As one of the efforts to support #StopAsianHate, today Eternally Chanel is highlighting some of the Asian women and men whose influences impacted the fashion industry – not only in the United States, but worldwide fashion industry. From designers to models to editors, they’re definitely important in the fashion industry – and they’re proving it.
Don’t believe me? Then ask yourself, who designed shoes for the late Princess Diana? Jimmy Choo, a Chinese fashion designer from Malaysia. Who designed accessories for Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and Queen Mathilde of Belgium? Amina Aranaz-Alunan from The Philippines. Who was the first Chinese model to appear on the front cover of American Vogue, the first model of East Asian descent to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the first ambassador of East Asian descent for beauty giant Estée Lauder, and the first Asian model to make Forbes’ annual list of highest-paid models? Liu Wen, a Chinese model from Mainland China. The list goes on and on.
As someone who truly loves fashion, you need to know these people (at least their names!) and if you don’t, you don’t get to claim you’re a fashion enthusiast. Let’s get started now.
- Jimmy Choo (fashion designer)
Jimmy Choo was born 15 November 1948 into a Hakka family, Chow, but misspelled as Choo in his birth certificate. The Chow family were shoemakers in Penang, Malaya, and Choo learnt how to make shoes by hand from his father, Chow Kee Yin.
After finishing his education at Cordwainers Technical College, instead of returning to Malaysia, Choo worked at two design companies in Britain for a total of nine years before opening his own business. In 1986, he rented an old hospital building and opened his own shop there. In 1988, his hard work began to build him the success he deserved when his craftsmanship and designs were noticed at London Fashion Week, and Vogue Magazine featured his shoes in an eight page spread, giving his designs a noteworthy fame. He received patronage from Princess Diana in the early 1990s.
In 1996, Choo co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd with Tamara Mellon who then left the label in 2011. In April 2001, after selling his 50% stake in the company, Choo focused on The Jimmy Choo London line (also known as Jimmy Choo Ready-To-Wear or, simply, Jimmy Choo), under the purview of Mellon and licensed under Jimmy Choo Ltd. The line also produces accessories like handbags.
As of 2021, Choo’s net worth is estimated to be over $60 million. He has several awards and honors; two of them are the reasons for his title as ‘Datuk’.
- Jason Wu (fashion designer)
Jason Wu was born September 27, 1982 – which means he’s currently only 38, but his name is already known worldwide! His creations are loved by the likes of the the former First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama who said “Jason has an impeccable attention to fit and detail and a unique understanding of how women want to dress and feel in their clothing.”
Wu emigrated to Vancouver from Yunlin, Taiwan, at age nine. At age 16, he learned to create freelance doll clothing designs for toy company Integrity Toys under the lines Jason Wu dolls and later Fashion Royalty. Before graduating from the Loomis Chaffee School in 2001, he decided he wanted to be a fashion designer.
He launched his ready-to-wear line of clothes with earnings from his years of doll designs. In June 2013, he was named as the art director of German fashion house Hugo Boss overseeing the entire womenswear range. In 2013, he launched his debut diffusion line, Miss Wu, in tandem with luxury retailer Nordstrom. Michelle Obama wore a Miss Wu green shift in 2012 while on the campaign trail for US reelection. Relaunching the line as Grey in 2016, Wu partnered with Pantone to create a custom grey hue.
- Sandra Choi (fashion designer)
A Chinese-British businesswoman and fashion designer, Choi was appointed Creative Director of J. Choo Ltd at its inception in 1996, working in conjunction with Tamara Mellon OBE. After the company opened a store in Los Angeles in 1999, Choi used the store’s LA foothold to cater to Hollywood celebrities – she worked with them and their stylists from a hotel atelier creating Jimmy Choo shoes for award show dressing. The red carpet proved to be the ideal runway for shoes and then handbags, as actresses including Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Natalie Portman all took their paces wearing Jimmy Choo.
Her uncle, Jimmy Choo, and Tamara Mellon left Jimmy Choo Ltd, but she remains Creative Director. In 2013, she was named Sole Creative Director. In January 2020, she collaborated with Kaia Gerber on a new combat-style boot with 15 percent of sales donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
- Devon Aoki (fashion model, actress)
Devon Aoki was born in 1982 in New York City and grew up in Malibu. Her father was former Olympic wrestler and Benihana restaurant magnate Hiroaki Aoki and her mother is Pamela Hilburger, a jewelry designer. She is half-Asian, through her father’s Japanese ancestry.
Following her runway debut in 1997 when she was only 15, she walked for brands including Balenciaga, Comme des Garçons, and Chanel. In 1998, at the age of 16, she became the face of Versace, replacing the supermodel Naomi Campbell. She has also been featured in advertising campaigns for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Hugo Boss, L’Oreal, Lancome, and Tiffany & Co., and walked for designers including Versace, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Diane von Furstenberg, Jean Paul Gaultier, Celine, Baby Phat, and Marc Jacobs.
She is considered as an icon in the fashion industry by models.com. In 2017, Dominic Cadogan of Dazed called Aoki a “cult model” and “one of the most recognizable alternative faces of the 90s”. Cadogan continued by saying, “by the time she was 16, she was one of the most in-demand girls of the moment, with some of the industry’s top photographers (including Juergen Teller, Ellen von Unwerth and Nick Knight) all transforming her in their images.” In April 2019, Marie Claire listed her as one of the 15 supermodels of the 2000s who changed the face of fashion.
- Margaret Zhang (fashion multihyphenate)
Australian-born Chinese editor, Margaret Zhang, began her career in fashion by blogging on Shine By Three at 16-year-old as a repository for personal musings and as what she lovingly calls “an image dump of visual stimuli.” Without abandoning her blog, she involved herself in photography, writing, creative direction, and consultation.
Zhang has worked with global brands including Chanel, Swarovski, YEEZY, Bulgari, Gucci, MATCHES, Under Armour, and Louis Vuitton in a wide range of capacities both in front of and behind the camera, while completing her Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws at The University of Sydney. While attending the university too, she arranged to attend her first fashion week in New York with financial support from the business school. In 2014, she teamed up with Matchesfashion as a guest buyer during New York Fashion Week. In 2015, she served as one of Clinique’s global faces for the company’s #FaceForward campaign. Her photography, styling, and creative direction has been employed by the likes of L’Officiel, Harper’s Bazaar, Nylon, Marie Claire, Buro24/7 and Elle.
She is one of fashion week’s most recognisable faces, regularly attending high-profile shows like Balenciaga, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton. In 2015, Margaret Zhang won the Elle Digital Influencer of the Year award. In 2016, she was inducted to Forbes’s 30 under 30 Asia list, as well as TimeOut’s 40 Under 40. Her work has been recognized as shaping the international fashion industry by the Business of Fashion BoF500 Index for four consecutive years.
CNN has identified Zhang as a leading fashion photographer in Asia and ELLE named her the region’s most influential digital voice. She went on to be the first Asian face to cover ELLE Australia. In 2016, she co-founded BACKGROUND, a global consultancy for which she specialises in Western-to-Chinese and Chinese-to-Western cultural bridging for a range of luxury, lifestyle, and brand initiatives. In 2017, she exhibited a series of 39 unseen photographic works as a solo show in Sydney, and premiered her first short film – a 15-minute exploration of her visceral relationship.
In 2021, at the age of 27, she has been appointed Editor-in-Chief of Vogue China, replacing Angelica Cheung, the founding Editor-in-Chief. She’s the youngest Editor-in-Chief at Vogue.
A quick suggestion: As fashion lovers who have a fortune, why don’t you temporarily stop buying from Christian Louboutin, Gucci, DVF etc., and start buying from Asian fashion brands? Bonus points if you buy from small Asian-owned businesses. Let’s support Asians, together. The change must start now.
Eternally Chanel 