Zhang Hong, a third-year IFA Paris student, has received a silver award in September's menswear design competition which is part of the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.

This year more than 200 designers from China submitted their work to the competition. Zhang's collection was selected as one of the competition's 10 finalists which are displayed during the tournament.

The 2007 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai will run through next Monday. Over the weekend at the grand opening ceremony, the eight top-ranked men's singles and doubles players in the world, were wearing the tailor-made designs created by the 10 finalists and selected by the competition organization committee.

More than 200 members of the media, a legion of tennis fans, and the event's corporate sponsors were also present to celebrate the event and take in the designs created by Zhang and the other finalists.

The organization committee laid out the award-winning costume collections for the first time and awarded the prizes to the winning costume designers. It is reported that four sets of the clothing have already been displayed in Madrid.

Zhang's award-winning collection was inspired by the idea of integrating traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting with Western-style menswear.

Using the forms prevalent in Western fashion and combining them with the decorative embroidery and beadwork found in Chinese traditional clothes, Zhang created a collection that is subtle but creative, restrained and stylish, shedding a new light on the intersection of East and West and also embodying IFA's commitment to providing a traditional French fashion education that embraces China's history of style and culture.

(Shanghai Daily November 14, 2007)