Huishan Zhang Tweed: 25 Jackets, Coats, Skirts and Dresses, and What Tweed Actually Is
Huishan Zhang Tweed: 25 Jackets, Coats, Skirts and Dresses, and What Tweed Actually Is
Tweed is the second signature of this house, after the embellished gown, and there are 25 tweed pieces in the collection Luxury Handbags carries. That is more than a tenth of everything, which for a house best known for eveningwear is worth explaining.
What tweed actually is
Tweed is a woollen cloth woven from yarn that was dyed before it was spun. That single fact explains everything about how it behaves. Because the colour lives in the yarn, a tweed has depth that a printed cloth never has: look closely at a camel tweed and you will find rust, cream and grey woven through it. It is also why tweed does not fade the way a surface-dyed fabric does.
The name comes from the Scottish and Irish weaving trade, where the cloth was hard, weatherproof and worn outdoors. What fashion houses use now is a fancy tweed: the same weave principle with boucle yarns, lurex threads, ribbon and fringing worked in, so it is decorative rather than protective. Huishan Zhang uses it that way, and cuts it against a clean, long jacket line rather than the boxy shape the fabric is usually associated with.
Jackets
The largest group, and the place to start. A tweed jacket is the most useful thing in this list because it will go over a dress, a shirt and a knit, and make all three read as an outfit.
- Astrid Jacket in Black Tweed, $3,460
- Cecil Jacket in Pale Green Tweed, $3,270
- Cecil Jacket in Black White Tweed, $3,190
- Isobel Jacket in Sky Blue Tweed, $3,080
- Bridget Jacket in Off White Embroidered Tweed, $3,080
- Yves Jacket in Black Gold Lurex Tweed, $1,740
- Adele Jacket in Peach Tweed, $1,590
- Wyatt Gilet in Ivory Tweed, $1,560
- Cecile Jacket in Pink Black Tweed, $1,450
Coats
Full-length tweed at outerwear weight. These are the most expensive tweed pieces in the collection and the ones that will last longest, because a wool coat that is properly cut is a fifteen-year garment.
- Halo Coat in Camel Tweed, $5,320
- Betula Coat in Pale Yellow Tweed, $3,830
- Kimberly Coat in Off White Tweed, $3,270
Skirts
The most practical entry point. A tweed skirt is genuinely year-round in a temperate climate, and it sits happily under a plain knit for work and under a silk top for dinner.
- Victoria Skirt in Black White Tweed, $2,900
- Ellen Midi Skirt in Sky Blue Tweed, $2,150
- Twilly Mini Skirt in Black Tweed, $1,590
- Vania Skirt in Pale Green Tweed, $1,590
- Valerian Skirt in Pink Black Tweed, $850
- Kaia Skirt in Pink Tweed, $840
- Giada Skirt in Peach Tweed, $700
Dresses
- Genevieve Midi Dress in White Tweed, $3,830
- Esme Midi Dress in Camel Tweed, $3,080
- Cyril Dress in Pink Black Tweed, $1,780
- Celena Dress in White Tweed, $1,210
Trousers
How to wear it without looking costumed
| Do | Do not |
|---|---|
| One tweed piece per outfit | Tweed jacket over tweed skirt over tweed coat |
| Balance thickness with something slim underneath | Volume on volume |
| Let the tweed carry the pattern and keep the rest plain | Tweed with another print |
| Air it and brush it after wearing | Dry clean it every time |
Caring for it
Dry clean only, and as seldom as possible. Wool resists dirt and odour on its own, so brushing and airing does most of the work. Let mud dry completely before you brush it off, spot clean rather than full clean, and hang the garment on a wide hanger with room around it. What wears out a tweed jacket is the solvent, not the wearing.
Frequently asked questions
What is tweed?
A rough, woollen cloth woven from dyed yarn, traditionally in Scotland and Ireland, where the colour comes from the yarn rather than from printing and dyeing the finished fabric. That is why tweed has depth close up: you are looking at several colours of wool woven together, not one colour applied on top.
Is Huishan Zhang tweed the same as Chanel tweed?
They belong to the same family of fancy tweeds, which are looser and more decorative than the hard country cloth the name originally described. Both use boucle yarns, lurex, ribbon and fringing. Huishan Zhang cuts a longer, cleaner jacket line than the classic boxy Chanel shape, and pairs its tweed with the same architectural tailoring it uses elsewhere.
How much is a Huishan Zhang tweed jacket?
Tweed jackets in the current collection run from $1,450 to $3,460. Tweed coats go higher, to $5,320.
How do you clean tweed?
Dry clean only, and as rarely as you can. Wool is naturally resistant to dirt and odour, so brushing it down and airing it after wear does most of the work. Spot clean marks rather than cleaning the whole garment, and let mud dry fully before you brush it off. Repeated dry cleaning is what wears a tweed jacket out, not wearing it.
Can you wear tweed in summer?
A tweed jacket over a cotton dress works well into early summer and in air conditioning, and a lighter tweed skirt is genuinely year-round. A full tweed coat is not a summer garment anywhere warm.
Does tweed suit every body shape?
Tweed is a thick cloth and it adds visible bulk, which is a real consideration. The way around it is proportion rather than avoidance: a fitted tweed jacket over a slim skirt, and the same jacket over slim trousers, works on everyone, where a tweed jacket over a tweed skirt over a tweed coat does not.
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