Imagery

Lui Wen and Imagery

Growing up Lui Wen was teased for her “small” eyes and her height. People then began to call her Mulan which she in turn took as a compliant and confidence booster given the importance of Mulan in Chinese history. Lui Wen is now an international supermodel and is promoting an image of Chinese women that is rare. Lui wen has not had any surgery done to make her look more “western “she has refrained from getting double eyelid surgery, which is a common practice in most Asians countries. Normalizing her natural look and having it promoted in campaigns and magazines can help shift a culture that looks down upon women for keeping their natural looks. In some cases, not having double eyelid surgery can cost a women job opportunities and social acceptance.

“I hope that when people see Asian women, they realize we are all different,” she says. “A lot of time with Caucasian people, they just group us together as Asian. But even with different cities in China, people have different personalities…. We look Asian, but we still look different. We don’t look the same.”

-Lui Wen (Vouge, Liu Wen, the First Asian Spokesmodel for Estée Cder)