China News Service Client, November 18 (Reporter Zhang Xi) What do Chinese women look like?
Recently, in the "Dior and Art" exhibition on display in Shanghai, a photo taken by Chinese photographer Chen Man nine years ago triggered public outrage.
This photo is called "Arrogant Reserved". In the picture, an Asian woman is holding Dior's classic Diana bag.
But if you look closely, you can see that the model has slender, squinting eyes, dark eye shadow, dark face with freckles, greasy hair, and is wearing Qing Dynasty armor...
"Arrogant Reserved" shot by Chen Man
Many netizens said:
"There is no sense of beauty at all";
"Art can be unpopular, but it cannot be evil"...
Some netizens asked,
"Is this a Qing Dynasty zombie?"
"Is this a luxury brand? Chinese women in their eyes?"
Picture source: Xiaohongshu screenshot
Many netizens picked up a set of cover photos taken by Chen Man in 2012 called "Twelve Colors of China".
believes that the female models in her shots are not only Instead of showing the beauty of Chinese women,
is more like the stereotypical image of Eastern people in the eyes of Westerners.
Image source: Beijing Daily
Photographer Chen Man calls himself an "international fashion photographer and visual artist" in his Weibo profile.
She graduated from Central Academy of Fine Arts . She is particularly good at character modeling and post-production. Her photographic works have an unconstrained style and strong visual impact.
Chen Man has shot covers for many magazines. Faye Wong , Zhang Ziyi , Yang Mi , Angelababy , Yi Yang Qianxi , Lu Han and other stars have collaborated with her.
Her works have been on the hot searches many times, and she is also regarded as the "Queen Photographer" by many celebrities.
Chen Man’s Weibo profile
Some netizens sorted out that Chen Man’s blockbusters and daily selfies of celebrities are all in line with public aesthetics and have not gone eccentric. They questioned why Chen Man took such photos that “uglified” Chinese women and catered to the needs of the public. Western aesthetic deformity.
It is worth mentioning that in an interview, Chen Man once mentioned that he embodies Chinese culture in Western fashion language,
"Basically, Chinese culture is used as the body and Western learning is used."
The celebrity photo posted by Chen Man on Weibo was accused of being in line with public aesthetics
Currently, Dior has deleted the photo on multiple platforms.
However, public opinion is still fermenting. As of press time, the brand and photographer Chen Man have not yet responded to this matter.
As China's economy improves, the Chinese market has become a piece of cake that many luxury brands are striving for.
Recently, Bain Consulting Company and the Italian Luxury Association jointly released the 20th edition of "Bain Luxury Research". The
report pointed out that the Chinese market has become increasingly important in the luxury goods industry, with its share of the global market increasing from 11% in 2019 to 21% in 2021. It is expected that this proportion will reach 25% to 27% by 2025.
Data map: Consumers line up to buy luxury goods Photo by Zhang Hengwei
Although they have made a lot of money in China, the aesthetics of luxury brands and the arrogance and prejudice against Chinese aesthetics still exist.
"Are you holding one in each hand and cutting a piece of pizza like a knife? No, no, just like pliers to hold a piece of pizza and put it directly into your mouth."
In 2018, Italian luxury brand Dolce Gabbana ) published several advertisements on social networking sites, the content of which is "pick up chopsticks to eat."
In the advertisement, the model showed how to eat Pizza, Italian cannelloni, pasta, etc. with chopsticks. The arrogant tone and the model's strange posture with chopsticks in the film caused huge controversy and was considered to be discriminatory against traditional Chinese culture.
Image source: Weibo screenshot
In 2019, the New Year advertising photos of the British luxury brand Burberry (Burberry), although inviting celebrities to join in, were ridiculed by netizens because of the cool-toned style of the photos, which looked more like a posthumous photo than a family portrait.
In 2020, the French luxury brand Balenciaga (Balenciaga) launched Chinese-style Chinese Valentine's Day products. With earthy slogans, earthy shapes and careless designs, compared with the price of a bag that can easily reach tens of thousands, it was criticized for "wanting to make money" Fast Money has no respect for Chinese culture, but treats pranks as fun."
Picture source: Weibo screenshot
Unfortunately, these luxury brands have not settled down to understand and study China’s traditional culture and aesthetics. What they care more about is how to make more money from Chinese consumers.
We emphasize aesthetic diversity and encourage cultural tolerance. Although beauty has thousands of styles, it is definitely not a stereotype based on pride and prejudice, and aesthetics is not a review of ugliness.
This time, I hope Dior can take a step forward and explain it well.
Source: China News Network
