Around 2000, two fledgling Chinese girls let the world see the beauty of different styles.
These two girls, one is Zhang Ziyi, who became popular with the movie "My Father and Mother" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon",
One is Lu Yan, a model who shocked the fashion industry at home and abroad because she won the runner-up in the World Model Competition.
Compared with Zhang Ziyi, Lü Yan's fame is obviously more legendary and controversial.
Her appearance does not conform to the traditional Chinese aesthetic, and when she participated in the World Model Competition, people generally looked forward to another model, Yu Na.
But in the end, it was Lu Yan who stood out and shined in the modeling industry, while Yu Na switched to the film and television circle and became famous with the Haiyan drama "What to Save You, My Love".
Many people say that Lu Yan is really lucky, but in fact, before becoming a model, she had been troubled by her height and had never received praise for her looks.
The reason why she was able to successfully counterattack was because she was bold enough and persistent enough.
01
Lü Yan was born in 1981, and the place that carried her childhood was a fluorite mine in De'an, Jiangxi.
Her parents are ordinary members of the mine, the two open a barber shop, the couple's monthly income adds up to about 600 yuan, if there is anything special about this home, it is probably particularly warm.
Lu Yan's mother is kind and responsible, she always teaches children that it is a blessing to suffer losses, do not be afraid of hard work outside, and do more is to learn more.
Her father was a natural optimist, which also had a deep impact on Lu Yan.
The words and deeds of her parents made Xiao Luyan's heart full of sunshine, but with the arrival of adolescence, she also began to have troubles.
Because of her looks, some people who have no mouth will say how your eyes are so small, how your lips are so thick, and so on.
Lu Yan always disagreed with this, she felt that although she was not beautiful, she was not ugly.
Because of her outstanding height, Lu Yan's friends are reluctant to walk with her, and she herself does not enjoy the feeling of standing out from the crowd.
After a long time, Lu Yan began to subconsciously hunch over, hoping that she would not look so abrupt among her peers.
After graduating from junior high school, Lu Yan entered a school in Nanchang to study finance and accounting, and it was clear that her goal at that time was to seek a stable job, and being a model was not in her plan.
Once, Lu Yan accidentally saw an advertisement for a physical training class, and she was worried about the hunchback habit she had developed for many years.
In order to correct her manners, she did not hesitate to participate in this training class, and coincidentally, the shape class happened to be a model class next door.
The appearance of Lü Yan completed the model class's trip to Beijing and opened the door to a new world for herself.
02
At that time, Lu Yan's height had reached 1 meter 77, and she stood in the physical training class particularly conspicuous.
The model class next door is preparing to go to Beijing to participate in the model competition, according to the rules, a region must send 5 models, but the model class only has 4 contestants, at this time Lu Yan's appearance is really quite timely.
When the other party sent an invitation to Lu Yan, she immediately happily agreed, and at that time, the girl's inner monologue was that it didn't matter if she won the prize, she had the opportunity to go to the big city to see it.
In that competition, not only did Lu Yan not pay attention to it, in fact, several people in the same industry did not take her seriously, after all, everyone knew that she was caught to make up the numbers, and her conditions were not brilliant.
But sometimes life will have a surprising reversal, and Lu Yan was the only one among several people who had passed the preliminary round.
It was this opportunity that made Lu Yan reacquaint herself, she found that height was also an advantage for the first time, and she also felt the pleasure of being appreciated for the first time.
As a result, the girl from the mining area boldly stayed in Beijing and became a professional model.
The modeling industry is a place where beautiful women are like clouds, and the opportunities that a look like Lu Yan can win are very limited, but no matter how many times she is rejected, she has never thought of going back.
In the days when she insisted on floating in Beijing, Lu Yan met the first man who praised her for her beauty, Li Dongtian.
Li Dongtian is a makeup artist, he is very prestigious in China, known as the godfather of makeup.
On July 23, 1999, Lu Yan went to the Modern Clothing Magazine for an interview, where she first met the photographer Feng Hai, and half an hour later Li Dongtian hurriedly arrived.
Li Dongtian's eyes lit up as soon as he saw Lü Yan, and he did not hide his joy when he was extraordinarily relaxed.
He said to Lu Yan, you are really very beautiful.
03
"Rouge Marriage" is a group of photographic works by Feng Hai, Li Dongtian and Lü Yan, but later everyone called this work freckled lily.
In the photo, Lu Yan was only coated with a layer of baby oil, and Li Dongtian painted a little freckle on her face, accompanied by a cluster of blooming lilies, and this photo was born.
Li Dongtian and Feng Hai were so satisfied with their work that they also made it into a poster and exhibited it in the crowded Wangfujing.
But what is unexpected is that the public can not recognize Lü Yan's style, it is said that when Li Dongtian went to the Industrial and Commercial Bureau to apply for the display of Lü Yan's poster in Wangfujing, the staff said, Are you unable to find a better model?
It can be seen that it is difficult for the general public to accept such a model for a while, and after that, Lu Yan was simply controversial.
However, although the layman is incompetent in her aesthetic, there is always someone who can find her unique beauty.
In 2000, Lü Yan met two French scouts in a hotel in Beijing, and after seeing Lu Yan, the two people took the initiative to come up to talk to her, asked her basic information such as height and occupation, and then invited her to France to work as a model.
In the face of this sudden opportunity, Lu Yan still agreed.
In fact, if you think about it, how could a 20-year-old girl who could not speak English or French receive such an invitation from two strange foreign men and agree so happily?
Later, Lu Yan said that at that time, I had nothing, my future in Beijing was bleak, and someone came to invite me, so why didn't I go?
It was by relying on the belief of letting go of a fight, Lu Yan resolutely returned to her hometown to apply for a passport, and when she boarded the train back to Beijing, she was so excited that she couldn't sleep soundly, and every once in a while she had to take out her passport to see.
Soon after, Lu Yan really went abroad.
04
Because of the language barrier, Lu Yan was extremely lonely when she first arrived in Paris, France.
For the first 3 days she was taken by a boy to familiarize herself with the environment and learn life skills such as riding the subway.
After that, she began to participate in the professional training of models, a person with a quick translation to run interviews, because she could not understand French and English, shopping became a problem, during that time she could eat more than a hundred eggs a month, only because eggs were the only food she knew and the most convenient to cook and carry.
All the difficulties in life Lu Yan can find a way to overcome, but not having friends to communicate with is the most unbearable for her.
At that time, every time she talked to Li Dongtian on the phone, she would keep talking and was reluctant to hang up, and the situation did not gradually improve until she lived in France for half a year.
Although it was a little difficult at the beginning, Lu Yan really took the right step in choosing to develop abroad.
Because in the eyes of many foreigners, Lu Yan is beautiful, and it is extremely beautiful. Even when she walked down the street, people she didn't know would praise her for being beautiful.
Just as Lu Yan became familiar with Paris, her agent put in front of her an opportunity to return to China to participate in the World Model Competition.
At first, Lu Yan refused, for the simple reason that she knew that her appearance was not the aesthetic of the Chinese people.
But the agent said that models from more than 40 countries went to participate, and you should also participate on behalf of China.
In this way, Lu Yan returned to China, and it was in this competition that she won the runner-up and won the attention of the world.
05
In fact, if Lü Yan came to the position of runner-up by luck, it would be biased.
There was a small incident that happened during the competition, when many fashion photographers wanted to take some beautiful photos for the contestants.
They wanted the models to be able to appear in Beijing's Temple of Heaven scenic spot at 4 a.m. in flowing summer clothes, when it was Already November, and the cold at 4 a.m. could be imagined.
Many models have refused this request, but Lu Yan agreed very happily after hearing it.
Therefore, opportunities are always left to those who are prepared, and the effort must be seen by God.
Since then, Lu Yan has made a name for herself internationally, she has signed contracts with agencies in many countries, and her career has blossomed, during which she has also participated in the shooting of many films.
After more than 10 years in the industry, Lu Yan's life has entered a new stage, because she met a very attractive French man, and under Lu Yan's backward pursuit, this French man became her husband.
For a sought after star, a cold person will be more attractive, and Lu Yan's "rich and handsome" husband is exactly such a character.
The first time the two met was at a gathering of friends, and the cold French man was indifferent to Lü Yan the whole time, which made Lü Yan, who had many suitors abroad, look at him differently.
At the second meeting, Lü Yan took the initiative to exchange phone calls with the French gao leng man, but the man only gave Lü Yan an email address, which made Lü Yan have more desire to conquer him.
It is said that women chase men in the layer of yarn, but Lu Yan spent half a year to catch up with her French husband, but after the exchange, Gao Leng also showed his romantic side as a Frenchman.
Once he called Lu Yan and asked if she could prepare her luggage within half an hour, and Lu Yan said there was no problem.
Half an hour later, the car drove downstairs to Lu Yan's house, and the two people came to a trip to Mexico with their luggage.
Li Dongtian used the word studious when evaluating Lü Yan, and Lü Yan also gave a studious evaluation when asked what attracted the French man to her.
She said that I had a little admiration for him, and he opened my eyes and I was greatly promoted by his influence. In addition, he is very kind and humorous.
06
In 2012, Lü Yan gave birth to the son of the two.
After becoming a mother, Lu Yan has a new thinking and planning for her career.
She wanted to try to be a designer, she wanted to start her own brand, and when Lu Yan told her friends about the idea, no one supported her.
Everyone thinks that Lu Yan has done a good enough job in the modeling career, and creating a brand is a very trivial and troublesome process.
At this time, Lu Yan showed a bold and persistent side, and she decided to follow her choice.
Although she also experienced failure in the process of starting out, she had the idea of giving up, but in the end she did it step by step.
In 2013, Lu Yan crossed from a catwalk model to a designer, she created her own clothing brand, and held a number of fashion shows in everything herself.
Many successful career women inevitably neglect to take care of their children, but Lu Yan attaches great importance to balancing the energy spent in career and family.
In her son's early years of growth, she and her husband always had to ensure that there was a person at home with the baby. In addition, she will try to squeeze out two months of vacation with her son every year.
In 20 years, Lu Yan has completed the counterattack from a mine girl to an international supermodel to the founder of the brand.
Looking back at Lu Yan's story, it is really difficult to put her in the position of a lucky person.
Lu Yan has always been a controversial figure, some people say that she is beautiful, there is an otherworldly beauty, some people say that she is ugly, her ugliness is incomparable.
Her confidence, boldness, persistence and ability to endure hardships are the magic weapons to fight back all the way, and everyone in this world will encounter opportunities, but whether she can seize the opportunity to change her life depends on herself.
As long as the heart is toward the sun, even if you struggle to tears, the tears will reflect the seven colors of light.