ANGELICA CHEUNG
Editor-in-Chief of Vogue China
I always like a touch of the unexpected in an outfit – I think that’s how stylish men really distinguish themselves. For example, I like how Ralph Lauren pairs his hiking boots with a formal suit, or how Brunello Cucinelli often wears jeans with a double-breasted jacket. I think it’s good not to look too overdone, even when it’s apparent that a lot of thought has gone into the outfit.
In China, I think the big menswear icon is really the late Hong Kong actor and singer Leslie Cheung. Everything he wore on screen – from contemporary gangster movies to historical films like Farewell My Concubine – he wore it with so much elegance. There’s a great series of photos of him with Chinese actress Gong Li at the Cannes Film Festival the year that Farewell My Concubine won the Palme d’Or (incidentally, it’s the only Chinese film ever to have done so). He’s wearing a tuxedo and she’s dressed in a crisp white shirt and a long black skirt, and together they just look luminous. Even though their outfits are simple, their star power shines through.
Towards the end of his life, Leslie’s style changed into something more outré. He wore a pair of red high heels on stage and then famously collaborated with Jean-Paul Gaultier (the first time Gaultier worked with a Chinese celebrity) on the outfits for what would be his last concert. You wouldn’t particularly call these designs elegant, but I think a lot of men are restrained and confined by what they think society expects them to wear, and Leslie really dared to explore the boundaries between gender and dress in a way that was so avant-garde for his time and for China. That’s a spirit I will always admire and that’s why his appeal endures. Over 15 years later, the anniversary of his passing is still celebrated and r emembered by his f ans.