Michelle Yeoh helps British Airways launch daily flights between London to Kuala Lumpur.

Michelle Yeoh, proud daughter of Malaysia, Jimmy Choo, a noted cordwainer of note born in Penang and Georgia May Jagger, known only for being the daughter of Mick, got together the other day to lend some glamour an otherwise humdrum corporate announcement that British Airways was reestablishing direct flights to the capital city. Yeoh has very strong connections to the land of her birth--Jean Todt, her husband to be/significant other/consort has been given the title of Datuk, a federal title that is outranked by Yeoh's designation as a Tan Sri.

That's Jagger in a seat from the first class section of the a Boeing 777. The shoot was based on a "Cinderella" theme, making Choo the handsome prince and Yeoh the fairy godmother. If the idea behind the image was that the Petronas Twin Towers would overwhelm and dominate the picture they succeeded.

New Straits Times British Airways

Michelle and Jean go to the movies

Michelle Yeoh and Jean Todt mingled with other members of the glitterati at the official opening of Cite du Cinema, Luc Besson's huge new studio complex in St. Denis just outside of Paris. Besson and his backers hope to lure big Hollywood pictures to the everything under one roof facility. Luc Besson directed Michelle Yeoh in the recent succès d'estime The Lady.

She looked perfectly fetching, as always, and seems to have had an affect on Jean Todt who was wearing an evening suit that actually seemed to fit.

She brought her magic wrap/shawl/stole--the one that floats in midair:

The studio complex occupies the site of a former power station. They kept the structure of the monumental nave, an impressive place to throw a party:

Plenty of room on the sound stages for everything, including building sets:

Zimbio; Variety; AFC

Giorgio Armani doubles down on China, rounds up glam usual suspects

Giorgio Armani and his many Armani brands remains exuberantly successful throughout Asia and particularly in China where sales grew by 45% last year over 2010. His “One Night Only In Beijing”, a special fashion show with 15 Armani Privé pieces (ultra-luxury couture, if you have to ask you can't afford it), created especially for the event along with some highlights of the more downmarket (pieces cost thousands of Euros instead of zillions) collections from the Emporio Armani and Giorgio Armani labels. He pulled together a real murderer's row of Chinese movie stars: Fan Bingbing, Shu Qi, Kwai Lun Mei, Michelle Yeoh, all the Chinese top models in town and put on quite a show.

Giorgio accepts applause from his group of mannequins:

Niece Roberta Armani shares the spotlight with Fan Bingbing:



Shu Qi works her sneer:

But almost cracks a smile.


Kwai Lun Mei looked relaxed:


Michelle Yeoh was simply elegant:


Assuming the Chinese economy doesn't implode Armani should prosper. It has its mono-brand boutiques and selling points in 50 major cities across the PRC and adds selling space all the time. Like Willie Sutton or Woodward and Bernstein, he goes where the money is.

Chinese Films; China.org; Fashion Wired Daily

Michelle Yeoh gets a promotion

Michelle Yeoh was bumped up from Chevalier to Officer in the Legion of Honor by French president Nicholas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace. Her fiance/boyfriend/main squeeze Jean Todt was in attendance hobnobbing with Mrs. Sarkozy, better known at Carla Bruni.

Michelle Yeoh had the ribbon and medal of the Legion of Honor Chevalier pinned on her chest a couple of years ago by the French ambassador to Malaysia in a less formal ceremony at the French embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

The next stop for the globetrotting Michelle will be Taipei where she will help Dior CEO Sidney Toledano open botique next week.

WWD; Bernama; Xinhua

Photos of Hong Kong actresses from the 1980s and 1990s

Dennis Lee discovered a collection of photos of Hong Kong movie stars from the recent past at Trouble in Hong Kong. Lovely stuff.

Brigitte Lin

Cherie Chung

Mid 1980s?--a still slightly chubby-cheeked Maggie Cheung

Michelle Yeoh at her wedding to Dickson Poon--1988

Rosamund Kwan

Michelle Yeoh at Berlin premier of "The Lady" and the Cinema for Peace gala

"The Lady" had its Berlin International Film Festival premier represented by Michelle Yeoh, Luc Besson and Virginie Besson-Silla.

The next day (February 13) the Cinema for Peace Foundation had its big event. I am unfamiliar with the organization but a glance at its website indicates that it is one of the many operations for the great and the good to get together and tell each other how wonderful they are. Luc Besson fawned over his charismatic star:

but then Michelle Yeoh was praying for a bolt of lightning to hit him to stop Besson from kissing her neck. He might have had a few too many glasses of wine or maybe just likes to act like a lout in public.

Zimbio; Zimbio

Michelle Yeoh meets with grinning idiot in Speaker's Chamber

In furtherance of her support for freedom and democracy in Burma as well as generating buzz for her biopic of Aung San Suu Ky, "The Lady", Michelle Yeoh, accompanied by Anna Roberts, executive director of the Burma Campaign UK, met with John Bercow the Speaker of the House of Commons. Bercow has made the news recently for overspending on his official portrait and coat of arms. In pictures from the event it looks as if Bercow's head was not very skillfully photoshopped onto his shoulders with the same vacuous expression in each of them.

Zimbio; The Telegraph

Michelle Yeoh in Rome and Doha for "The Lady"

Michelle Yeoh has been making the international festival rounds (if this is Qatar it must be Tuesday) in support of "The Lady", the film biography of Aung San Suu Kyi.

In Rome, accepting applause from the house at the festival premiere:

Jean Todt, in the middle of the busy fall season for Formula One, had the time to find a suit that almost fit. Some people constantly in the public eye are paid to wear a particular brand. Menswear brands and retailers might pay Jean Todt not to wear their stuff.

He looks more like a petit bourgeois shopkeeper than the honcho of the world Formula One operation:

Zimbio; Sina; Xinhua

The next day she was at the improbably named Doha Tribeca Film Festival at KOAT in Qatar.

With director Luc Besson and producer Virginie Besson-Silla:

KOAT is the Katara Open Air Theatre which can be reconfigured for any event--here is how it is set up for the film festival:

Zombio

Michelle Yeoh looks great at Toronto International Film Festival for "The Lady"

Michelle Yeoh and director Luc Besson brought the biopic "The Lady" to Toronto. Yeoh portrays Burmese political hero Aung Saan Su Kyi.

Working the crowd

At the press conference

With Luc Besson

The reviews have been "mixed"--lousy and less lousy. Here are a few of them:
Montreal Gazette; Reuters; The Globe and Mail; The Guardian
"The Lady" will open the International Rome Film Festival on October 27
THR
Zimbio