Text | Yunmu Creek
Liu Wen, who has always been known as a model in the modeling industry, missed the Spring/Summer 2020 International Fashion Week last month, the first time she missed the fashion week since she stepped on the international runway in 2008.
People can't help but worry, whether this is the sequelae of Liu Wen's domineering termination of Coach, what will happen to the future career of China's first supermodel?
Liu Wen soon had a new trend:
On October 9, Liu Wen and Ordos cooperated to launch a joint series of clothing for the second year, Liu Wen personally served as a designer, and last year they worked together for the first time to create good sales performance.
On October 10, the star documentary reality show "Strange Life 2" announced that Liu Wen will officially join the show, and Zhou Xun and Angelababy will be guests of this show.
Don't worry, this girl who grew up in a third-tier city in Hunan can go all the way to the world fashion stage and become China's first supermodel, not just by relying on her appearance and figure.
<h1>1. Those seemingly lucky opportunities are actually hard work and perseverance</h1>
Liu Wen's experience as an international supermodel sounds like a lucky story of Cinderella wearing crystal shoes.
In 2005, Liu Wen, a 17-year-old girl from Yongzhou, Hunan, signed up for the New Silk Road Model Contest with the encouragement of her mother, and she did not have much runway experience and unexpectedly won the hunan division championship.
Liu Wen won the 2005 New Silk Road Model Contest in Hunan Division
However, when she went to Sanya to participate in the national finals, Liu Wen did not even enter the top 10, and only got a signing opportunity for a new Silk Road model agency, and she came to Beijing alone to do North Drift.
Liu Wen participated in the 2005 New Silk Road Model Contest National Finals
Liu Wen's appearance, in the traditional aesthetics of Chinese, is not a big beauty, single eyelids, inner double, thick lips, the most outstanding is the height of 1.78M, but thrown into the Beijing model circle, this advantage is also gone.
New Silk Road and Liu Wen signed only an agency agency contract, the company will recommend interview opportunities, model revenue share, how far can go, all rely on themselves.
In the year when she first arrived in Beijing, Liu Wen, a new model who did not look outstanding, frequently auditioned, and it was difficult to win the opportunity to officially appear on camera, and she could only occasionally receive some primary jobs for the catwalk.
Some designers unceremoniously commented on her: "It's too ugly to look at, and the steps are stiff." ”
Liu Wen in 2005
Every year, there are hundreds of thousands of young people in Beijing who dream of acting, and they can eventually become stars, and most of them eventually leave.
Liu Wen, who could not see hope for a while, also thought of giving up, and her parents encouraged her:
"Maybe it'll get better if you stick with it a little longer, but you can't come back."
It's just that the parents of ordinary construction workers can't help their daughter much in terms of economy and resources, but they give Liu Wen the spirit of perseverance and make her use it for life.
When other 18-year-old girls were busy falling in love and shopping, Liu Wen bought more than 2,000 fashion magazines, repeatedly studied the posture and eyes of the models inside, repeatedly practiced in front of the mirror in the rental house, and cherished every job opportunity, even if it was a fitting model who did not have the opportunity to appear on camera.
Fitting models are the lowest jobs in the modeling industry, that is, to help big-name models who have no time to try out rehearsals in advance, low salaries have no future, can not officially appear on camera and catwalk, and even the stuntmen in the film and television circle are not as good.
It was during a trivial work as a fitting model that Liu Wen met the nobleman of her modeling career, Global Creative Director Joseph Lee of Jia Ren Magazine. cal.
At that time Joseph. Karl was sent to China to serve as an art consultant for the Chinese edition of Jia Ren, which had just been founded for four years.
As a top Fashion Media Expert in France, in Joseph's eyes, China's fashion magazines are mostly the same, the star's clothing is nothing new, the model's styling is old-fashioned, and he intends to look for a fresh face, which has both Chinese characteristics and an international fashion sense.
He looked at the group of models who came to audition, and he was not satisfied, but unexpectedly in the other corner of the magazine, he saw Liu Wen wearing a white vest and jeans, and his eyes lit up.
With his extensive experience in the European fashion industry, Joseph saw the beauty of Liu Wen that distinguished her from other beautiful models:
"Some of the models are beautiful, but there's nothing but pretty. Liu Wen is different. Although she is a yellow-skinned girl, she is not so typical of the oriental face, she has a broader beauty. ”
Even Joseph. Karl is a Big European fashion celebrity, it is not easy to change the inherent aesthetic concept, the Chinese editorial team is worried that the face is not exquisite and beautiful, the chest is flat, and the legs are not straight enough, can not hold their feet, after all, the magazine is in the Chinese market.
It took Joseph three months to improve the advertising performance of "Jia Ren" before convincing the Chinese editorial team that the unknown little model Liu Wen became the cover character of the September 2007 issue of Jia Ren and appeared in front of readers with a special report on "The Mysterious Bomb of the Fashion Circle".
Cover of the September 2007 issue of Jia Ren
Three months later, Liu Wen once again appeared on the cover of the December issue of "Jia Ren", and under such a strong support, Liu Wen became a hot newcomer in the Chinese fashion circle, receiving advertisements every day, 300 yuan each time, and earning nearly 10,000 yuan a month.
Cover of the December 2007 issue of Jia Ren
Just emerged in Beijing, the days can be comfortable and smoother, mentor Joseph. Karl told Liu Wen that she must go out of China and go to the top fashion stage in Europe and the United States to truly become an international supermodel.
In early 2008, Joseph. Karl returns to Paris and shows a picture of Liu Wen to her old friend Marilyn. Goeje, Goeje is the CEO of the top international model agency Marilyn Agency, legendary supermodel Kate. Moss, Carla. Bruny is a model under his umbrella.
Ge Jie and Karl reacted the same way, believing that Liu Wen had the potential to become a superstar, and immediately signed Liu Wen to lead her into the international fashion circle.
Liu Wen, who came to Europe from Beijing alone, initially only spoke three sentences in English: Yes, No, Thank you.
Marilyn's strong network of relationships and supermodel operation experience have opened up new career opportunities for Liu Wen, but every job is still based on her own interview.
Liu Wen found that no one in China has ever boasted of her beauty, and in the eyes of people in other countries, she is always amazed at her unique beauty:
"You look Asian because your eyes are different in shape."
On her first European trip, Liu Wen received her catwalk debut as Burberry, who walked 27 fashion shows in Paris and Milan, and in 2009, she participated in the four major fashion weeks of New York, London, Milan and Paris, becoming the showmaster who walked 74 times that year.
What is the concept of going on 74 shows in a season?
Due to the intensive arrangement of the major brands in fashion week, Liu Wen can only sleep 2 to 3 hours a day, not in the show, or on the way to the interview, once at 4:30 a.m. after the interview, at 5 o'clock to go directly to another show makeup, this kind of continuous rotation of the hard work is very bearable.
At that time, Liu Wen was lost on the streets of Paris, and did not understand the local language at all, could not ask for directions, made long-distance calls back to China to ask for help from friends, collapsed to cry, and the last show of fashion week came down, tired to the point of severe skin allergies and mouth ulcers.
In November 2009, Kim Do-wook, a top 20-year-old South Korean supermodel, committed suicide in her Paris apartment due to excessive work pressure, and before committing suicide, she left a message on her blog: "Depression and overwork to the point of madness."
It shows how much pressure there is on the supermodel catwalk that looks glamorous and beautiful to outsiders!
Liu Wen gave herself a nickname, called the undead "Liu Xiaoqiang", and in the lonely, super-intense work in a foreign country, she gritted her teeth and persevered, becoming the most high-profile Asian star on the international catwalk.
When the reporter interviewed her successful experience, she thought about it and said, "Insist on persevering, saying important things three times." ”
<h1>2. A supermodel is an actor in a costume, and expressiveness is the vitality</h1>
Why is Liu Wen's appearance highly praised in the European and American fashion circles, is it really because of the high-end face?
2008 Liu Wen's plain face trial photo
Coincidentally, Giselle, who has dominated the status of the world's number one supermodel for 15 years. Bundchen, who was also ridiculed by his classmates for not being pretty, participated in the Miss World beauty contest and won the 4th place debut, and Giselle also said: "My career is not based on beauty."
Fashion designers' favorite models do not need to be beautiful, because too dazzling beauty will attract attention, but people ignore the charm of clothing.
The model is the actor of the costume, the most important thing is the plasticity, no director is happy to see the actor playing himself, rather than playing the role, this is the difference between the beautiful Fan Bingbing, Yang Ying and the superstar Gong Li who plays who is like whom.
Photographers' favorite models are to have three-dimensional facial skeletal lines and personality, Liu Wen's single eyelids, not very tall nose bridge is just in line with the Stereotype of Westerners on Chinese, and several Chinese supermodels who are now popular in Europe and the United States mostly have this feature.
Close-up of supermodels Sun Feifei, Ju Xiaowen and Xi Mengyao
More importantly, the three-dimensional facial bone line will allow the model to have excellent expression in different light and shadow.
When the model is interviewed, it is required to be plain, because the designer needs to observe how much plastic the model is.
Liu Wen is not a beautiful face in the eyes of the public, born with this three-dimensional clear line, clean, white, and after the dress change, she is like a chameleon, or feminine and charming, or delicate and cute, cold and arrogant, can show the personality of different clothing styles.
From posture and steps to eyes and expressions, the dashing ease of others is the countless practices and grinding behind the spotlight.
Pondering the posture and movements of other star supermodels, looking in the mirror to find their best expressions and postures, after each catwalk and shooting advertisements, Liu Wen will carefully study her performance, where can be improved to do better.
Receiving catwalks from different brands, she will also carefully study the history and culture of the brands in order to decide what kind of state to show the clothes.
Liu Wen on the catwalk has become an excellent costume performer, making her one of the most popular models for designers.
In addition to practicing the basic skills of models, English is also a language barrier for Chinese models to break into the international market.
Liu Wen, who only read tourist secondary schools, sacrificed most of her spare time, and relied on memorizing words and repeatedly watching the American drama "Gossip Girl" to exercise her listening and sense of language, and practiced fluent English.
In 2009, Liu Wen's breakthrough year, she took over the CK advertisement and became the first Chinese model to walk on the "Victoria's Secret" catwalk, walking 150 catwalks throughout the year, entering the 44th place in the global model TOP50.
Liu Wen has been in the victoria's secret show style
With the global hit of the Victoria's Secret Show, the vast number of Chinese audiences found that this unimpressive Hunan girl has broken through the international fashion industry.
Only by hard work, no talent, doomed to be unable to get ahead in the fashion industry, but there is talent, do not work hard and break in, the sky will not fall pie.
Liu Wen can grow from a young and astringent little model to an international superstar, and the hardships and efforts behind it are beyond the imagination of ordinary people. She said:
"It's hard to become famous overnight in any industry, and people tend to see the brilliance of the surface of success. Modeling is first and foremost a manual job, and you have to be able to endure hardships. ”
<h1>3. Behind the Chinese faces that Westerners like is the Chinese market that is difficult to ignore</h1>
Needless to say, Joseph. Karl has played an indispensable role in Liu Wen's path to becoming a top supermodel.
In fact, in the first two years of their acquaintance, they did not say a few words directly due to poor language communication.
There are no unspoken rules of directors and actors in the film industry, and there are many beautiful models around the fashion master Joseph who wants to get on the throne.
Joseph was looking for a unique Chinese face, and he knew:
Chinese models are a passport to the Chinese market.
The earliest Asian model to enter the Western fashion circle was Yamaguchi Koyoko in the 1970s, whose success was against the background of japan's economic rise and the successful occupation of the Western market by Japanese local clothing and cosmetics brands.
At 1.70 meters tall, Koneko Yamaguchi is the royal model of Japanese fashion designerSeizo Takada (KENZO), Issey Miyake, and Shiseido, and she became the first model to appear on the top catwalks in Europe and the United States as Japanese clothing brands and cosmetics entered the European and American markets.
Nihon imitation tokuyamaguchi koyako hardteru
Yamaguchi Konoko catwalk show highlights
In 1977, Xiao Yezi was selected by Newsweek as one of the "Top Six Models", which was the first time that Asians had been selected.
Next, the representative Asian model is Japanese supermodel Tominaga Ai.
Japanese supermodel Tominaga Ai
In the Autumn/Winter 2002 International Fashion Week, Ai Tominaga won a total of 47 famous fashion shows in New York, Paris and Milan, becoming the showmaster of the year, setting a record and becoming the first Asian supermodel at that time.
At that time, Japan had become the world's largest luxury market, when Japanese high-end fashion consumption accounted for 30% to 40% of the world's sales of French and Italian luxury brands, and the United States only accounted for 10% to 15% of the share.
In order to establish a sense of brand identity in the hearts of Japanese consumers, Ai Tominaga has become the best choice for european and American high-end fashion brands.
In the context of the financial crisis that swept the world in 2008, the European, American and Japanese markets fell into weakness, the global luxury market as a whole fell by 8%, while the Chinese mainland luxury goods consumption reached 9.4 billion US dollars, overseas consumption reached 11.6 billion US dollars, accounting for 27% of the global share, but also maintained a rapid growth of 15 to 20%, becoming the world's second largest luxury goods market.
Proud European and American high-end fashion brands, have to pay attention to the consumption power from China, so in the international catwalk that has always been dominated by Western models, a representative Chinese face is urgently needed, and Liu Wen has become the showmaster of the 2009 Fashion Week.
Liu Wen occupied the best position at the most opportune time, and the spotlight thus illuminated the new supermodel stars from China.
In 2010, Givenchy, Chanel, Dior, Prada, Chloe... Almost all major brands have invited Chinese model Liu Wen to walk the catwalk at Fashion Week, and her global model TOP50 ranking has further jumped to 20, the highest ranking among Chinese models.
Cosmetics brand Estée Lauder also signed a global endorsement with Liu Wen, creating the first time Estée Lauder used Asian model endorsements.
Liu Wen endorses Estée Lauder
Estée Lauder Creative Director and Senior Vice President Erin. Lauder declared:
"We are always looking for international beauty that can express the characteristics of the times, and Liu Wen represents the contemporary definition of beauty."
Fashion emperor Carl Lagerfeld said of Liu Wen: "She has typical Asian female characteristics. ”
When she became the spokesperson of the world's top underwear brand La Perla, some netizens questioned how Liu Wen, who did not have a big chest, could endorse underwear?
Liu Wen responded with a big laugh: "I was so worried at the beginning!" ”
At the scene of the advertisement shooting, the photographer's focus is not all on the curve of her body, but through light and shadow to create a mysterious and noble atmosphere, Liu Wen understands that sexiness does not only come from the fat buttocks, but also from the expression of eyes and limbs.
In front of the camera, she is calm and confident, and finds her own unique sexiness, which is a more noble temperament sexiness.
Liu Wen endorses lingerie brand La Perla
In 2013, Liu Wen rose to No. 3 in the Global Model Top 50 rankings, earning $4.3 million a year.
In 2014, Liu Wen entered the list of 15 new global supermodels on the authoritative model website MDC "New Supers", which is also the highest record for Asian models.
This year, Chinese consumed 46% of global luxury goods, becoming the largest buyer in the global luxury market, and Liu Wen also became the top supermodel with the third largest gold absorption ability in the world.
In 2017, the 125th anniversary of the American version of Vogue invited Liu Wen to appear on the cover, once again setting another record for Asian models.
Cover of the 125th anniversary issue of Vogue in the United States
Lu Yan, the first generation of Chinese supermodels, once summed it up this way: "The economic status of a country determines the status of models on the catwalk. ”
From 2013 to 2018, Liu Wen entered the Forbes World's 10 most profitable supermodels for five consecutive years, with a cumulative gold absorption of 36.3 million.
Source: Forbes Global Supermodel Revenue Rankings over the years
In the 7 years of working with Liu Wen, Estée Lauder has grown into the world's largest cosmetics group, and its market share in China has increased continuously.
The growing strength of China's purchasing power has become the east wind carrying Asia's first supermodel.
This is also why Xi Mengyao fell on the Shanghai Victoria's Secret stage, and Victoria's Secret also generously expressed her understanding, allowing her to enter the victoria's secret show the following year without interviews, and what these international big names really want to please is the consumers behind Chinese supermodels.
There is no need to worry about Liu Wen's career prospects, she lost her Coach contract, and now she is still a global ambassador for Chanel watches and jewelry that is much more upscale than Coach.
Coach, which lost Liu Wen's endorsement, half a month after the fermentation of the insulting Chinese T-shirt incident, its parent company Tapestry Group suddenly announced the ceo's resignation, and China, as the market with the most growth potential for luxury goods in the world, no one dares to despise it.
In her career, from Hunan to Beijing, from Beijing to New York, every time she gave up was because of new attempts and breakthroughs.
Giselle. Bundson withdrew from Victoria's Secret because of the contract negotiation, and people exclaimed that her career was dangerous, but she turned herself into the legend of the world's first supermodel with her super advertising agency and personal brand management ability.
Liu Wen once said that she hopes to become a fashion designer in the future, or explore more possibilities in acting, and today's modeling career is not only in the catwalk show, but also in a multi-faceted operation.
This time, the 31-year-old's absence from Fashion Week may be her choice and breakthrough again.
Hard-working, hard-working, high emotional intelligence, Liu Wen, with 24.78 million followers on Weibo and 4.5 million on Instagram, backed by the strong Chinese market, she has become an influential personal brand, and the road ahead is very wide.
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