Cover Girl: Kitty Zhang Yuqi for ELLE China

Posted on Apr 11, 2012 in Fashion

We often hear complaining that magazines utilize actresses (especially for the covers) way more than they do models. It’s a valid complaint but we’ve been told by people in the industry that an actress on a fashion mag cover will guarantee as much as 25% more in sales. But there’s a less prosaic reason for featuring them: sometimes, a fierce-as-shit actress can make a dress work in a way a supermodel simply can’t manage. Case in point:

Chinese actress Yu Qi Zhang covers the May 2012 issue of ELLE China.

Louis Vuitton Spring 2012 Collection

Kate, go sit down. Kitty Zhang’s got this one.

[Photo Credit: ellechina.com, elle.com]

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SapphoPoet

Pretty dress. But her arms, particularly her right one, just look so odd. Something about the proportion and placement just doesn’t look right.
- schadenfreudelicious
  
  had to go back for a re-look, you’re right, very odd, almost like her arm/wrist is on backward…or they have photoshopped her wrists/hands into some unnatural proportions, whatever it is, its very strange indeed.
  - LAVINIA
    
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  - kimmeister
    
    I don’t think it’s photoshop; we Asian women often have weird arm! My elbows totally hyperextend, for example.
  - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=539961277 Debbie Hazeleger
    
    really? Because I find I can replicate it quite easily on myself. It does make for a visually intriguing postion though
  - Celandine1
    
    It’s an odd pose, not the way people normally would pose but not necessarily photoshopped.
    - schadenfreudelicious
      
      agreed, it likely is not photoshopped, just an unusual pose that looks odder the longer you stare at it.
- Pannyx
  
  I’m not so sure. That seems like a standard “broken doll” model pose to me.
- YayaGurl
  
  I felt the same way about the proportion but to me it was her lower half. Something about the pose and the length of her legs seems off but as I look at it more she kinda looks like a glorious couture water bird.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=610791985 Aniela Marie Perry
  
  Pretty sure it’s just that ridiculous, backwards arm pose that’s everywhere these days.
crash1212

A. That’s a really awkward picture of an in-motion Kate. B. The skirt on Kate’s version seems to be bowed out in a really strange way. C. Kate’s doesn’t seem to fit her at all. D. Nobody outdoes Kate…ever. Also, I love both of these dresses, the collar treatment on non-model close-up is really beautiful.
- Pannyx
  
  I had the same thought as your first point. Mostly that it seems to me that the picture caught Kate at the moment she was getting off the carousel and was not too flattering. I’m not sure it is fair to compare a picture of a model taken on the runway and a model in a photo shoot. (Edit: which is not to say that Kitty isn’t rocking the shit out of that dress, just that if you had a photo shoot of Kate in that dress it would be so much better than the runway shot.)
- littlemac8
  
  I think the reason for the awkward pose on Kitty is to rein in that bell skirt and give her a Scarlett O’Hara waistline.
Judy_J

It doesn’t even look like the same dress. Kitty owns it.
JasmineAM

That picture of Ms. Moss (?) makes her look 12 months pregnant.
- DinaSews
  
  And higher than a kite.
  - Celandine1
    
    I thought both as well! But then it looks like a shot that caught her in an awkward transition moment. One wonders why it was even published, there had to have been better shots!
howdoilook

I am so sick of that LV line. Overdone by every magazine know to earth.

And Kate looks high as hell.
- Rand Ortega
  
  Absolutely sloshed!
- http://twitter.com/TheRedZavodnik Ginger
  
  When does she not look totally baked? Tragic, really.
guest2visits

Agree. The dress also seems to be a better length on Yu Qi Zhang, and less like an open umbrella.
http://twitter.com/connectinglines Me Again

That dress is like a cute summer cocktail dress that a muppet threw up on. But somehow Yu Qi makes it look fabulous.
http://g00.me/7k << Work at home, $45/h, link

He alone is wise who can accommodate himself to all
contingencies of life; but the fool contends, and struggling, like a
swimmer, against the stream.
Ms_Flyover

It’s possible that it’s because actresses are allowed to exhibit personality and not just be walking clothes hangers.
- http://www.facebook.com/charlotte.horseman Charlotte Horseman
  
  Yes!!! I think you are exactly right! I wonder how much more I would love some of the looks if I saw how happy/fierce/powerful/sexy/confident it made the girl who was wearing it!!
hughman

Never really thought I’d say this, but what a HORRIBLE picture of Kate Moss. Yikes!
- guest2visits
  
  Maybe some one could explain it; but I never understood the fascination and hype over Kate Moss.
  - TheDivineMissAnn
    
    Amen to that! I never thought she was particularly beautiful or striking either. Always wonder what the allure is with her.
norseofcourse

Love how the earrings echo the shape of the cut-outs in the dress fabric.
http://twitter.com/#!/Space_Kitty Space Kitty

That’s a hilariously unflattering picture of Miss Thing. Still, well done Yu Qi Zhang – she’s the first person I’ve seen really make that dress work.
Pants_are_a_must

She is the fiercest chicklet in the palace! Seriously though, she’s definitely werqing it, but the dress is pretty ridiculous, with or without Kate Moss in it.
http://profile.yahoo.com/XZTPYIF64TK3QDEMWUAS3KULFI Ted

Kate Moss looks like she will pass out at any second on that runway.
MilaXX

Gosh Kate looks positively dead in the eyes. Zhang’s is werq’ing this.
Sara__B

I assume this is our pretty — no, gorgeous — for the day. Amazing how Yu Qi Zhang makes pieces from that over-photographed Vuitton eyelet collection look fresh.
http://twitter.com/TheRedZavodnik Ginger

My goodness, Kitty is seriously one stunning woman.

ETA: After looking at the pictures again, Kitty is wearing a different dress altogether in the close-up photo. Also, the dress only works on her because she’s cinching it in at her waist with her hands. However, all of that still doesn’t detract from what a stunningly beautiful woman she is.
- formerlyAnon
  
  No need for me to post, you covered the bases.
Anathema_Device

She is incredibly beautiful. I barely even noticed the dress.
TieDye64

Beautiful!
http://www.tumblr.com/tumblelog/lastbutnotleast janinedm

Well, it helps that Kitty Zhang didn’t just wake up.
joe_tey83

What a very unfortunate photo of Kate.

And, Zhang Yuqi’s really not a fierce as shit actress.
gabyripple

How do I do my hair like that? My puffed out french braids never look so elegant.
I think I may need to invest in some hair spray…
- sweetestsith
  
  I would also like to know… I would wear my hair like that every day, I love it!
giiiirrrr

That cover is sooooooooooo beautiful. I love everything about it.
http://profiles.google.com/sara.e.munoz Sara Munoz

OMG. I bet you’ve been sitting on that picture of Kate Moss, just waiting for someone else to wear the dress so you could shame Ms. Kate.
holdmewhileimnaked

well, at least she knew what to do w/ her hands. that travesty needed to be pulled in.
to be fair to KM, she probably wasnt allowed to force in the idiot bubble on the runway. her job was to allow its shape to arrive at the audience, & the photographers, in full overextended & pregnant bell flower.
marilyn

Gorgeous on her, terrible on the runway model
bitchybitchybitchy

Kitty’s definitely working this number way better than Kate was.
Michael Telles

This has been one of those dresses that have been featured a lot in editorials, and honestly, it has never looked better than on Kitty Zhang. She is working that dress so effortlessly.
- Celandine1
  
  I have disliked most of that collection and this is the only editorial where I have thought any of these dresses looked good. The two dresses here look like they were made for Kitty. Also, that first dress is way to short on Kate and looks much better on Kitty because it’s longer on her frame.
sid123

only one pose? signature look? cliche’
http://twitter.com/kikikrucks Kiki Krucks

What a beautiful woman
PrunellaV

Whoa. When you can make Kate Moss look a little schlumpy, you’ve really got it.
ccm800

kate moss midstep on a runway turn vs. this chick doing the patented hey lookie me in haute courture pose and calling her the victor is just dumb
Truly_Outrageous

AHAHAHAHAHA!!! I love you guys. The “go sit down” comment made me laugh.
fursa_saida

GORGE.
Allison Borst

I think a major problem is that it’s REALLY high-waisted on Kate. But oh my, Kitty does look fantastic.
Sweetvegan

She was smart to pose with her hands like that. It nips in the dress visually without adding the heaviness of a belt.
lilazander

The dress reminds me very much of my mom’s weddeing dress (she got married in the 60′s) minus the feathers, plus long sleeves of the same texture as the dress. She even had the same style of shoes minus the metal on the toe points. This editorial makes me smile, and the acress is fierce, indeed.
frankystein123

Ms. Zhang certainly knows how to WERQ a dress.

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Cover Girl: Kitty Zhang Yuqi for ELLE China

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