1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

PHOTOS: Interview‘s ‘China Girls’ Only Has One Chinese Girl In It

by Justin Fenner | 1:38 pm, March 3rd, 2011

The trend (because it is a trend, unfortunately) of putting Asian models in your advertising and your couture shows and your magazine spreads is a welcome change from the whitewashed fashion photography and casting of yesteryear. But is it enough simply to evoke whatever feeling you think the East evokes in order to claim diversity?

Apparently it is. Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott created this spread for Interview Magazine called China Girls, in which models lounge around what appears to be a very chic opium den (because that’s specifically an Asian narcotic) hiding coquettishly behind very fancy lace fans. And yet, whoever did the casting couldn’t be troubled to hire more than one Chinese model for the job. Runway darling Fei Fei Sun, who is actually a girl from China, is among the models in the spread. She’s joined by Japanese model Tao Okamato, Crystal Renn and two other white chicks.

Like, what? Really? Throwing a little chinoiserie on a girl from Eastern Europe does not make her a China Girl in any way, no matter how pretty it is. We’re glad magazines want to include Asian women in their pages. But the thing about including Asian women, or any race underrepresented in the modeling industry, is that you actually have to include them.



‘China Girls’ by Mert & Marcus for Interview Magazine March 2011 [Fashion Copious]



  • Anonymous

    Thank you, thank you for writing this. In one way, the photos are pretty, sexy, fantasy. In another way, they’re boring, predictable, and don’t say anything new. And having photos called “China Girls” with only one Chinese woman is ridiculous.

  • Anonymous

    It’s like the old western movies. Up until the 1960s every American Indian was a white guy dressed in what was presumed to be authentic costume, with a “red face” and “warpaint.” Shameful. Interestingly, Ralph Lauren’s runway did include a number of beautiful Asian women for his F/W 2011 that was inspired by 1940s film noir and the Eastern influence of the 40s. Hope more than one of the women in the show was Chinese!

© 2013 Styleite, LLC | About Us | Advertise | Newsletter | Jobs | Privacy | User Agreement | Disclaimer | Terms of Service | Archives | Power Grid FAQ | Style Sheets FAQ | RSS RSS
Dan Abrams, Founder | Power Grid by Sound Strategies | Hosting by Datagram

X