Fan BingBing in Paris (where else) with a Lin Chi-ling bonus

The always reliable  Dennis Lee pointed the way to coverage of Ms. Fan in the City of Lights that popped up on several sites, most of them Chinese, over the past few days. She was in her now familiar front row spot at the Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2011 show escorted, as usual, by LVMH supremo (at least the LV side) Yves Carcelle whose picture appears quite often on this blog.

She also hobnobbed with Bono, a famous humanitarian, at the Edun show. Edun is a fashion label founded by Bono and Ali Hewson (Mrs. Bono) in 2005 as a for profit company with  "a commitment to encourage trade with Africa" according to their website. Most of the manufacturing has been shifted to China due to lack of supply chain infrastructure in Africa. There has been a lot of coverage of Edun and Bono in the fashion, financial and humanitarian press, the content veering between schadenfreude and snark with some policy showing up occasionally. It is a notable effort.

The pictures with Bono look as if they were taken with a camera phone. The Edge looks bored with it all in the background.

With an African infant dressed in what must be an Edun designed and manufactured frock:

Looking great with the ubiquitous Mr. Carcelle (LVMH recently bought a big stake in Edun) who may have made one trip too many to the wine bar:

With designer Marc Jacobs and Ali Hewson:

Unfortunately, the next day...Fan BingBing in full war paint: alabaster skin, fire engine red lipstick, kohl black eyes, hair pulled back in a loose bun that frames her face--and a dress that not even she can make look good.

Just too much going on with that dress (the unfinished edges don't help either) and it is a terribly unflattering to anyone just below mid-calf length. The big bow at the bodice is a completely unnecessary embellishment:

Plenty of photographers:

Front row at Louis Vuitton. Yves Carcelle has a great job.

Once again an overworked or just not observant photo editor at Zimbio decided that if Fan BingBing was in Paris then she must be every Chinese actress there. These pictures of Lin Chi-Ling were tagged as Fan BingBing and vice versa. Here is Lin Chi-Ling waiting for the Christian Dior show to start next to Rachel Bilson:

Looking delightful either before or after the show. Strange background of people hanging around:

And here is a picture tagged Lin+Chi+ling+Louis+Vuitton+Tuileries+Gardens. Oops.

sina.com sina.com zimbio

Lin Chi-ling, Kate Winslet and Aishwarya Rai do an ad for Longines

A Swiss watch company flew actresses from Taiwan, the UK and India to Rome in order to shoot a commercial. And why not? Here are a few images from the shoot for an upcoming Longines commercial

In these two they might be loan shark enforcers on their way to get money from a slow payer:

Everything looks better now as they ignore the disembodied hand holding one end of a tape measure:

Hey, look over there:

Lin Chi-Ling with an unItalian looking technician:

Getting prepped for the next shot:

In a red Alfa--when in Rome...

Kate Winslett runs in high heels:

A couple of images from the Longines "ambassadors of elegance" page for Lin Chi-ling:

Images from Rome are from Zimbio other than the red convertible and Kate Winslet which are from sina.com although sina didn't bother hiding that they grabbed them from Just Jared. Last two are from Longines.

More from the Shanghai International Film Festival red carpet

Another look at some of the most beautiful actresses in the world on the red carpet at the opening of the Shanghai International Film Festival. As is always the case at events like this there were some great looks along with a few that were stunningly bad.

This is Yuan Li who has the figure to be this generation's Amy Yip. A classic little black dress doesn't distract from her signature look. Since she isn't wearing any accessories this shot may be from a lighting or tech rehearsal.



If Lin Chi-Ling can't make a dress look good no one can. This number looks tacked together from curtains and tableclothes so she can't.

Tang Yan has such a delightful smile that it almost makes you forgive whoever decided to stick her in a dress made from a shower curtain. At least it matches her purse.


And here is Tang Yan in "La Lingerie". She doesn't need a shiny dress to look good.

Charlene Choi and Yumiko Cheng look pleased to be on the red carpet, and to have escaped whatever caused some of the other actresses to wind up in such odd outfits.


Zhou Xun wearing an atrocious gown with the biggest, pinkest bow imagninable. This dress is a bad joke and Zhou Xun looks like she is tired of hearing it. Check out the bottom of the pink shell/cloak/thing in the second picture--it looks unfinished as if someone had grabbed a pink satin sheet, tied a big bow and hit the hem with pinking shears backstage just before she came out. She has a real "When will this be over" look. From the casual standing-around look of the background in the top picture it might also be from a rehearsal and by the time of the official red carpet walk she really understood the horror of her outfit.



In contrast to the unfortunate Zhou Xun, here is Huang Yi in a perfect combination of a little black dress with simple but lovely accessories. Less can be more.




To end this post on a positive note, Chen Hao is delightfully coquetteish glancing over her shoulder in a blue dress--great color for her--with a deep U back.