Liu Wen

Liu Wen
Liu Wen at New York Fashion Week in 2013.
Born Liu Wen
(1988-01-27) January 27, 1988[1]
Yongzhou, Hunan, China
Residence Manhattan, New York City
Modeling information
Height 179 cm (5 ft 10 in)[2]
Hair color Black[2]
Eye color Brown[2]
Agency

Liu Wen (simplified Chinese: 刘雯; traditional Chinese: 劉雯; pinyin: Liú Wén; born January 27, 1988) is a Chinese model.[3] In 2012, The New York Times dubbed her "China’s first bona fide supermodel".[4] She is the first model of East Asian descent to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show,[5] the first spokesmodel of East Asian descent for the Estée Lauder Companies, and the first Asian model to ever make Forbes magazine's annual highest-paid models list.[6][7] In 2017, Liu became the first Chinese model to ever appear on the front cover of American Vogue.[8] She is currently represented by The Society Management[9] and is based in New York City.

Early life

An only child, Liu was born into a working-class family on January 27, 1988, in Yongzhou, Hunan.[2] In her teenage years, her mother encouraged her to be professional, eat well, and enter a modeling contest, which led to Liu's discovery.[10] Liu originally planned to work as a tour guide.[11]

Career

Liu started her modeling career in 2005[12] when she entered the New Silk Road World Model Contest, a contest previously won by international covergirl Du Juan.[2] Although she did not win the competition, Liu soon began working full-time as a model, eventually becoming a national success story after working with fashion magazines like Vogue and Harper's Bazaar that are popular in China.[12]

In September 2007, Liu caught the attention of the international fashion industry when she shot an editorial in clothes designed by Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor and Rolf[1][12] and would later walk for both of those brands. She was invited to Paris in 2008 to sign with an agency and participate in Paris Fashion Week.[12]

In February 2008, she appeared in four fashion-related articles for Chinese Vogue.[12] She debuted on international runways in the same month, walking for Burberry and closing the fall Trussardi show in Milan. The week after, she walked for Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Hermès in Paris.[2] A year later in February and March 2009, Liu Wen appeared in 74 shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris for the Fall 2009 ready-to-wear season — this was the highest number shows for a model in that season. It also remains the record for the most shows ever walked by a model of Asian descent in a single season. She followed that up with the Spring 2010 ready-to-wear season, walking 70 shows in the same four cities. This statistic made her the second most booked model for the season following French model Constance Jablonski.[13]

Liu has appeared in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Oscar de la Renta, Hugo Boss, Alexander Wang, Rag & Bone, H&M, Marni, Lane Crawford, Bergdorf Goodman, Diesel, Gap, and Vivienne Tam. Her record for a single season is seven[14] including DKNY Jeans, The GAP, Barneys New York, Benetton, Alexander Wang, Converse, and cKone in Spring 2009. She has been featured as the only female in major Vogue editorials for Vogue Germany, Vogue Espana, Vogue China, Vogue Italia, British Vogue and American Vogue. She has also been featured in editorials for Numéro (as well as a cover), GQ, V magazine, Harper's Bazaar, Pop Magazine, Allure, i-D (as well as a cover), Interview, and W.[14]

In 2009, Liu became the first woman of Chinese descent to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.[5] Liu also participated in the 2010-2012 shows.[15][16] She returned to the Victoria's Secret runway again in 2016.[17]

In April 2010, it was announced that Liu along with Constance Jablonski and Joan Smalls would help to represent the cosmetics company Estée Lauder.[18] In March 2012, The New York Times featured Liu Wen on the cover and in the main feature for their Style "T" Magazine's Travel Issue, and she was dubbed "China’s first bona fide supermodel".[4] In the same year, she attended the Cannes Film Festival for the first time. In Spring 2013, Liu Wen was dubbed one of "The New Icons" by H&M for her widely admired street-style.[19]

In 2013 she also became the first Asian to be in the top five on Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid models, as number 5.[7][20] She repeated the feat in 2014, with her salary rising from $4.3 million the previous year to $7 million.[21] Also in 2013, Liu gained a rank of #3 on the Top 50 Models Women List by Models.com.[22] She is the highest-ranked model of Asian descent in history. In July 2014, Models.com elevated her to the status of "New Supermodel", the first Asian model to ever receive that honor.[23] She remains on that list as of February 2015.

Liu Wen has garnered a heavy social media following on platforms such as Instagram and Weibo. The immensity of her audience led American Vogue to dub her as a leader in the digital movement, saying in their April 2014 issue, in an article about social media’s rise in the fashion industry, that "Liu also has, by far, the biggest social-media audience of any model".[24] Models.com dubbed her the first ever Asian "New Supermodel" in July 2014.[23]

In October of the same year, Liu became the first person in the world to showcase an Apple Watch on a magazine cover when she appeared on Vogue China's November 2014 issue.[25]

In April 2015, she and South Korean singer Choi Siwon participated in a Chinese spin-off of the South Korean variety show We Got Married.[26][27]

In 2017, Liu Wen became the first ever Chinese model to appear on the front cover of American Vogue for its 125th Anniversary March 2017 issue, photographed by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin alongside Adwoa Aboah, Ashley Graham, Gigi Hadid, Imaan Hammam, Kendall Jenner, and Vittoria Ceretti.[8]

Controversy

In February 2018, Liu Wen posted a photo on Instagram showing herself and Wendi Deng Murdoch with the English caption "Happy Lunar New Year!", which drew a large group of Chinese netizens accusing her of forgetting her Chinese roots, pandering to other Asian countries. Numerous other Chinese and international netizens defended her usage of the phrase. As a result, she changed the English caption to "Happy Chinese New Year" later.[28][29]

Personal life

In the past, Liu has said that after modeling she might enjoy working as a stylist or, were the opportunity to arise, as an actress—she feels that modeling and acting have much in common, but for now she enjoys modeling and working in the fashion industry. She has stated that she knows that, as a career choice, working as a fashion designer or stylist would be "very hard work",[30] but she is now more seriously considering becoming a stylist because she would like "to share her fashion style—tomboyish, vintage, and comfortable—with the world".

She is friends with fellow models Joan Smalls, Constance Jablonski and Lindsey Wixson and fellow Chinese models Shu Pei, Du Juan, Fei Fei Sun, Sui He, Xiao Wen Ju, and Ming Xi.[31]

Liu has said in the press many times that she has never had a boyfriend and remains without one.[32][33] She said: "even my mum asks me, 'where is your boyfriend?' But I'm a little busy for that... There's a lot of travelling with my job and I can't say to a boyfriend... 'please wait for me, I have to go on a job' ".

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "The new faces of Spring 2009". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Liu Wen's entry in the FMD Database". Fashion Model Directory. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  3. ↑ Mark Graham (February 1, 2014). "SAY WEN". Prestige Hong Kong. Retrieved April 28, 2016.
  4. 1 2 "The Liu Wen Express", New York Times Style Magazine, March 15, 2012
  5. 1 2 Mirbach, Iva (20 August 2013). "The million-dollar babes". Fashion Model Directory News. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "THE HIGHEST PAID MODELS: GISELE BÜNDCHEN, MIRANDA KERR, AND MORE (PHOTOS)". The Daily Beast.
  7. 1 2 "The World's Highest-Paid Models Of 2013", Forbes, August 19, 2013
  8. 1 2 "Vogue's 'diverse' March cover slammed as not so diverse". CNN. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  9. ↑ "The 10 best dressed". Matches Fashion.
  10. ↑ "Askmen.com profile". Ask Men. Archived from the original on 2018-01-04. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  11. ↑ Parker, Nick (2011-09-30). "How a small-town girl became China's first supermodel". CNN. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "Liu Wen in NY Magazine's Model Manual". New York Magazine. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  13. ↑ The Fashion Spot. Retrieved 2011-11-17.
  14. 1 2 "Liu Wen at 守戍十戈Models.com". models.com. Retrieved 2009-06-30.
  15. ↑ "Liu Wen Is the First Asian Model Confirmed for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show", New York Magazine, November 12, 2009
  16. ↑ "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show: Liu Wen's Tattoos Took Six Hours to Prep", InStyle, November 8, 2012
  17. ↑ Friedman, Kate (December 16, 2016), "A Record Number of Asian Models Are Walking in The 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show", Glamour
  18. ↑ Liu Wen the First Asian Face of Estée Lauder. Retrieved 2010-04-17.
  19. ↑ "H&M's New Model-Inspired Collection", Vogue.co.uk, March 22, 2013
  20. ↑ Le, Vanna (2013-04-19). "The World's Highest-Paid Models, 2013: Gisele's Earnings Down, Kerr's Are Up". Forbes. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  21. ↑ "The world's highest paid models of 2015". Forbes. 2015. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  22. ↑ "Top 50 Models". Models.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  23. 1 2 "New Supers", Models.com, August 18, 2014
  24. ↑ "Follow Me: Kate Upton Leads the Charge of Models Who've Gone Crazy for Social Media", Vogue, March 25, 2014
  25. ↑ "Apple Watch to feature on VOGUE cover", Wired.co.uk, October 9, 2014
  26. ↑ "Choi Siwon to Appear on Chinese "We Got Married" with Top Model Liu Wen". Soompi. Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  27. ↑ "Siwon and model Liu Wen are 'in love' for Chinese version of 'We are in love' | allkpop.com". Retrieved 2015-05-20.
  28. ↑ Lo, Kinling (20 February 2018). "Chinese supermodel Liu Wen slammed on Instagram for referring to 'Lunar New Year'". SCMP. Retrieved 20 February 2018.
  29. ↑ "Liu Wen: China supermodel's new year message sparks row". BBC News. 20 February 2018. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  30. ↑ Videofashion Daily - Liu Wen AW10.11. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
  31. ↑ Liu Wen Model Profile nymag.com. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  32. ↑ "Say Wen". Prestige Online. 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  33. ↑ Larson, Christina (2012-03-15). "The Liu Wen Express". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
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