Margaret Zhang
“I cleanse first thing in the morning. Generally speaking, Sodashi’s clay cleanser works best with my skin type, though during New York summer when things are a lot sweatier and grimier, Cetaphil gives a more thorough clean – only use that once a day though, as it’s quite drying.”
“I’m a pretty low-maintenance human, so skincare is more important to me from a beauty perspective than make-up is, as such. Having said that, going blonde has definitely affected my style in the range of colour palettes I can explore, so that in turn has had a flow-on effect on the make-up I’m experimenting with.”
Margaret wears Gucci coat and own custom T-shirt.
“Equal Beauty’s Super Serum, or Chanel’s La Solution 10, are really comfortable and light to wear throughout the day. If I’ve been travelling a lot, I do sometimes wear a thin layer of a moisturising mask that goes on clear (Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Recovery Masque or Glossier’s Moisturizing Moon Mask), and The Beauty Chef’s Beauty Fix Balm is great for super dry winters when you’re in and out of aggressively-heated spaces a lot.”
“I generally love woodier fragrances – my go-tos at the moment are Loewe 001 and Rag & Bone’s Bergamot.”
“Honestly, cat-eyes and dark lips are the limit of my make-up application skills – and I really had to train myself in those out of necessity during my ballet days. I only commit to one or the other when I know I have more than 20 minutes to get ready (enough time to mess it up and start over). Last season, I sat next to Dita Von Teese at a show, and she said that she had her entire face routine (liner, lashes, lips, face powder scenario, beauty mark, etc.) down to a science of 12 minutes. Super-speed goals.”
“I always try to use products where I can pronounce most of the ingredients on the label. Having consulted in the beauty industry, you learn so much about the unnecessary fragrances and fillers that are added to what would otherwise be a great product, for aesthetic or costing purposes. I do a lot of research on the products I invest in before committing to one. That said, I’m not really the one to be mashing up avocado with almond meal to smear all over my face. Obviously, there is a science to beauty products, where the active component of a plant is extracted, or some chemical compound is isolated, and therefore more effective than its naturally occurring state for a particular purpose. So you just have to do your reading, and do your best to find things that are organic, if possible, and failing that, alcohol-free, paraben-free and free of animal testing are important qualities for me personally.”
On the cultural changes she would like to see happen in the next decade:
“I’d like to see this pendulum of social rhetoric swing back to a more substantial culture of collective education, with greater emphasis placed on being aware and informed, rather than getting ahead with face value. The democratisation of technology has allowed for so much access across all industries, but I do feel that it has diluted the quality of conversation, authentic messaging without selfish motivations, and creative end products.”
“Depending on the occasion, I might do a black cat-eye or a dark lip, but otherwise I keep it pretty minimal.”
“My hair is much drier than it used to be pre-blonde, so I always put in Kérastase Sérum Therapiste before I head out for the day, a hydrating hair mask once a week, and an apple cider vinegar rinse once a month.”
On how she started out blogging:
“I started my website when I was 16 as a creative escape from a very regimented, analytical maths and physics-dominated high school environment. I had all these inspiration images from couture collections stored up from my dance and costume design days, so I decided to put them all together somewhere, and it really evolved from there.”
Jewellery by Sarah & Sebastian, Mania Mania, and Delfina Delettrez.
On her dark lip favourites:
“At the moment, I’m playing with a mix of NARS Scarlet Empress and Riri Woo [ed. note: discontinued (MAC’s Rihanna collaboration from a while back – a variant on their Ruby Woo matte shade). The NARS tends more towards the purple side of wine, so the reddy-brown MAC shade kind of pulls that back.”
On her personal style:
“I essentially dress like a boy and/or an assassin.”
Margaret wears Marimekko shirt and Citizens of Humanity jeans.
On her favourite project to date:
“I’m super proud of the short film I directed that was released a few days ago – I’ll Have What She’s Having. It’s so easy to get caught up in the clutter and mess of social media rhetoric, and to try and escape into your work, so I think it’s so important for women to lead by example in being informed and aware. I wanted to transplant the idea of Rive Gauche philosophers at Café de Flore into Chinatown in Manhattan with modern day heroines telling us what’s what. I think fashion is struggling at the moment to elegantly address the barrage of social issues relevant to us as women, as the press, and as creatives from so many different angles, so I wanted to create something thought-provoking, beautiful, and invigorating for women to connect with in whatever way they feel fit.”
Shoes from left to right: Stella Luna, Stella Luna, Charlotte Olympia, Chanel, Balenciaga, Vetements, Want Les Essentiels.
On her favourite beauty treatments:
“Only when I’m back in Australia – I absolutely have to see Fumi Yamamoto at Zen Facial for lymphatic drainage as soon as I’m off the plane, followed by acupuncture with Houng Lau at Eastern Therapies (mostly for my gnarly shoulder and neck tension).”
“I do a green clay face mask once every couple of weeks to pull toxins and impurities out of my face (the Argiletz one is super simple, and the Root Science Detox one comes as a powder with a few added clays, and is a bit more exfoliating). I wear SPF every day (either Mecca Cosmetica Invisible Superspray or Dermalogica SPF 50+) – skin cancer education in primary school really worked on me.”
“Fumi Yamamoto blends a range of oils for different moods and purposes (e.g. clarity, radiance, calming, helping with sleep etc.). I always travel with them – they’re amazing for jet lag.”
On her favourite places to eat:
“Depends where I am! In New York, I adore Souen in Soho and An Choi on the Lower East Side. In Australia, I rove between Bondi Ramen, Shuk in North Bondi and some others, but the best food really is Mama Zhang’s.”
Margaret wears Marimekko shirt and Citizens of Humanity jeans.
“I honestly don’t shop a lot, but online is preferred – the shipping logistics that Farfetch has nailed impress me to no end.”
On using natural oils as part of her every day skincare routine:
“I’ve always used coconut oil and rose hip oil depending on the season and/or where I am in the world. I’ve also recently been introduced to moringa oil, which I love for make-up removal.”
On her Sunday mornings:
“I catch up on editing and writing, scrub my kitchen floor, and have a friend over for tea – in no particular order.”
On her hair products:
“I use the Kérastase Reflection mask for intense hydration and protection of my now-blonde hair. Pre-bleach, masks were too heavy for my hair – I have standard Asian hair (very thick and a lot of it), and I was shampooing and conditioning once every 2-3 days. Now, I only wash my hair once a week, just to allow my hair and scalp the time to rebalance themselves with their natural oils. Any treatment I put in now gets absorbed so much more quickly because of how porous the bleach left the individual strands.”
“Generally speaking, I only wear some highlighter (Glossier Haloscope is hands down the best for dewy skin), and the rusty pink in Chanel’s 268 Candeur et Expérience palette from Lucia Pica’s first Le Rouge No 1 collection is my favourite daytime shade for something around the eyes.”
“Because I travel so much, my skin is A) exposed to so many different climates, and B) suffers a lot of dehydration from planes, so I have a basic handle on what products are appropriate for me personally when it’s really humid (gel cleansers, clay masks and serums), versus what combination works when my skin is super dry and thirsty from winter indoor heating (cream cleansers, heavier moisturising treatments or oils).”
In a world where fashion bloggers dominate our Instagram feeds, it’s not hard to feel like things are blurring into a monochromatic sea of sameness. Outfits are carefully crafted and snapped on the streets in the same way, jackets are slung off shoulders in an identical manner, and the same ‘original’ quotes seem to float across our feeds every other day. Sometimes it’s enough to make a girl want to unfollow everyone (except maybe Kirby Jenner. And possibly Doug the Pug). But just as we start to envisage tossing our phones out the window of a speeding car, we get a reminder of just how great fashion can make you feel. Margaret Zhang, aka the fresh-faced genius who cracked the digital fashion scene back in 2009, offers up an unapologetically unique voice in an industry that likes to follow.
When Margaret talks, we listen. And it’s not just her self-assured, well-honed sense of style that commands our attention. We’re mildly suspicious that — much like Hogwarts queen, Hermione Granger — Margaret Zhang has mastered the art of time travel. How else could you manage a schedule as grandioso? She’s a writer, stylist, photographer, and creative director who has worked for places like L’Officiel, Harper’s BAZAAR, NYLON, Marie Claire, Buro 24/7, and ELLE, among others. And she’s 22. Shit.
Margaret also has that flawless steez down pat, with more designer threads in her possession than you could poke a stick at. A self-made overachiever with one of the most enviable wardrobes around? Call us voyeuristic (and hyperbolic), but that’s exactly the kind of woman whose house we live to poke around in. So we did it. We headed to her shiny NYC abode last week and instantly fell hard for her beauty cabinet; every covetable beauty product our tiny minds could think of spilled out of their ceramic homes, calling into question our minimalist approach to beauty. Elsewhere in her apartment, Prada, Gucci and Chanel bags fell from the backs of doors, fur coats and bombers hugged each other in wardrobes, bottles of Loewe perfume dressed up keyboards, and Friedrich Nietzche paperbacks balanced out artfully dispersed stacks of Carine Roitfeld and Alexander McQueen coffee table books. It’s as if Margaret looked in on our apartment dreams, jotted down a few notes, and then recreated them with meticulous precision.
We hung out with the low-maintenance beauty in her magic apartment and picked her (super smart) brain on everything from beauty and shopping, to what cultural changes she hopes will happen in the next 10 years. Get acquainted.
Photography, Dan Roberts. Words, Madeleine Woon.
