Best Wardrobes in Britain: Patricia Zhou

Stepping into Patricia Zhou's East London home, the satellite Who What Wear UK team and I found ourselves bathed in warm golden-hour light, in part due to the soft sheen of the floor-to-ceiling wood panelling that her apartment is decked out in. Her design-led home, which she shares with her partner, evokes a '90s modernist loft-style feeling and makes for the perfect backdrop to her eclectic soft furnishings, knick-knacks from her travels and of course, her growing wardrobe.

Both her home and wardrobe tell of her extensive worldly travels and dance profession, from her times at the Kirov Academy Ballet in Washington, D.C., The Staatsballett in Berlin, all the way to L.A. Dance Project in California. She decided to depart from company life in 2019 to pursue her own solo ambitions and creative pursuits. Patricia has since choreographed and directed her own short films (check out "Orange Tree" here), and has movement-directed for clients such as Rodarte, Flannels and Nike, leading her to become an established tastemaker and brand ambassador for a burgeoning list of luxury, sport and fashion labels. Although she comes from a ballet background, she looks to apply a contemporary lens to classical techniques, and through her films, teaching and work in the fashion landscape, she hopes to bring the joy of movement to a bigger audience and grow awareness of dance as a storytelling medium.

Fresh from a class she teaches at Danceworks Studios in London, Patricia tours us around her home, whilst modeling her favourite wardrobe pieces and go-to looks, backed by a playlist of '80s synth bangers, '90s house classics and contemporary pop (she's a big Dua Lipa fan). We chat about her foray into the fashion sphere and how it has neatly dovetailed with her rising profile in the ballet and performance scene.

Thank you for having us, Patricia!

Patricia wears a Mithridate shirt, Marine Serre bodysuit, Puma Speedcat Satin Ballet Sneakers, Molly Goddard bag, COMPLETEDWORKS earrings and Adanola trousers.

You grew up between Canada and the United States. How did these places influence your style?

I mainly grew up in the States, as I only lived in Canada until I was four. I spent most summers in China as well. The town I grew up in was a small township in Michigan. Very suburban. I’m not sure if it did influence my style as much as it made me realise that I didn’t quite fit in. I tended to want to wear different things, whilst everyone else there wore the same: Hollister jeans and UGG boots with The North Face fleeces. That was all the rage back then.

When school was out for summer, my sister and I would travel to Beijing and hang out with our family there. One of my favourite parts was getting to go shopping at these old-school wholesale shopping centres that used to be more prevalent around Beijing in the '90s. I remember buying some sparkly hot pink jeans, although mainly I’d spend my time choosing Hello Kitty pens and stationery for the next school year. When I got back to school, I remember feeling too self-conscious to wear the fun jeans. It wasn’t "cool" to stick out then.