Lucy Liu and Olivia Munn were the only other Asians to grace the cover before
Three Asian models have made the cover of Allure’s groundbreaking June issue.
As reported by The Huffington Post, women’s beauty magazine Allure has featured three Asian models on its cover of its June issue.
Soo Joo Park, Fei Fei Sun and Fernanda Ly are each given their own cover on Allure for the month of June.
Prior to the issue, only two people of Asian descent made the cover: Lucy Liu in November 2000 and Olivia Munn in May 2014.
Allure’s Editor in Chief Michelle Lee said June’s issue is incredibly significant. “We’ve made a real effort to celebrate diversity on all platforms of Allure in the past two years.” she said. “But, my God, only two covers?”
“My preteen self couldn’t even fathom seeing an Asian face on the cover of a mainstream magazine or leading a TV show or headlining a movie,” Lee added. “So being able to feature three game-changing Asian models, especially after a pretty sad track record, has significant meaning to me… and I hope to you, too.”
Chinese Australian model Fernanda Ly said she felt different being Asian in the modelling industry. “Australia has so many Asian people, but when I started out, pretty much every model was white,” she said. “It’s an alienating experience — you feel so physically different. I appeared at the time when everything started to change; people like Lineisy [Montero] and Ruth Bell started to break the norm. I guess I’m the colored-hair version of that for Asian girls.”
Korean American model Soo Joo Park said she is pushing for the inclusion of Asians in the industry. “You hardly ever see one of us on the cover of a major American publication,” she said. “I just want to think about who I am and what I represent and how I can help other people who are like me,” she added.”
Fei Fei Sun was the first Chinese woman to appear on the covers of U.S., Italian, and Japanese issues of Vogue too. “We need more and more girls from different countries on the runway and in magazines and in global campaigns,” she said.
