Marking a significant moment for her eponymous label, Courtney Zheng makes her Australian Fashion Week debut with her first solo runway presentation this season. The Resort '27 collection titled ‘Beauty as Resistance’, continued the brand’s signature dark romanticism while turning its gaze outward toward the arts, musicians, dancers and outsiders who inspire the world of Courtney Zheng.
Since launching her brand, Courtney has steadily built a distinct point of view, one that balances technical precision with a refined, modern sensibility.
As a long-standing partner of The New Trend, we speak with Courtney ahead of her Resort '27 presentation on the evolution of her practice, the influence of her heritage, and what lies ahead.
Can you walk us through your design process, from initial concept through to the final garment, and where you tend to seek inspiration in a time of constant visual saturation?
My design process is guided by instinct before anything else. After a few years of building the brand, I think there are established design codes that naturally filter out a lot of the external noise. I don't really seek inspiration from imagery in the traditional sense. I'm more drawn to energy, attitudes, the way someone moves through a room. For this show, I wanted to celebrate the creative community that has formed around me: the artists, the musicians, the collaborators who exist outside of fashion entirely. Their output and their way of being in the world became the real starting point. From there, it always comes back to fabric. The feel of a cloth in my hands dictates far more about a silhouette's direction than any mood board ever could.
There’s a strong sense of craftsmanship in everything you create, from fabrication through to finish. What does true craftsmanship mean to you today, and how do you preserve that level of detail in a modern production environment?
I grew up watching my mother and grandmother treat production with enormous rigour, and I think that shaped a deeply pragmatic side to how I design. I work better off the page than I do from sketches and work closely with my team in the atelier to follow the construction as it’s happening. In a modern production environment, that level of presence is increasingly difficult to maintain, and I won't pretend there aren't pressures. But I think the answer is being selective. Fewer pieces, finished with real intention, rather than volume for its own sake.
Your family’s history in textiles spans generations, from your grandmother’s beginnings in a fabric mill to your parents’ manufacturing business. How has this heritage shaped the designer you are today, both creatively and technically?
My grandmother began as a young worker on the floor of a fabric mill and rose to lead the factory. My parents then built their own denim manufacturing business here in Australia. Growing up in that environment meant that fashion was never abstract to me — it was physical, technical, and completely unglamorous in the best possible way. I spent school holidays in the workshop. I understood thread count and construction before I understood trends. What that lineage gave me most of all, I think, is work ethic. I couldn't design something I wouldn't be able to defend technically. That standard was instilled in me long before I had a label of my own.
At The New Trend, we’ve had the privilege of supporting your collections from early on. How has that relationship evolved for you, and what does it mean to grow alongside a retail partner who understands your vision?
The relationship with The New Trend has meant a great deal, particularly in the early stages when the brand was still finding its footing. As we don't have a dedicated retail space, it's invaluable to have a partner who gives the community a place to physically feel the clothes.
Beyond that, TNT provides real, immediate customer feedback that feeds directly into how we design, allowing us to work with intention rather than in isolation. And perhaps most meaningfully, the willingness to back some of my riskier pieces is the reason some of them make it to production at all. The Ediline Crystal Coat from the first collection is a perfect example; a piece that reads as extravagant but is deceptively easy to wear, and one that may never have left the design stage without a buyer willing to take that chance. Growing alongside a partner who trusts the vision enough to bet on it is something I don't take for granted.
This marks your first solo show at Australian Fashion Week, which feels like a significant milestone for the brand. How are you approaching this moment, and what does it represent for you personally and professionally?
Last year, being part of The Frontier felt right. There was a collective energy that suited where I was at the time, and I genuinely believe in the strength of community over competition. But a solo show asks something different of you - it's an invitation to be fully accountable to your own vision, without the comfort of shared context. I think it is every designer's dream to show, and I am grateful to have that opportunity this early in my career. It signals an intention that the brand has a point of view worth giving space to, and that I'm ready to articulate it on that scale. I'm approaching it with seriousness, but also with a real sense of occasion.
You’ll be presenting your Resort collection, which will arrive later this season. What can our customers expect from this offering, and how does it build on the foundations of your previous work?
Despite this being a Resort show, it leans heavily into the dark romance that Courtney Zheng is known for, in conjunction with the foundations of the brand which has always been clean lines, considered fabrication, and silhouettes with a quiet authority. Designing with a runway show in mind is quite different to the presentation of our other annual collections. It challenges us to be more daring and I believe that will come through in the new fabrications, including goat hair and pony hair. Excitingly, this is the first collection that offers a co-ed line, and pieces are unisex which extends the wearability of the styles across a broader customer spectrum.
Courtney Zheng's Resort '27 Collection will be available at TNT in October 2026.
Photography courtesy of Lucas Dawson & Sonny Vandevelde.
