VOGUE, L’Officiel, Harper’s BAZAAR, NOWNESS, and ELLE internationally. She has been listed in Forbes Asia’s 30Under30 and TimeOut’s 40Under40, and her work has been recognized as shaping the international fashion industry by the Business of Fashion BoF500 Index for four consecutive years. CNN has identified Zhang as a leading fashion photographer in Asia and ELLE named her the region’s most influential digital voice. She went on to be the first Asian face to cover ELLE Australia. In 2016, she co-founded BACKGROUND, a global consultancy for which she specialises in Western-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-Western cultural bridging for a range of luxury, lifestyle, and brand initiatives. In 2017, she exhibited a series of 39 unseen photographic works as a solo show in Sydney, and premiered her first short film – a 15-minute exploration of her visceral relationship with classical music on both performance and abstract planes – to critical acclaim. In 2018, co-curated the first annual FOREFRONT Summit focused on inter-industry problem-solving at all scales of business. From this king summit, Zhang developed FOREFRONT+ – a round table series of candid conversations covering subject matters of universal concern. In 2019, THE FACE Magazine engaged Zhang as Creative-Director-at-Large for Asia for its relaunch. Zhang is currently working on her first feature film.