Gucci coat and shorts.
He Sui’s career is one marked with many industry firsts: She’s the first Asian model to ever open for Ralph Lauren’s runway show as well as the first Asian model to ever clinch a lucrative contract with cosmetics giant Shiseido. For a woman who has walked the runway for Chanel, Dior and Hermès among many others, and who is largely credited for being one of the pioneering East Asian faces in fashion, the supermodel remains humble about her achievements. She still sees herself as the girl from the coastal Chinese city of Wenzhou.
Gucci jacket, trousers, boots, and scarf.
“I was originally nobody — I had nothing,” says the 31-year-old. As He describes it, her ascent to stardom happened through a series of serendipitous events: A modelling competition at the age of 17 where she won first place; a chance encounter with a Milanese modelling agency the day she wanted to quit modelling to focus on her studies; the same encounter that would send her to her first Milan fashion week, where she would go on to walk in 12 shows at a time where rejection for non-white models was the norm, and that proved to be the eventual springboard for her international career. Things happened so fast for He that, in fact, she says she barely had time to consider the pressures of being one of the few East Asian models of the time — though it was a fact that she was keenly aware of, both then and now.
Saint Laurent By Anthony Vaccarello vest and trousers. Harry Winston Secret platinum necklace with diamonds.
This story is from the March 2021 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
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This story is from the March 2021 edition of T Singapore: The New York Times Style Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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