Much kudos to VOGUE for featuring a two page spread dedicated to Asian supermodels in their December issue! In the past, I've always felt their presence was largely underrepresented and overshadowed by their Caucasian counterparts and were seen by the fashion world as diversity quotas rather than bona fide supermodels. However, with Asia growing into a prevalent contender and consumer of high fashion, the industry is definitely feeling the demand and making the appropriate supply adjustments.
The facts speak louder than words: Earlier this year, Liu Wen became Estee Lauder's first Asian spokesmodel. Later, Maybelline announced fellow Chinese model Shu Pei as the face of the brand. One can even look at Marc Jacobs's retro China Spring 2011 collection for Louis Vuitton, in which eight out of 53 models were Asian. I'm so happy the fashion world is embracing, recognizing and mainstreaming Asian beauty!
Here are some of my favorite supermodels from the East:
Du Juan, China
Liu Wen, China
Lily Zhi, China
Hyoni Kang, South Korea
Hye Park, South Korea
Tao Okomoto, Japan
Ai Tominaga, Japan
2 comments:
Asians represent!!! woohoo! Seriously tired of American media thinking Asians are not 'pretty' enough to grace magazine covers or be on hit tv and movies so I get really happy when I see things like this :D We are fab and they are just jealous haha
I like this article, I do. I think it's a great step forward.
But honestly, I hate how the media objectifies Eastern Asians as a commodity and rarity, without showing the full spectrum of beautiful Asian ethnicities. South Asia, South East/Pacific Asia are not represented. It's only the Japanese, Chinese and Koreans of the world. I don't see any Nepalese, or Bhutanian, or Indian, or Pakistani, or Thai, or Filipino represented in this spread.
These women are gorgeous and have long been overdue their time in the spotlight, and this is a good step forward, but I consider it a very tiny, minor one. One that is not broad, or big enough.
I find it offensive that fashion media only propels forward the Asians with the features that were once categorized as "Oriental," and not the other myriad nationalities/ethnicities there are in the VAST continent known as Asia--which includes the Middle East and Turkey as well!
Thank you for posting this.
XX.
Mae Lu, @ thereafterish.
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