Keyi Zhang

Biography

I am a PhD student researching fashion history and theory. My thesis examines the cultural significance of the tracksuit within the “Danwei” (work unit) system in socialist China from the 1950s to the 1980s. Specifically, I examine how the tracksuit, a type of sportswear originating in the West, was adopted and reinterpreted through mass sports activities within the danwei, the evolving representation of tracksuits amid the reconstruction of state-owned factories in the 1980s, and its representation of national pride and youth fashion.
By exploring tracksuits as a lens for sports policy, communism, and geopolitics in China's socialist and reform periods, my thesis aims to offer a new perspective on Chinese fashion and the globalisation of fashion studies.
Prior to my PhD, I worked as a fashion journalist at T China: The New York Times Style Magazine.