Cover Left: QiQi photographed by Feng Hai in 2012. Right: QiQi for QQM Jewellery

The Hong Kong style icon reflects on how the beauty industry has changed in the 30 years since her debut, recalling highlights like appearing in a 1980s campaign with Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford, and sharing her thoughts on the trends—and diversity—of today

The global beauty landscape is ever evolving and often seen as acting more quickly than fashion in matters of inclusivity—from product development to accessibility to beauty standards. Can the same be said of the industry in Asia? We could think of few better people to answer that question than a fixture who has represented what Asian beauty means for more than 30 years: QiQi, Hong Kong’s original supermodel.

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Above QiQi poses for her brand QQM Jewellery (Photo courtesy of QQM)

Her decades of experience and appearances in countless campaigns and on glossy pages all started with a summer job: the 17-year-old QiQi was scouted by a modelling agent on the streets of Vienna, where her family lived during her teenage years. “In Austria, I was constantly approached from the age of 13 by Japanese people and westerners who asked me to model,” she recalls. “I have East Asian facial features, and a height and build that fit the western standard. People thought I was mixed-race, but I’m 100 per cent Chinese.”

The Shanghai-born model finally accepted the job, which took her to Germany for fashion week and a jewellery fair in Switzerland, and involved a cover shoot for Austrian men’s lifestyle magazine Wiener and a commercial for Yves Saint Laurent perfume in Hong Kong—all in the short span of four months. And the rest is history.

 

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Above QiQi photographed by Herb Ritts (Photo: Herb Ritts)
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Above QiQi's first runway show in Paris for Balmain (Photo courtesy of QiQi)

Not long after, she was in a campaign that absolutely embodied the mid-Eighties, appearing alongside Cindy Crawford and Linda Evangelista in a Bloomingdales catalogue shot by the late photographer Herb Ritts—one of her most memorable shoots to date. “To me, they were the world-class supermodels, thinking about the ‘Big Five’ at that time,” says QiQi, referring to the unofficial label given to Crawford, Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington and Tatjana Patitz.

A Change For Good

While today, models of colour can be seen in campaigns around the world, when QiQi started, non- white models were very much in the minority in western media. Iman, the Somali American supermodel of the Seventies and Eighties, famously had to bring her own foundation to shoots because make-up artists tended not to have anything in their kits that would suit her. Asian faces were even rarer.

“With China not yet opening up to the world, the number of working Asian models was still very limited; most of them are Japanese, and very few were Chinese,” says QiQi. With her distinctive—and distinctively Asian—look, she found herself in demand, and was seen on the runway for Balmain in Paris and Thierry Mugler in Tokyo in the Nineties, and later in campaigns for Omega and Olay.

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Above Backstage at the Thierry Mugler show in Tokyo in 1987
Tatler Asia
Above Backstage at the Thierry Mugler show in Tokyo in 1987

Since she began, beauty looks have also changed dramatically. “When I started, it was about a strong and powerful image,” QiQi says, referring to the bold brows, bright eyeshadow and heavy-handed blush of the late Eighties. “And now, in [my daughter] Ella’s era, it’s about having a raw, natural look. Beauty is diversified, and has far more than one singular definition,” she says, giving Gigi Hadid, Kim Kardashian, plus-size supermodel Ashley Graham and the silver models who have walked in recent couture shows as examples of models who exemplify this diversity.

The New Super

These names also show how the line is blurred today between celebrities, models and influencers. One could argue that QiQi, with her slew of SK-II adverts in the mid-Nineties and almost-20-year relationship with the Japanese skincare brand, could be regarded as part of the first generation of beauty influencers. “SK-II was the first beauty brand in Asia to use a format of testimony to give first-hand user experience” in an advert, she says. With no script, she was sharing her authentic review with viewers, like a friend sharing a recommendation.

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Above An SK-II campaign featuring QiQi
Tatler Asia
Above An SK-II campaign featuring QiQi

Fast-forward to the 2010s when social media took off, and a personal narrative and genuine feedback, from cosmetics review websites to beauty blogs, step-by-step YouTube tutorials and beauty influencers’ TikTok videos became increasingly important. In 2019, beauty giant Estée Lauder revealed it spent 75 per cent of its marketing budget on influencers. QiQi, who used to test products from the brands she worked with, now sees her 17-year-old daughter Ella learning about cosmetics online. “We used to rely on the print media; now there is social media or ‘we-media’, says QiQi, referring to the Chinese phenomenon of micro-influencers. “My daughter is taking me forward so I can keep up with the world.”

What Comes Next

The latest turning point for the model, as well as for the whole beauty industry, has been the pandemic. While she used to travel a couple of times per week, QiQi has stayed in town for nearly three years. “When Covid-19 hit, people shifted their focus more to health and wellness,” says the supermodel who “never worked out” during her peak modelling years. Now, she has been taking more supplements, hiking around Hong Kong and doing yoga with Ella and her husband, acting legend Simon Yam.

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Above QiQi captured by husband Simon Yam in Paris in 2008 (Photo: Courtesy of QiQi)

The pandemic has led to a much closer relationship between the beauty, wellness and self-care spaces, with trends including the rise of natural beauty and biotechnology formulas, and virtual massages— yes, really. Working from home has meant a break from daily make-up for many people, allowing them the chance to edit their routines, try new skin regimens and explore me-time habits.

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It’s also provided time and space for a change for the better in the diversity conversation. In 2020, we saw the success of Gucci Beauty, which backs “unconventional beauty”, and influencer Patrick Starrr’s make-up brand One/Size, which proudly celebrates individuality and inclusion. While celebrities and models—QiQi included—once only fronted campaigns for cosmetics brands, now they often play an active role in their development, demanding better representation. Launched in 2017, Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty set a new standard, providing 40 shades of foundation. Two years later, Lady Gaga launched her beauty line Haus Labs, which is curated to be clean, vegan, cruelty-free—and designed for everyone.

As QiQi says, the ultimate key to beauty, no matter what era, is to evolve with society and be adventurous: “At all times, keep growing with the world and beauty will shine from your positivity within.”

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