Liu Wen

Biography

Liu Wen (born 27 January 1988) is a Chinese model. She is widely regarded as China's first supermodel. She was the first Chinese model to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, the first East Asian spokesmodel for Estée Lauder cosmetics, and the first Asian model to ever make Forbes magazine's annual highest-paid models list.

 In 2017, Liu became the second Chinese model to ever appear on the cover of American Vogue, and the first to be featured on the front cover rather than foldout. 

She landed on the cover a second time in American Vogue's April 2020 issue and a third in May 2023, becoming the first person of Chinese descent to appear three times. She is currently represented by The Society Management and is based in New York City.

Liu was born in Yongzhou, Hunan Province, China. Her father was a construction worker. She is an only child.

Liu was encouraged by her mother to pursue modeling in order to improve her posture after she developed the habit of hunching her back as she towered over her classmates.

In 2005, 17-year-old Liu won the semi-final of the New Silk Road World model contest in her home province of Hunan. She was motivated to participate because the winning prize included a new laptop. 

Although she didn't place in the top 10 during the national final, she was offered to model in Beijing. She initially struggled to find jobs because her appearance didn't match the commercial look that was in demand at the time. 

However, Liu eventually became a sought-after model and gained the first attention of the international modeling industry in 2007, when she appeared in an editorial for Chinese Cosmopolitan, styled as Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf.

In the past, Liu has said that after modeling she might enjoy working as a stylist or, were the opportunity to arise, as an actress—she feels that modeling and acting have much in common, but for now, she enjoys modeling and working in the fashion industry. 

She has stated that she knows that, as a career choice, working as a fashion designer or stylist would be "very hard work", but she is now more seriously considering becoming a stylist because she would like "to share her fashion style—tomboyish, vintage, and comfortable—with the world".