Director William Chang is putting his award-winning touch on Chinese blockbusters

Hong Kong film editor, costume designer, production designer and art director William Chang Suk-ping has played a prominent part in all of acclaimed film director Wong Kar-wai’s films.

Chang created Maggie Cheung’s iconic look for the 2000 hit In the Mood for Love, and in 2015 he received an Academy Award nomination for best costume design for Wong’s 2013 film The Grandmaster.

The camera-shy Chang recently branched out onto the small screen. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal in 2014, Chang revealed his straightforward approach to working. “I don’t pick,” he responded. “If I have time, I accept every project. Low-budget films, big-budget films.”

Although bid budgets are no guarantee of box office success, some of the most popular TV shows have also been among the most costly to productions.

TV dramas in mainland China often have huge budgets at their disposal. Eternal Love, the romance adapted from novels entitled To the Sky Kingdomwritten by Tang Qi, reportedly cost more than 5 million yuan (HK$ 5.86 million) an episode and 300 million yuan for the entire series.
Eternal Love, starring Yang Mi, Mark Chao and Dilraba Dilmurat, which was broadcast on Zhejiang Television and Dragon Television from January to March this year. The series is the most viewed Chinese drama online in history with more than 35 billion views.

Why are these popular TV shows so expensive to produce? Chang, the style director for the drama Eternal Love, created distinctive looks for 130 characters, and together with his team was responsible for making 1,400 sets of clothes. He visited places such as South Korea and Japan, looking for the most appropriate fabric, and constructed them entirely by hand. Suffice to say that every costume is on a par with haute couture.

Here are four of the most discussed new and upcoming Chinese TV shows, to which Chang has lent his expertise.