As tax controversies threaten her career, actor Fan Bingbing rarely appears, and post-00s may not have much impression of Fan Bingbing. She made back-to-back high-profile appearances at this month's Cannes Film Festival, continuing her recent return to the spotlight.
After starring in Blink in the movie "X-Men: Back to the Future," Fan posed for photos at several red carpet events and extravaganzas during the 12-day festival that ended Saturday. While she has long endorsed major Western brands such as Louis Vuitton, she has recently used the spotlight to showcase clothing styles from brands such as Korean, Filipino and Vietnamese brands.
Fan Bingbing, who made her debut at the Cannes Film Festival since 2018, attended the opening ceremony last Tuesday (the premiere of Johnny Depp's new film Jenny Du Barry) dressed in Christopher Bu's work. The elegant sleeveless ball dress is printed with tigers and bamboo forests, reminiscent of the style of traditional Chinese painting.
On Thursday, Fan showed off two outfits from Asian brands. At the Women's Stories Gala dinner hosted by Vanity Fair and the Red Sea International Film Festival, she wore a sexy floral top with the matching silver headdress and a flowing long cape – all designed by Miss Sohee, a fashion house founded by Korean designer Sohee Park.
Fan Bingbing wore the costume of Korean brand Miss Sohee to attend the "Women's Story Gala" at the Red Sea International Film Festival
Later, she was spotted wearing a golden butterfly dress by Vietnamese designer Chung Thanh Phong at another red carpet event.
Pham Bingbing wears a gold dress by Vietnamese fashion designer Chung Thanh Phong
On Friday night, she turned to Chung Thanh Phong brand Rin again as she attended a front-line dinner with a Jimmy Choo bag wearing the sculptural look of the brand's latest collection. That night, she was seen wearing a white floor-length robe designed by Filipino designer Harvey Cenit.
Fan Bingbing's Cannes outfit seems to be popular on Chinese social media. Her arrival on the opening night of the film festival briefly became popular on the Weibo platform.
Her look at Cannes is not unique to Asian designers. Last week, she wore a skinny dress by Mikael D, a brand founded by Canadian-Lebanese designer Mikael Derderian, and a strapless black dress with large yellow flowers from Russian brand Yanina Couture. Then, on Tuesday, she attended the premiere of Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City" wearing a feather design designed by fashion co-founder Tamara Ralph at Wes Anderson's Ralph and Russo.
Since her breakthrough film Mobile became one of China's highest-grossing films in 2003, Fan Bingbing has been a fashion and beauty icon in China. In 2015, at the peak of her box office, Fan Bingbing was ranked fourth highest paid actress in the world by Forbes (she was the highest-paid actress in China in every issue of the magazine's China Celebrity 100 list published from 2013 to 2017). Six years ago, she was also named to Time magazine's annual list of the world's 100 most influential people.
In June 2018, a copy of a film contract she allegedly signed was leaked on social media. She had two different contracts, one for tax purposes, saying she was paid 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) and another for 50 million yuan ($7.5 million) under a private contract, according to the Global Times. Chinese state media later reported that Fan was fined nearly $130 million for tax evasion for misreporting her income from certain film projects.
Although the star was photographed by paparazzi in October of that year, she didn't appear on another red carpet until almost a year later. Although she has resumed acting, several of Fan's television and film projects appear to have been put on hold or suspended for release in China.
Fan Bingbing attended the Oscars in March 2023, her first public appearance outside China since a tax controversy threatened her career.
She returned to the screen in 2022 with starring in The King's Daughter and 355, the latter co-starring Jessica Chastain and Penelope Cruz. But she didn't resume her overseas red carpet duties until February of this year due to strict travel restrictions imposed by China during the pandemic, when she attended the Berlin International Film Festival to promote her latest film, the South Korean production Green Night.
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