Strong Suit

Model Liu Wen Takes charge In Standout Tailored Styles

- Alison Syrett

Fair warning to Liu Wen’s New York City neighbours: the model recently acquired a ukulele and has big plans to learn how to play it. “I’m actually really bad at music,” she admits. “My [childhood] teacher used to say I have no talent at all.” But for Liu, having natural ability (or not) has never factored into her choice to take on a challenge. “When I’m ready [to try something], I just put all my power into doing it.” That was certainly the mindset she brought to a modelling competition near her home town outside Yongzhou in southern China at age 17. “My friends were going, so I figured I would too,” she says. Still, Liu, who considered herself a gangly tomboy, had never even seen a catwalk let alone imagined walking on one.