Thursday, September 17, 2009

Terri Kwan, Zhu Xuan on the TIFF Red Carpet for Prince of Tears

The next stop for the Prince of Tears road trip was the Toronto International Festival where the plucky trio of Terri, Xuan and Yonfan hit the red carpet. More coverage of Toronto can be found at Dennis Lee's blog.

Our heroines' outfits seemed completely at odds with each other. The publicists may have wanted that contrast in an attempt to make a bigger press splash in a very important North American venue, they actresses may have not told each other what they were wearing or maybe they just threw on what they had. The last in unlikely since Terri Kwan wore a bright red ball gown with very little make-up and, it seems, no accessories while Zhu Xuan was carefully put together with an artistically ripped white T-shirt, black lipstick and funky accessories. Terri Kwan could have been on her way to box at the bullring in Seville or to audition for the chorus in "Carmen" while Zhu Xuan was looking for directions to the Sex Pistols concert where she planned to dive from the stage.

It was a very odd pairing but we are always happy to see beautiful women wearing almost anything.

The cut of Terri Kwan's dress combined with its lenghth and the endless ruffles make it seem very formal while the color says something else (not sure what) entirely.


She clearly decided not to let anything compete with the dress--no jewelry at all, not even earrings. This is partially due to the ambience of Toronto compared with Venice where the diamonds and platinum come out for every photoshoot lent by the merchants specifically for the world wide publicity their wares will get. Toronto (based solely on the coverage of the TIFF I have seen over the past few years) seems more informal. Venice, like Cannes, is partially a fashion show where Toronto is all about the movies. No matter what the case, Terri looked stunning. Here is a shot showing some detail of the dress and her minimal make-up and accessories look. Her lovely smile is the perfect finishing touch.

Zhu Xuan with her off the shoulder ripped T-shirt, spiky mascara, dark lipstick, dangling earrings and come-hither look presents a very different picture.


A couple of shots showing details and accessories: one transparent opera glove (?), clunky bracelets, five-pocket jeans, wide belt with a big buckle, unbuttoned vest. She makes it work but needs to get at least one more look--her smoldering, challenging look is very striking but loses its punch if seen all time time. She is very new to the business--she was a student in Paris who won the TVB sponsored Miss Chinese International Pageant just last year and has plenty of time to develop.



And the two of them, apparently still getting along.


All photos from Zimbio

3 comments:

  1. Terri Kwan is dangerously cute in My DNA Says I Love You -- I reviewed it and almost hated it but for her overwhelming appeal.

    I could see why some people would hate her though -- she's almost too perky in that film.

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  2. I like their look here. It's an interesting reversal of what they wore at Venice.

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  3. Glenn--you are right, perky/cute can get cloying quickly if that is all an actress can bring to a part. I think that the artist who did the best job getting past perky was Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk although it took a while. Since an in demand actor could do a movie a month when she broke in she learned quickly, though.

    duriandave--I think their look(s) in Venice were more styled and put together by fashion people. Oddly enough I kept seeing a flash of a younger Jennifer Lopez while I was sizing and punching up Terri Kwan's images from Toronto.

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