Zhang Ziyi vs. Lucy Liu

With the Beijing Olympics upon us in a matter of weeks, there was bound to be additional coverage, as was the case for the August issues of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar.

In terms of coverage, who wins? On this side of the ring, Zhang Ziyi 章子怡 had a glowing article about her rise to stardom, starting with her humble beginnings to her now international fame and new engagement to international tycoon and venture capitalist Aviv "Vivi" Nevo. Her photo shoot wasn't too bad, although the styles they paired her with were rather harsh, mostly in terms of the make-up and hair (feels like they were trying to claim the '80s?). I don't have scans of the pics, but you can see her video below as she talks about the photo shoot. And of course, she was featured in Vogue, the mother of all fashion mags. However, other than the fact that she is Beijing-born, nothing in the article or photos link her at all to the Olympics (ok, she was one of the Olympic torchbearers, but that was hardly emphasized).



On the other side of the ring, Lucy Liu had a more Olympic-inspired photo shoot, which was fairly creative, and her pictorial spread was much larger. However, there was not a word about her, not even a blurb on anything she was potentially promoting, so it looked like they borrowed her to model for the mere fact that she is Chinese-American (and thus, she's really Team USA). Her photos were in Harper's Bazaar, which as of late has been more inspiring for me to pick through than Vogue has been, so it's not THE best, but pretty up there in my mind.


So who wins? I say.....NEITHER! Assuming that the fashion world is embracing all things from China, and the Beijing Olympics being such a platform (note that a lot of design houses even created special, limited-edition pieces for the Asian market BECAUSE of the Olympics), I find it terribly defeating that neither could make the covers.

For Vogue, Kate Moss was on the cover, which makes sense seeing that she is 1) a supermodel, and 2) promoting her fashion empire, but her photos weren't even that great (see article and photos here). They could've put her on the cover of the September issue, since that's when the new Topshop will debut in the US (she being one of the coveted lines in the brand, it would have made sense in that case). Zhang Ziyi could easily have been on the cover, and no one would have thought it strange. She's been seen on the red carpet very frequently, wearing all the new designers, so she is already known for embracing fashion. I would have loved to see a beautiful spread of her in China, w/ maybe the Olympic stadiums or ye ole' temples or modern skyscrapers in the backdrop. How lush would it have been to see her in gorgeous gowns and showing the beauty of Beijing behind her? I don't particularly think that Ziyi is a great actress either, but she is def. on the A-list, and Americans do recognize that she is a "star," so why not the cover?

For Harper's Bazaar, there was a boring article about Jessica Biel (who has never done anything great except a GQ cover and dating Justin Timberlake, IMHO), and some lame photos of her "dancing" with designers like Vera Wang and Zac Posen. The photo qualities were mediocre, and if you were to compare her to Lucy Liu, she didn't have anything in particular to promote either, so how'd she make the cover? Lucy had some cool photos, and while they weren't shot in Beijing, they were cute in trying to blend fashion with athleticism. I don't know if Lucy is still big enough to land a cover, but isn't it a little sad if she was only able to land the photo shoot 'cause she was Chinese-American, and for no other reason? Like, some editor in some glossy magazine cubicle sat there and said, "Beijing Olympics are coming up, we need to put a Chinese person in this shoot, quick, how many well-known Chinese actresses are there that we can land for this? They don't even need to be promoting anything, or talk, 'cause we're not going to bother interviewing them. Just make sure they're Chinese."

Anyhow, maybe I should be happy any Asians get their own coverage, but it pains me that no Asian one can land the cover yet. One would have thought that this time, this would have been a great opportunity to do more than just the norms. Do you have any thoughts?

looking hot in Chanel

I don't know this Japanese artist, Nao Matsushita, at all, but I came across these photos of her in Chanel, and just loved how she was able to carry all the different styles of the label so well. I esp. loved the outfit up top; so clean, modern, edgy, and feminine all at the same time.

I def. wouldn't mind owning a wardrobe like this!


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Scarlett trying to fulfill her dream (aren't we all?)

Scarlett Johansson is the current cover girl of Nylon mag, and despite the fact that this is a MUSIC issue, and that I think her singing is horrendous, her photos are, of course, gorgeous.


She talks candidly about loving music, and while I don't doubt her passion for the art, I think she has to either choose some better songs, or really polish up on the vocals. (Stage fright should be the least of her concerns...) She is just lucky that she is famous enough for someone to want to indulge her on her passion; many really great performers would die for this opportunity that she has.



Also, in case you were curious about what's on her iPod, you can hear snippets of it below.



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"It" girls can be normal, too

Sienna Miller is in the July 2008 issue of Elle UK, promoting "The Edge of Love," a new film co-starring Keira Knightley.

The only film that I've ever actually seen Sienna in was "Casanova," co-starring the brilliant Heath Ledger. That was actually a delightful romp, and considering how Sienna's real-life reputation as a party girl preceded her as an actor, I was pleasantly surprised by her performance.

Anyhow, she has a nice, edgy pictorial in the magazine.


The interview centered a lot on her private life, including her love for her boyfriend, who she's reportedly dumped since this went to publication. :P

My favorite part of the interview has to be the tidbits about her hanging out with Keira doing normal stuff. Who knew they both had such an obsession with food?

Her performance as the dark, sex-obsessed, hard-drinking depressive Caitlin is remarkable, particularly bearing in mind she was drafted in two weeks before filming started, when Lindsay Lohan dropped out.

‘I freaked out,’ she says. ‘I had absolutely no time to do all the research I wanted, so a lot of the acting was instinctive. I loved the idea of Caitlin and I loved the idea of working with Keira. I was actually pretty nervous about acting alongside her because my part required me to put on weight. I just stuffed my face for the months that we were in production. It wasn’t hard for me. We were staying in this incredibly eccentric Welsh manor house. I had huge fry-up breakfasts, pasties for lunch and lots of toasties.

‘Then I had to face seeing myself alongside Keira, who is the most beautiful woman in the world. Luckily she is also one of the nicest. We totally bonded on the movie and it was so amazing to find a girl friend in this business. We are actually quite similar.

‘She has said I’m the confident one because at parties she’s very shy and I’m loud. But we just have different ways of dealing with nerves. She goes quiet and I go all effervescent.’ She shakes her head. ‘In Hollywood they don’t know what to make of us because we both drink and smoke and eat. Keira completely shares my obsession with food and cooking. We’re actually on for a cook-off at some point. The competition is pretty tough.'

Since the movie finished, Sienna has been round to Keira’s for ‘one of her infamous Sunday lunch parties’. ‘Keira has this amazing wooden table that everyone just carves anything they like into, from their names to pictures,’ she says. ‘It’s totally vandalised and completely amazing. She’s also a great cook. I did annoy her last time, though, by going home fairly early. Out came all the guitars and I stood up to leave. She was like, “But Sienna, you’re the party girl. You can’t leave.” It’s true. I’m usually the one forcing everyone else to stay up and do mad things like run naked on the beach or wait for the sun to rise, but I also need sleep. When I’m working, I turn into OhmyGodIhavetogotobed woman.’

Click below to see Sienna's behind-the-scenes of her cover shoot.



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star wattage

Vanity Fair has an amazing pictorial of Angelina Jolie in its July 2008 issue. This woman just continues to astound me in terms of her beauty and grace.


You can also read the article here, which is a nice read, but a tad too analytical in terms of trying to tie in Angelina the movie star to Angelina the wild child, mother, wife. Sometimes, when I read these interviews, I wish you can just HEAR the interview, or even just read her responses, instead of the writer's projections. But, it's a very complimentary story nonetheless.

Leighton missing but I found her!

I'm actually a little dumbfounded by this. Flipping through my June 2008 issue of Self, you see a gorgeous shot of Liv Tyler on the cover, but within the pages is a whole pictorial of Leighton Meester, along with a guide on how to protect your skin. She looks fresh-faced and very pretty. However, there is no mention of Leighton anywhere on the cover. I went to Self.com and did a search for Leighton, but again, nothing. Did the editors forget to mention her? Or do they prefer to surprise the reader?

I suppose in this day and age where every celeb wants/needs exposure, this is the classier approach, to use a celeb to promote a cause, but it isn't necessary to scream their name on the cover? What if they miss all those extra readers who wouldn't normally read Self, but are fans of "Gossip Girl?" Aren't they missing an opportunity to reach those readers? More happy shots of Leighton below.


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YSL campaign homage

I was flipping through the June 2008 issue of Zipper, a Japanese magazine, when I came upon this very obvious homage to the Kate Moss/YSL ad campaign. The photoshoot was to promote Milk, a Japanese brand, but I have to say, this was done very well. Which one do you like more?


Perhaps we can all start to pose outside of store windows to create our own portfolio? If you make your own, I'd love to see it!

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