La Dame de Soie | Madame Wellington Koo

I end the year with a wonderful -albeit too short- video entitled La Dame de Soie (or The Lady of Silk) which was produced for Nowness, in collaboration with Cartier. It's directed by Robin & Cako, and stars Li Meng. 

The video (feeding my interest in Chinese culture, aesthetics, historical fashion) is based on the character of Madame Wellington Koo, also known as Oei Hui-lan, a well-known Chinese-Indonesian international socialite and style icon, who from late 1926 until 1927, was the First Lady of the Republic of China. After a failed first marriage, she married the pre-communist Chinese statesman Wellington Koo, and was a daughter and heiress of the colonial Indonesian tycoon Oei Tiong Ham.

Both her parents were from the "establishment". Her father was the descendant of one of the wealthiest families in Java, while her mother came from the aristocracy as a descendant of the highest branch of the traditional Chinese establishment of colonial Indonesia.

Despite her family's great wealth, however, as a Chinese – albeit with Dutch nationality – Hui-lan and her family were treated as second-class citizens by the Dutch administration, and had to carefully navigate their way past the difficulties they often faced in their dealings with government officials.

Oei Hui-lan married Wellington Koo in Brussels in 1921 and lived in Geneva then moved to Beijing where he served as Acting Premier in the evolving republican Chinese state. Between October 1926—June 1927, Wellington Koo also acted as President of the Republic of China for a brief period, making Oei Hui-lan the First Lady of China. The couple then spent time in Shanghai, Paris and London where Oei Hui-lan became a celebrated hostess. In 1941, she moved to New York. She had divorced Wellington Koo in the fifties, and remained single until her death in New York 1992 at the age of ninety-three. (Source: Neehao.Co.UK)

She is remembered for writing two autobiographies and for her contributions to fashion, especially her adaptations of traditional Chinese dress. She was voted best- dressed Chinese woman of 1920 – 40s by Vogue magazine, and was renowned for wearing long black or deep blue qipao or cheongsam.

Naturally, I plan to produce a slideshow of images based on her life when I'm next in Shanghai, Beijing or Hong Kong.

Oei Hui-lan. 1921