CANNES - The Hollywood Reporter

THR will honor Fan as
International Artist of the Year at a
private party at the Mouton Cadet
Wine Bar atop the Palais des
Festivals on May 18.
THE CHIC
LIFE
OF CANNES’
‘IT’ GIRL
Fan Bingbing is a fashion icon, and now,
in Iron Man 3 and the next X-Men, gatekeeper
to China’s luxury and film market
BY REBECCA SUN
In Elie Saab Couture
— and Chopard
diamonds — at Rust
and Bone’s 2012
Cannes premiere.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 17
FAN BINGBING REALLY KNOWS HOW TO
make an entrance. For the opening ceremony
of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, the
Chinese actress chose a one-sleeved, imperial
yellow silk gown embroidered with
dragons and cascading ocean waves, instantly declaring
her proud heritage (no more shouts of “Where are you
from?” on the red carpet) and flooring the fashion press
even more than usual. The Laurence Xu creation was
no fluke: Shifting fluently between indie designers and
European haute couture, Fan already had established
herself as one of fashion’s most intriguing figures with
her bold, flamboyant choices. But her Cannes debut
launched her into the style stratosphere.
American audiences finally will see Fan on the big
screen in summer 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past as
the teleporting mutant Blink. She’s “extremely focused,”
says director Bryan Singer. “She inhabits the screen like
a true star.” (Fan also appears in the Chinese version
of Iron Man 3, which scored a
$63.5 million opening weekend.) At
home, Fan has been an A-lister for
much of her 15-year film and television
career. And as her acclaimed
films such as Lost in Beijing and
Chongqing Blues made the festival
circuit, Fan built a reputation for her
chameleon-like and dramatic looks.
In Louis Vuitton
at the LV-hosted
Bling Ring
party Thursday.
“My style depends on my mood,”
says Fan, 31, of her sartorial philosophy.
“Having something to say is the
most important part.” (The star, who
grew up in a middle-class family in
Shandong province before attending
Shanghai Theater Academy, is studying
English; THR interviewed her in
her native Mandarin.) Her fearlessness
has attracted top designers, particularly
those seeking a foothold in China’s
$50 billion luxury market — the world’s
largest, according to Brian Buchwald, CEO of Bomoda, a
website focused on Chinese luxury consumers.
“She has this interesting duality,” notes Buchwald of
Fan, who has been a L’Oreal brand ambassador for three
years and signed with Chopard and Louis Vuitton this
year (she’s attending Cannes for L’Oreal and Chopard).
“She represents products that a Chinese consumer
would want to buy because she wears them, but also she
represents a girl’s individuality and ability to stand out.”
Beijing-based Fan had no problem standing out
when she attended the 2013 Oscars with producer
Bill Mechanic and Chopard’s Caroline Scheufele. Having
arrived in L.A. undecided on what to wear, Fan fell for
photos of a Marchesa gown that was in New York. Her
friend Harvey Weinstein (they met at the 2010 amfAR
dinner in Cannes) called his wife, label co-founder
Georgina Chapman, who sent the dress on a private plane.
Fan’s hair and makeup were done before the gown
arrived, and she slipped it on just in time for the red carpet.
“I loathe fittings,” she says. “When you do a fitting,
it’s because your heart has no plan.”
Marchesa isn’t the only brand eager to dress Fan.
Later that night, she hit the Vanity Fair fete in a blackand-white
Oscar de la Renta and the Elton John AIDS
Foundation party in beaded Elie Saab Couture. She isn’t
sure what she’ll choose for this year’s Cannes kickoff.
DIAMOND EARRING: DAVE J HOGAN/GETTY IMAGES. RUST AND BONE: VALERY HACHE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES. VUITTON: DOMINIQUE CHARRIAU/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES.