A model presents a creation by Zhang Qing'er. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Born to an engineer father and a singer mother in East China's Shandong province, Zheng was trained in ink painting as a child and learned dressmaking from her grandmother.

She moved to Hong Kong to work in the movie business after university.

While living a fast-paced metropolitan life, Zheng turned to Buddhism to seek inner peace. At the same time, she started making clothes, which became a hit among fellow practitioners at her meditation camps.