Marie Claire awards in Shanghai

"Marie Claire", generally the fifth or sixth most popular fashion magazine in each region in which it publishes, had a bash in Shanghai a few days ago. It was an awards ceremony, giving meaningless awards to people who probably didn't know they were in line for one until their agents called to tell them they were working that evening.

The red carpet/photo-op was pretty interesting though, with several of our favorites looking great, none more so than Gao Yuan-Yuan in a Stella McCartney gorgeous green silhouette dress with mesh panels:

Coco Lee vamped it up in a dress with a (very) asymmetrical neckline and split skirt:

Coco had a backstage wardrobe malfunction attended to by an extremely alert seamstress using huge clothing clips while getting her nose powdered:

Li Xiaolu (Lu Lu) brought her cheekbones:

But somehow missed being included in the Celebrity side boob continuing feature in the Huffington Post:

Tiffany Tang was lovely in frou-frou chiffon while Yang Mi had a slightly edgier look in black leather:

Neither looked thrilled to be there in this shot:

Ni Ni dazzled with her million yuan smile:

And was so well coordinated that the trim on her handbag matched her lipstick--strange but true:

A good time was had by some. Sina; Eiffel in Seoul; Huffington Post

Gao Yuanyuan busy on the commercial/diplomatic front

Gao Yuanyuan was recently was named California's official tourism ambassador to mainland China. Her duties will be to hype the attractions of the Golden State that will encourage even greater numbers of mainland Chinese to book a trip that includes Universal Studios, Disneyland and Fisherman's Wharf by appearing in commercials and posing for photographs that run on Chinese websites. As the representative of the California almond growers for the past couple of years Gao Yuanyuan has some experience with having her picture taken while advocating international trade.

The new ambassador's official portrait:

Here are a couple of pictures made to look like tourist snapshots (other than being properly focused, exposed and composed) that show the uncrowded splendor of California shopping areas:

Two model type shots, one jumping on a beach, the other serving as a backdrop for yummy strawberries--another potential sponsorship, perhaps.

For the almond growers she is gamboling through an almond grove while being filmed for a commercial. For some reason the image that the PR agency moved was focused on the film cameraman and not the spokesperson or even an almond tree.

California almonds--the snack for those awkward social occasions where no one looks at anyone else:

or when you want to eat just one:

China Daily; L.A. Times; Xiaman

Gao Yuan-Yuan at Vesace and everywhere else

Gao Yuan-Yuan was in the front row at the Milan Versace Fall/Winter 2012 show along with blond English singer, a football player, a football columnist, the next Bond girl and someone's boyfriend.

Before the show she looked devastating in white with a white leather jacket, all studded with gold rivets. She has a real presence and the still camera loves her as much as does the movie camera.

"China Daily" ran a number of pictures of Gao Yuan-Yuan from Milan without identifying when they were taken. I think the mission of "China Daily" (or at least part of its mission) is to portray the official policy of the PRC to an audience that doesn't read Chinese. If that is the case, then the Party is going in the right direction in its celebrity coverage. The first two pictures from the shoot before the Dolce & Gabbana show.

Not sure of the provenance of these but they are lovely (and a bit unusual) images:

Before some show--more traditional but still nice.

And a strange one from the Versace show--that's Wesley Sneijder of Inter Milan in the middle taking up a lot of space and crowding Gao Yuan-Yuan and Ilaria D'Amico, football commentator on Italian TV. Keep those knees and elbows in, Wesley.

Sina; China Daily; Fashion.It; Daily Mail

Gao Yuan-Yuan takes fashionable Milan by storm

Milan is the fashion capital of Italy and, some would say the center for fashion and design for the entire world--although they almost always say it in Italian. It is an essential stop on the twice yearly slog of Fashion Weeks that winds through New York City, London, Paris and the home of A.C. Milan. Gao Yuan-Yuan made quite a splash, hitting several of the most important shows and openings, hobnobbing with designers and owners while seated in the first row. She was all over the place at Dolce and Gabbana, here with another brown-eyed movie goddess Monica Bellucci:

Deploying her million Renminbi smile in the country (but not the city) where "paparazzi" was first defined. It is as if someone told her to "stand in the gutter and look great", so she did, gorgeous in a form fitting sequined dress from D&G:

Inside waiting for the show to start and going along with the photographers' request for "just one more".

And then there was the Giorgio Armani show:

She lit up the Ferragamo flagship store; designers take their branded stores veryseriously. They are hugely profitable and serve as a literal shop window for their entire line:

And off to the Ferragamo show sharing the place of honor between Leonardo Ferragamo (striped shirt) and James Ferragamo (scruffy) with Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor:

Lovely outfit, perfect colors for a sun-kissed afternoon:

I don't know if Gao Yuan-Yuan was the only Chinese actress as a guest at Milan fashion week but she was the only one covered in any detail by the PRC entertainment press. The Italians love selling luxury goods in China, not only clothing,. For example Bulgari gets most of its sales and profit growth from their boutiques throughout the mainland and China is the second largest overseas market for auto maker Ferrari. But women's garments are the most heavily promoted high-end products. In years past Zhang Ziyi has been the face of both Fendi and Emporio Armani. She was succeeded by Shu Qi for Armani. Shu Qi has also been a brand ambassador for Cavalli and Ferragamo. It may be that Gao Yuan-Yuan will be the next heavily promoted style icon for the Milanese.

Xinhua; CRI; Yahoo; Zimbio

Gao Yuan-Yuan vamps it up in Paris, hangs out with Salma Hayek.

Gao Yuan-Yuan looked sensational at the YSL show during Paris Fashion Week yesterday. She wore a white evening suit with peep-toe pumps and gold accessories with perfect hair and make-up, she looked like a goddess.

With Salma Hayek

With Stefano Pilati, chief designer at Yves Saint Laurent

Zimbio; Sina
Ifeng

Zhou Xun and Gao YuanYuan in "Beijing Bicycle"

Beijing Bicycle is a 2001 film by Wang Xiaoshuai that begins as a story of young love and becomes a harrowing, blood drenched look at class conflict and the its potentially murderous consequences in China's capital city. It begins with shots of men from the countryside being interviewed as bicycle messengers for a busy document delivery company. They are the almost perfectly unsophisticated, unable to estimate how much they were paid while in the country and willing to do just about any job available. One of them is Guei who becomes the top earner in the company, able to make enough in a month to buy the mountain bike and getting a much better payout from the company. Guei lives with Mantis an older friend/cousin who has a tiny store in an alley, where they are able to look upon Qin, a resident of a luxury building that overlooks their alley. Qin, played by Zhou Xun, is as much a part of the "real" Beijing as the building she lives in or the high fashion outfits she wears. Their only contact with her is when she stops into the store occasionally to buy soy sauce.

The day that Guei finishes paying for his bike it is stolen and he is fired. Since the bike is the only way Guei can earn enough to stay in Beijing and also because he has a single-minded determination to find his it, he tracks it down. The bike is with Jian, a working class teenager who strives to be like the group of guys in his class at a private school and who are from wealthier families than he. The bike itself is an example of this--Jian doesn't have a bicycle when we first encounter him but is able to buy a used bike--Guei's bike. His friends all have new bikes given them by their parents, people who could live in the same type of apartment as Qin, the unobtainable beauty who entrances Guei. Jian now fits in with his buddies and has the self confidence to approach Xiao a beautiful classmate who, it turns out, has had her eye on him. She is played by Gao Yuanyuan.

Neither of the young actresses in this film have much to do. Zhou Xun's character is superfluous to the plot and structure of the movie--her scenes could be cut and not missed. Qin's story could be told as a short film in itself. Gao Yuanyuan has more screen time than Zhou Xun and Xiao, unlike Qin, actually has a few lines to speak.

This is not a review or summary of Beijing Bicycle but only serves to establish the characters played by Gao Yuanyuan and Zhou Zun.

First Zhou Xun, dressed and made up in borrowed finery, comes with her bottle to filled with soy sauce. Guei and Mantis can are so finely attuned to her movements that they can hear the "tip-tap" of her high heels from around the corner.

Having effortlessly cast her spell on the guys she leaves.

It isn't until much later in the film that Guei literally runs into Qin as he turns into the alley without looking. Oops.

Qin suffers from the malady that affects the characters played by beautiful young actresses: even after being run over and knocked unconscious her hair still falls perfectly around her face, her make-up remains unsmeared and the only apparent injury is a tread mark on her arm.

She awakes from her collision induced slumber, looks around and tries to figure out what is going on.

Qin returns the next day and desperately goes through everything in the tiny house/store, wordlessly trying to find something that she may have lost there and slumps in dejection when she is unsuccessful.

Zhou Xun doesn't get to do much but looks ravishing during every second she is on screen not doing it.

We first see Gao YuanYuan as Xiao when she encounters Jian in a well done "meet cute" scene that centers around a bicycle--hers in this case. She needs help with it but seems reticent to ask although she overcomes her shyness.

They become something of a couple. On a ride into a park Xiao decides it is time for things to get a little more serious between them and effectively draws Jian toward her. This is a lovely sequence of attraction and response.

It is interrupted when Jian sees Guei ridding away with Jian's bicycle with is also Guei's bike.

The next day in school Jian is upset and refuses to be comforted although Xiao tries. Note Gao Yuanyuan's reflection on the far left side of the screen. Someone much more versed in the semiotics of representation and the deconstruction of narrative filmic text through signification should explain what the reflection means. As far as how it looks--it is striking.

This is only a few small pieces of Beijing Bicycle which is uneven but brilliant in parts and which I may revisit more analytically (with fewer pictures of actresses) later on.