Liu Wen

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 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.

When Liu was 17, she moved to Beijing to start her career.

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 first attention by the international modeling industry in 2007, when she appeared in an editorial for Chinese Cosmopolitan, styled in Karl Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf.

In February 2008, she appeared in four fashion-related articles for Chinese Vogue.

She debuted on international runways in the same month, walking for Burberry and closing the fall Trussardi show in Milan.

The week after, she walked for Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Hermès in Paris.

A year later in February and March 2009, Liu Wen appeared in 74 shows in New York, London, Milan, and Paris for the Fall 2009 ready-to-wear season — this was the highest number shows for a model in that season.

It also remains the record for the most shows ever walked by a model of Asian descent in a single season.

In 2009, Liu became the first woman of Chinese descent to walk in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She followed that up with the Spring 2010 ready-to-wear season, walking 70 shows in the same four cities.

This statistic made her the second most booked model for the season following French model Constance Jablonski.

Liu also participated in the 2010-2012 shows.

In 2010, Liu worked with Fendi, Salvatore Ferragamo and Givenchy.

In April 2010, it was announced that Liu along with Constance Jablonski and Joan Smalls would help to represent the cosmetics company Estée Lauder.

For the Spring/Summer 2011, Liu walked 48 shows held in Milan, New York and Paris.

In March 2012, The New York Times featured Liu Wen on the cover and in the main feature for their Style "T" Magazine's Travel Issue, and she was dubbed "China’s first bona fide supermodel".

In the same year, she attended the Cannes Film Festival for the first time.

In Spring 2013, Liu Wen was dubbed one of "The New Icons" by H&M for her widely admired street-style.

In 2013 she also became the first Asian to be in the top five on Forbes' list of the world's highest-paid models, as number 5.

Also in 2013, Liu gained a rank of #3 on the Top 50 Models Women List by Models.com.

She is the highest-ranked model of Asian descent in history.

She repeated the feat in 2014, with her salary rising from $4.3 million the previous year to $7 million.

In July 2014, Models.com elevated her to the status of "New Supermodel", the first Asian model to ever receive that honor.

She returned to the Victoria's Secret runway again in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

In the same year Liu worked with top brands such as Calvin Klein, Roberto Cavalli, Alexander Wang, Dolce&Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta and she also appeared on the cover of Vogue Germany, Spain, Italia and America.

Liu was the first Chinese model to appear on the cover of Vogue USA.

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.

In 2024, she became the first model of Asian descent to be featured solo on the cover of French Vogue.

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.