You Tianyi has worked for the likes of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Chanel, and is married to Sylvia Chang’s son, Oscar Wang. Here she shares how she started modelling while still in school and why she believes in going with the flow
A rising star in fashion, Chinese model TianYi took the industry by storm at the age of 16, while still in secondary school in Hubei, China—and has captured the attention of brands and audiences since.
Most recently in the press for marrying Oscar Wang, her partner of seven years and the son of Tatler’s November cover star and screen legend Sylvia Chang, in a lavish ceremony in November, her star continues to rise both on and off the runway.
TianYi’s journey into the world of modelling began when her mother, recognising her potential, entered her into a local modelling competition in 2010.
“I was 5’10 and my mum thought I wasn’t very confident,” she tells Tatler. “She was surfing the web one day and found a competition called the New Silk Road International Modelling Contest and she entered me. I was shocked.”
Though she had no prior experience in modelling, nor had she read any fashion magazines before, she came in second place in the competition.
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She credits her father for preparing her for the win, saying he was instrumental in introducing her to the supermodels of the 1990s, including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford. “We did some research together; he would show me runway shows and photoshoot videos, and he would prepare me for interviews too,” she says. “Neither of my parents know anything about fashion—and neither did I at the time. I just went with the flow [laughs].
Though her mother works as a banker and her father is in government, the two were keen to have TianYi pursue modelling, despite it not being a traditional career path. “My parents did set boundaries, though. They wanted me to be more confident, but they didn’t want me to do things like nude shoots.”
Despite her young age, TianYi’s charisma and natural ability to command attention set her apart from the competition. That secondplace win ignited a passion that would shape the course of her career. Later, she was scouted by an agent at Fusion Management in New York, who had come across her photos online. In 2011, she was hired to walk for Marc Jacobs for New York Fashion Week.
