I have to tell you, dear readers, that I was tremendously excited to see Du Juan (second from left) in Gap's ad campaign for their CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund limited-edition white shirts.
You see, May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, and it got me to thinking about how few Asian models there are (and have been) walking the runways and appearing in print ads. Remember a couple of months back when we explored the evolution of black models in the fashion industry? Well, there's certainly not parity yet, but models like Chanel Iman (center, above) are appearing in nearly every magazine and fashion show out there. But where are the Asian women?
Du is from China and, at 5'11", was too tall to continue dancing and so she became a model. Great move on her part. She was the cover model of the premiere issue of Vogue China and didn't start doing runway work until 2006. And did you know that she'll be 26 years old this year? I thought she was, like, seventeen or something. Her skin is flawless.And I gotta say, I'm absolutely in love with her runway work. Check out the pic to the left from Alberta Ferretti's Fall 2008 RTW collection. Aack! Girl crush alert! It's really nice to see a different type of face and a different ethnicity represented on the runway. After the disaster of last season's white-washed shows, designers are finally getting their acts together, just a bit.
So now we have Du, but...uh...who else, exactly? I started wracking my brain trying to think of other famous Asian models, the ones who paved the way for Du and the ones who will follow her. The list is pathetically short, I'm afraid.
The first one who popped into my mind was Devon Aoki, who's of mixed Asian and European heritage (yes, her dad really owns Benihana) and started modeling when she was only 13. She has, I believe, some of the best hair in the business.As you know, she's branched out into acting now and the pic to the right is her at the Chopard-Valentino Party at Cannes, where she was recognized as an actress with international appeal. Maybe it was those tiny outfits in Sin City that made such an impact? Ha.
Anyway, I love her dress and jewels in this picture, and I love her modeling portfolio. She had a really different look when everyone else was competing to see who could look the most like Kate Moss.
The other model I could think of who has made it really big and is part Asian is - gulp - Kimora Lee Simmons. You know, I'm really torn on her because I've watched a bit of her show and read interviews with her when she was still married to Russell and I just can't fathom her as any sort of role model for any woman, yet when I see her as a very young model, she was unbelievably striking and had a look unlike anyone else on the runways.Look at her with Karl back in the day! She did print work in Paris for Chanel when she was only a teenager and it was truly revolutionary. Too bad she's so blinged out these days and egotistical beyond belief. Can I tell you how I really feel?
Okay, so here's the good news: Asian designers are more prevalent than ever on the fashion scene. The hot young things like Phillip Lim, Alexander Wang, Andrew Gn, Benjamin Cho, Derek Lam, Doo.Ri, Eley Kishimoto, Jason Wu, Jeffrey Chow, Koi Suwannagate, and Peter Som have taken the fashion world by storm. And they owe a debt to their predecessors like Anna Sui, Vera Wang, Yohji Yomamato, and Rei Kawakubo. That's a really amazing list when you think about it.Coincidentally, Phillip Lim is one of the designers of the limited-edition white Gap shirts. I'm going to buy the one at right because I love the bow at the neck and the 3/4-length sleeves. Yeah, it's $78 for a shirt from the gap, but I still adore my one from last year, which was designed by Doo.Ri. It was worth the investment.
So here's to the contributions of Asians in fashion and a wish that there will be more models like Kimora, Devon, and Juan in the very near future...
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