Self-Portrait
Established · $400-$700 · London, United Kingdom
Lace and guipure eveningwear with a construction obsession, red-carpet looks at a contemporary price.
Think: Lace, structured femininity, occasion wear.
The buy: the guipure lace dress
What to buy
the guipure lace dress
Categories
Occasions
Why Self-Portrait is worth it
Self-Portrait gives you the lace dress of a designer label without the designer markup: sheer panels, hourglass cuts and real construction.
The signature is lace cut and pieced almost like tailoring, with sheer panels mapped to an hourglass line, so a dress reads intricate up close and clean from across a room. Han Chong develops many of the fabrics in-house and trained his factories to sew pieces built from dozens of parts, and most dresses come fully lined.
Self-Portrait picks
View All Picks →
Is now a good time?
The sale pattern
From 15 months of sale tracking.
Self-Portrait discounts about every 14 weeks, and it's been 12 weeks.
- Runs a sale
- about once a quarter
- Last sale
- 3 months ago
- Typical markdown
- 55% off
- Deepest we’ve seen
- 55% off
About Self-Portrait
Han Chong founded Self-Portrait in London in 2013. Born in Malaysia, he trained at Central Saint Martins and had exhibited as an artist in Venice before turning to clothes.
He wanted well-made, design-led clothes for women, priced between the high street and designer labels, and his lace dresses with sheer panels became the label's calling card.
- Founded
- 2013
- Founded by
- Han Chong
- Based in
- London, United Kingdom
- Made in
- China
- Made of
- Mostly polyester lace, crepe and chiffon, lined, with some viscose knits
- Shipping
- A dedicated US store delivers free to US mainland addresses in 2 to 6 working days, with import duties and taxes covered by the brand.
- Where to buy
- Self-Portrait's own site · Our Self-Portrait picks
What shoppers say
From reviews and try-on videos, in our words.
- Fit
Most product pages mark styles true to size and say how much the fabric stretches; plenty of the structured pieces have none. A few heavily embellished styles run small and suggest sizing up.
- Fabric
Expect polyester lace, crepe and chiffon over full linings. The designer develops many fabrics in-house and sometimes saves the richest one for the front of a dress, part of how prices stay below designer level.
- Shipping
The US store delivers free to mainland addresses in two to six working days, and the brand covers import duties and taxes, so nothing is due on arrival.
- Returns
Returns are accepted within 14 days of delivery at your own cost, on a UPS label from its returns portal. There are no exchanges, and earrings can't go back unless faulty.
What Self-Portrait is made of
Polyester · Viscose · Cotton, with nylon
- Natural
- 28%
- Plant-based
- 22%
- Synthetic
- 50%
Works most in: polyester, viscose and cotton
From the fabric listed on 176 pieces · 97% of the range lists it · Checked October 2026
How we read itSee more brands that work in polyester & nylon →
Self-Portrait in our edits
View All Edits →
High QPR Brands
The fashion brands giving you far more than their price tags suggest.
Where to Find The Dress
The little black book for your big night (or day).
Statement Jackets Part 2
More of the ones that make the rest of the outfit irrelevant.
Fall Trends Part 2
Fur trim on everything, lace everywhere, the pouch bag, and the cummerbund nobody saw coming.
Self-Portrait in our comparisons
If you like Self-Portrait
The buy: the draped lace midi dress
Romantic occasion dresses with hand-beaded detail, Vietnamese design in semi-fitted cuts.
The buy: the ruched-sleeve blazer
Dresses and soft tailoring for day-to-night dressing, the New York label that made ruched sleeves a signature.
The buy: the pearl-beaded baguette
Beirut-made bags, bustiers and party dresses, hand-beaded and crocheted, for nights that start late and run later.
The buy: the cutout midi dress
Dresses and knitwear with architectural cutouts and feminine draping, where structure softens into sensuality.
Self-Portrait, answered
- What is Self-Portrait?
- Self-Portrait is a London label known for lace dresses with sheer panels in hourglass shapes, plus party dresses, separates, bridal, jewellery and bags.
- Is Self-Portrait a good brand?
- Yes. We like it for designer-level detail at a contemporary price: lace and sheer panelling cut to flatter, lined dresses, and a founder who trained his factories to sew complicated pieces properly.
- Who founded Self-Portrait?
- Han Chong, a Malaysian-born designer who trained at Central Saint Martins, founded it in London in 2013.
- Where is Self-Portrait from?
- London, where it was founded and where its collections are designed.
- Where are Self-Portrait dresses made?
- In China, in factories its founder trained to sew his detailed designs.
- Does Self-Portrait run true to size?
- Mostly. Most product pages mark styles true to size; a few embellished styles run small and suggest sizing up.
- Does Self-Portrait ship to the US?
- Yes. Its US store delivers free to mainland addresses, and the brand covers import duties and taxes.
- Where can I buy Self-Portrait?
- On the brand's own site, which runs a dedicated US store.
- When does Self-Portrait go on sale?
- Across the 5 sales we have tracked, Self-Portrait has run one about once a quarter. The last one was about 3 months ago.
- How much does Self-Portrait discount?
- Their sales consistently reach about 55% off.
- What is Self-Portrait made of?
- Across the 176 Self-Portrait pieces we could read in October 2026, about 28% of the fabric is natural fibers, 22% plant-based fibers like viscose and 50% synthetic. The most common fabrics are polyester, viscose and cotton.
- Which brands are like Self-Portrait?
- If you like Self-Portrait, look at Montsand, Cinq à Sept, Vanina and SIMKHAI.