Slipping into a pair of blue Marc Jacobs pants in the back of a
rented van in Yongzhou, China, the model Liu Wen was feeling an unusual degree
of jitters. Changing clothes on the go is standard practice for models shooting
on location, and she liked the look: “It's tomboy style,” she said. “I feel it's
my style.” And under most circumstances — long travel, bad weather, unexpected
wardrobe glitches — China's first bona fide supermodel has a reputation in the
industry for being gracious and professional. But as the van pulled up to her
old middle school, she peered worriedly out the curtained windows at a waiting
crowd: hundreds of frantic teenagers in white uniform jackets, spitting images
of her recent former self. “It's getting crazy here,” she said. The students
were chanting, “Liu Wen, Liu Wen” and were armed with cellphone cameras and
notepads for autographs, eager for the return of their school's most famous
alum. “I'm not that big a celebrity,” she said. “I'm just an ordinary person.”
At 24, Liu is not so far removed, in years, from her time at Yongzhou No.3 Middle School. She grew up in the southern province of Hunan, most famous as the birthplace of Mao Zedong and as a powerhouse of domestic pork production.Discount Woolrich Arctic ParkaBack then in Yongzhou,cheap canada goose population 5.7 million, there were “no fashion stores, not even fashion magazines,canada goose jacket discount” she said. “Our sense of the outside world came mainly from South Korean soap operas.” About the only widely recognized Western brands in town were Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's. Her modest five-story school has long open-air corridors leading to cramped classrooms lined with old-fashioned blackboards. On the walls hang portraits of Chairman Mao, Vladimir Lenin, William Shakespeare, Hu Jintao and other inspirational figures. In winter, to conserve electricity, students and teachers wear coats inside to keep warm.
It was, in other words, hardly fated that a girl from China's pig country would go on to become, as Liu has, the first Asian model to be the global face of Estée Lauder, the first Chinese model to walk the Victoria's Secret runway and one of the most booked Asian runway models in the world. She has learned to wear stilettos (“I never wore high heels in my hometown”) and taught herself English. She moved to Beijing and then to New York City. Perhaps the only thing that remains the same is that she is single. “I have never had a boyfriend,” she told me. “In my school days, everyone thought I'm too tall for a Chinese girl. And now, I travel so much. Maybe in 2012.” It was her first time home in more than a year, and she was reflective about how her perspective had changed. “Twenty-four is still young in New York, but in Hunan most of my friends are married.”
For the most part, Liu takes mind-boggling change in stride. Perhaps this quality, more than anything else, defines young Chinese people today. But somehow contemplating it all, compressed into a single instant,discount women canada goose coats felt overwhelming. Yet when she stepped into the shrieking crowd, shaking hands and answering questions, the anxiety wore off. “I feel like here is home,” she said. “It's been a long time, but it still feels very warm.”
In a little room upstairs, Liu had lunch with several of her old teachers, surrounded by laminated posters of beach scenes and palm trees — exotic places few of her peers have seen. With the heating off, everyone huddled around a circular table in sweaters and dark jackets, save for the principal, Mr. Liu, who wore a gray suit with a purple tie for the occasion. On the table was a plastic dish full of sunflower seeds.Cheap Pants Sale The teachers uncorked two bottles of red wine, a treat, and offered rounds of toasts, standing up and clinking glasses in the style of a Chinese banquet. Liu, who does not drink alcohol, raised her cup of green tea and offered a personal motto: “Be a good student and enjoy your life. You never know the future.”
At 24, Liu is not so far removed, in years, from her time at Yongzhou No.3 Middle School. She grew up in the southern province of Hunan, most famous as the birthplace of Mao Zedong and as a powerhouse of domestic pork production.Discount Woolrich Arctic ParkaBack then in Yongzhou,cheap canada goose population 5.7 million, there were “no fashion stores, not even fashion magazines,canada goose jacket discount” she said. “Our sense of the outside world came mainly from South Korean soap operas.” About the only widely recognized Western brands in town were Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald's. Her modest five-story school has long open-air corridors leading to cramped classrooms lined with old-fashioned blackboards. On the walls hang portraits of Chairman Mao, Vladimir Lenin, William Shakespeare, Hu Jintao and other inspirational figures. In winter, to conserve electricity, students and teachers wear coats inside to keep warm.
It was, in other words, hardly fated that a girl from China's pig country would go on to become, as Liu has, the first Asian model to be the global face of Estée Lauder, the first Chinese model to walk the Victoria's Secret runway and one of the most booked Asian runway models in the world. She has learned to wear stilettos (“I never wore high heels in my hometown”) and taught herself English. She moved to Beijing and then to New York City. Perhaps the only thing that remains the same is that she is single. “I have never had a boyfriend,” she told me. “In my school days, everyone thought I'm too tall for a Chinese girl. And now, I travel so much. Maybe in 2012.” It was her first time home in more than a year, and she was reflective about how her perspective had changed. “Twenty-four is still young in New York, but in Hunan most of my friends are married.”
For the most part, Liu takes mind-boggling change in stride. Perhaps this quality, more than anything else, defines young Chinese people today. But somehow contemplating it all, compressed into a single instant,discount women canada goose coats felt overwhelming. Yet when she stepped into the shrieking crowd, shaking hands and answering questions, the anxiety wore off. “I feel like here is home,” she said. “It's been a long time, but it still feels very warm.”
In a little room upstairs, Liu had lunch with several of her old teachers, surrounded by laminated posters of beach scenes and palm trees — exotic places few of her peers have seen. With the heating off, everyone huddled around a circular table in sweaters and dark jackets, save for the principal, Mr. Liu, who wore a gray suit with a purple tie for the occasion. On the table was a plastic dish full of sunflower seeds.Cheap Pants Sale The teachers uncorked two bottles of red wine, a treat, and offered rounds of toasts, standing up and clinking glasses in the style of a Chinese banquet. Liu, who does not drink alcohol, raised her cup of green tea and offered a personal motto: “Be a good student and enjoy your life. You never know the future.”
