Meet Faye Wong: Always A Diva, Always In Blue
As the ‘Diva of Asia’ herself turns 52, looking iconically fabulous, it’s vital to recognize the ever-lasting influence of Faye Wong’s craft and conceptualization of genuine aesthetics on and off-screen. The Hong Kong actress and singer-songwriter hold an impressive 20+ year career in both the Chinese film and music industries. Her path as an actress and model has influenced some of the best color palettes cinema has to offer. Notably Wong’s performance in the Wong Kar-wai cult classic, Chungking Express(1994) has left a resounding impression on the fashionable design and colorful cinematography that film has to offer.
Wong was born amidst the Chinese Cultural Proletarian Revolution, to a strict family where suppressing her artistry and skills was essential to survive constant criticism and lack of support. This obscurity birthed Wong’s first few albums as a singer under the initial stage name, Shirley Wong, and reached much national acclaim for producing works in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Wong pioneered a distinctive blend of alternative R&B and alt-rock, Chinese pop, with dream-pop undertones.
Elevating the music subcultures around the 90s and early 2000s Chinese music and global perception, Wong has steered Chinese pop culture in the direction of artists preserving authenticity and producing consistent visionary works be that in fashion statements or taking on film/TV roles that reflect similarities to one’s persona. Faye Wong has done immense justice to more clearly outlining the ‘cool girl’ aesthetic in Chinese culture.
Everything from pixie cuts, more publicly showcased androgynous outfits, popularizing chic features and fashionable designs, she’s artfully introduced her vein of an early strain of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl concept, with fewer concerns about the male gaze and more on the empowerment of progressive womanhood, Chinese femininity, and awareness of mosaic and compound human emotions/experiences!
Her Cantonese cover of “Dreams” by The Cranberries, sung in ethereal tones, with glamorous flare impacted how cross-genre musical combinations could coexist while asserting Chinese culture in lyricism, tonal and melodic influences, and of course fashion. Faye Wong has kept a distinctive relationship with the color blue and all its various hues! Adding to the imagery that challenges the Manic Pixie Dream Girl in favor of a more defined cool-girl aesthetic, Wong’s fashion uniqueness is unmatched!
The 90s was a peak instance of revolutionized style appearances, and Faye Wong has managed to pay homage to the era while simultaneously displaying innovative swank and contemporary looks.
In film, some of these styles can be found in offbeat or charismatic characters’ style evolution and moods set by a set design’s or cinematographer’s set design choices synchronized with a character’s look. For example, HBO’s Euphoria(2019-Present) has been praised for a multitude of similarities to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting(1996) for well-crafted soundtracks, concepts, and philosophies around addiction and deadly drug use, and overall masterfully narrative filming style.
However, Euphoria’s most common color palettes of shimmering mauve at moments of euphoria, burnt orange tints in instances of self-reflection, even, the dimming neon lime-green hue that subtly grows across the screen in moments of violence or outbursts, draw on some memorable scenes from Chunking Express, particularly Faye Wong’s most fantastical, curious, and emotional scenes.
Faye may have had more notoriety back in the late 90s and early 2000s, however, her legacy lives on through her voguish designs, colorful character portrayals, and immense domination over the direction of Cantopop and Chinese pop subcultures.
