How Michelle Yeoh Conquered Fashion

PARIS and MILAN — On the Saturday evening of Milan Fashion Week last month, 62 year-old Michelle Yeoh quietly made fashion history when she turned up at the Bottega Veneta show dressed in the brand’s leather jeans paired with an off-white leather shirt in its signature intrecciato weave.

I had been working on a story about Yeoh for several months, and knew she had been named an ambassador for Balenciaga, eight months after becoming the first Asian woman — and second woman of colour — to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, cementing her status as a bona fide Hollywood A-lister with global appeal.

I scratched my head. Why was she at the Bottega show? Most contracts stipulate that ambassadors cannot wear other brands to public events, let alone attend their runway shows. But there she was: seated in a prime position, next to François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, which owns both Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.

As it turns out, her global starpower had enabled Yeoh — known for breaking boundaries since her time as an action film star in Hong Kong — to break another barrier, establishing formal ties with not one but two of the most important brands in the luxury fashion ecosystem, at the same time.

“Of course, CEOs of the houses speak to one another, and when Balenciaga was working on formalising their relationship with Michelle, we saw an opportunity to build our own relationship in parallel,” says Bottega Veneta chief executive Leo Rongone, confirming the brand’s contract with Yeoh for the first time.

“We want to make sure that each relationship is distinct, and that the relationship with Bottega Veneta has its own context,” he adds. “Our relationship has not been formally announced yet. We have a project planned for early 2025 that will be the vehicle for what comes next.”

None of this would have been possible without the historic Oscar win that catapulted Yeoh to the top of Hollywood, while giving her new resonance with fans on the other side of the world in Asia.

When she made her way to the stage of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 13, 2023 to accept the award for her performance as stressed-out laundromat owner Evelyn Yang in the sleeper hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” she spoke directly to the audience in Asia, as well as also to older women for whom she is living proof that your career doesn’t have to peak in your thirties or forties.

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. “This is proof that … dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.”

Across Asia, the reaction to Yeoh’s historic win was deafening. Within 48 hours, the hashtag congratulating Yeoh was viewed more than 360 million times on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. More than 350,000 congratulatory messages were posted on Twitter (now X), calling her “brave,” “confident” and “a role model” for women everywhere.

Back in her native Malaysia, more than three hundred people, including her mother Janet Yeoh, had gathered for an Oscars party in Kuala Lumpur. Although it was already midday the next day and they were watching along on television, they had dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos, celebrating Yeoh’s win as if they were with her in Los Angeles.

“I swear to God, it was a roar,” Yeoh says now, moved to tears as I replay the video of her mother taking in the moment that changed Yeoh’s life and reflecting on the pan-Asian euphoria that followed her historic win. “The best actress [award] is always the second to last to come out. You know, everybody has got their awards and you’re sitting there and suddenly it hit me. ‘What if I don’t win?’” she says, knowing that she was carrying the expectations of an entire continent.

Yeoh was right to wonder if she would win. Despite having had a 39-year career in which she had displayed the versatility of Meryl Streep (3 Oscars, 21 nominations), stunt skills to rival those of Angelina Jolie (1 Oscar, 2 nominations) and beauty and elegance comparable to Cate Blanchett (2 Oscars, 8 nominations), Yeoh had never been nominated for — let alone won — the most coveted award in film.

Now, she’s conquered fashion, too.

This year, Yeoh once again graced the Oscars red carpet — this time as a global ambassador for the storied house of Balenciaga — dressed in a sparkling, off-the-shoulder gown which the brand’s creative director Demna had created from three vintage couture dresses that he sourced on eBay and then deconstructed and sewed together to create something entirely new.

Like winning Hollywood’s top accolades, scoring coveted ambassadorships at top luxury brands like Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta is highly unusual for an Asian woman in her sixties.

“Just before the Oscars, [there was] a silly television commentator who turned around and said, you know, ‘You’re past your prime’,” she recalls, shaking her head. “It’s like, how dare you? How dare anybody tell you what you are capable of, and what your prime is.”

“As you get older, people tend to put you aside even more. If you allow that, then you will always stay at the side. In my generation you can see Demi Moore, Nicole [Kidman], or even Judi Dench and Helen Mirren. We stand up strong and say, ‘Yes, we have wrinkles on our face. So what? So do you. There is nothing wrong with that. We are who we are. And I think that is what the fashion world has latched on to.”

Indeed, in recent years, fashion has begun to recalibrate its relationship with older stars, using icons from Joan Didion to Isabelle Huppert (herself a Balenciaga ambassador) in their marketing campaigns.

Yeoh had long-standing relationships with Giorgio Armani and Valentino going back to her time as an action star in Hong Kong and has been an ambassador for luxury watch brand Richard Mille since 2011. But it wasn’t until she won an Oscar that big fashion deals came her way.

As you get older, people tend to put you aside even more. If you allow that, then you will always stay at the side. ‘Yes, we have wrinkles on our face. So what? So do you.’ There is nothing wrong with that. We are who we are. And I think that is what the fashion world has latched on to.

—  Michelle Yeoh

Yeoh’s ascent came amid wider cultural change. Hollywood was embracing diversity with new vigour amid shifting socio-political winds in the United States. Meanwhile, China had become the world’s second largest fashion market; Asian culture had penetrated the West in a way not previously seen; and there was rising national pride in fast-growing frontier markets in the Global South and Global East, where customers expected to see themselves represented in ad campaigns

Leslie Sun, Vogue’s Asia-Pacific editorial director, believes that “politics and economics aside,” there are two main factors behind the timing of the fashion industry’s interest in stars like Yeoh.

“One [is] the increased exposure to, understanding of, and curiosity about a more authentic side of Asian culture that has risen in the West over the past decade,” explains Sun. “This has allowed films and television shows portraying Asian cultures, with mainly Asian production and cast or in Asian languages, to enter mainstream conversations. As a result, Asian faces have become more ‘relatable’ globally, which I suppose is what brands are seeking in [their] campaigns and ambassadors — and I’d say the same applies to magazine covers.”

Vogue China, the Taiwanese edition of Vogue (which Sun oversees directly), and the US edition of Elle were among the fashion glossies that shot Yeoh for cover stories shortly before or after her Oscars win.

“Another key factor is the evolution of women’s roles,” continues Sun, pointing out that Yeoh’s groundbreaking performances in the 1980s and 1990s as a female “action star [set] her apart from her contemporaries” early on. “Throughout her career, she frequently portrayed strong-willed characters who were fighters, both literally and metaphorically. While her role selections have diversified over the years, what has evolved even more is the growing acceptance of the fighter quality in women as an attractive trait.”

“The unequal expectations placed on women ageing in the industry are unfortunately still very prevalent,” adds Sun. “Michelle leads the way in that, despite her beauty, it wasn’t her looks that defined her success. It was her innate sense of self and her understanding that she has so much more to offer than her physical appearance. One of the reasons she has become such an inspiration to many women is because she possesses a rare confidence, where the only expectations she feels compelled to meet are her own.”

The Making of a ‘Fighter’

Finding time for a two hour in-person interview with Yeoh over the summer was not easy. For several months, she had been flying back and forth between Prague — where she was managing a gruelling filming schedule for the mini-series “Blade Runner 2099″ starring alongside Hunter Schafer and Mikkel Bratt Silset — and Paris where she had official duties at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games as a member of the International Olympic Committee and where she shares a home with her husband Jean Todt, a French motor racing executive.

Meanwhile, she was also gearing up for global promotion for the screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked, “in which she stars alongside Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey.

When she walks into the lobby of the Plaza Athénée Hotel, she is dressed in a sporty pink tracksuit and platform sneakers, Olympic badges and other credentials dangling around her neck. Immediately after our interview, she needs to rush off to attend the IOC General Assembly before returning to Prague for a 6am call time. And as she collapses into a sofa in a suite overlooking Avenue Montaigne, she is exhausted from all of the back and forth.

Growing up in Malaysia, Yeoh was never interested in acting. “I went to the cinema because my mom is a huge movie buff. We saw movies from around the globe like “The Sound of Music” and “Tarzan” because my dad loved nature. And we also watched Hindi movies and Malay movies with subtitles,” she recalls. “But not once, as a child, staring at the silver screen [did] I want to be up there, or want to be one of them. I wanted to be somehow involved with the world of dance and ballet.”

Yeoh began ballet lessons at the age of four. At 15, she moved to the United Kingdom, to attend an all-girls boarding school. Later, she enrolled at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance in London, though she knew from the start that a career as a professional ballerina was unlikely.

“Being Chinese, the shape and form … we did not fit into the classical look,” she says. “As long as I could come back to Malaysia and have my own school and one day share the love of ballet and dance with little kids, I would be happy with that. And in fact, that was my goal.”

But a severe spinal injury put these plans on hold and Yeoh returned home to Malaysia at 21 only to discover that her mother had secretly enrolled her as a contestant for the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant.

“She had no choice but to inform me because [from amongst] I don’t know how many thousands of girls from the whole of Malaysia, they narrowed it down and they said the last 100 semi-finalists will have to meet in Kuala Lumpur, and that’s when the judges will meet you,” she says laughing. “In the end, I agreed to do it so that it would get her off my back.”

In an unexpected twist of fate, Yeoh won the pageant. So, instead of returning to the UK, she spent a year in Malaysia on a promotional tour. “I learned a lot about my country — not just Ipoh and Perak, where I’m from — because you are the ambassador of Malaysia, and that encompasses 13 states and then Sabah and East Malaysia as well. It gave me an opportunity to really get to know my country.”

A multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-faith Southeast Asian country of 34 million people, Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei and has a majority Muslim population as well as a significant number of followers of Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.

“We never saw differences in different cultures because we grew up together,” she says. “I grew up with the Muslims, the Malays, the Indians, Hindus, Chinese — whether they’re Buddhists or Christians. We embraced each other’s cultures … And I think that has always been such a solid foundation for me as a person.”

As her year as Miss Malaysia was coming to an end, Yeoh received a call from a Malaysian friend in Hong Kong saying she had shown the business tycoon Dickson Poon a photo of her and he wanted to meet.

Poon, who would later go on to acquire the UK luxury department store Harvey Nichols and set up its Hong Kong outpost, owned Dickson Watches and operated fashion brands like Charles Jourdan and Ralph Lauren in the Hong Kong market. At the time, he was looking to cast a woman for a commercial promoting his watches business — and soon Yeoh was filming a commercial with Hong Kong film legend and action hero, Jackie Chan. It was her first time in front of a camera.

“When there is an opportunity, you sometimes just have to seize it and go. What have you got to lose?” she reasons . “I could have said no on the phone call and that moment would have gone. You never know when those moments come, but when they do come… are you ready for it?”

Yeoh was definitely ready. She signed a two-year film contract with Poon’s production company, and soon became the leading actress in Hong Kong action films, starring opposite all the greats: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat and Sammo Hung.

“My first movie in Hong Kong was very typical at that time,” says Yeoh. “It was the guys who did the rescuing, who did all the martial arts and did all the stunts … You know, they were the heroes. The women were relegated more to the damsel in distress, ‘Oh, save me, save me.’”

“I was very fortunate that one of the wives of our producers said ‘You put her in the same box as you have all the other girls that we have … why don’t you let her blossom and be who she possibly could be?’”

“To get into that boy’s world, you have to prove yourself. It’s hard enough as a man trying to get into that circle, let alone a woman. They sort of look at you and go like, ‘Okay, within two seconds you’re going to be in that corner going like waaaah,’” she says, imitating a crying baby.

To succeed, Yeoh would need to do her own stunts, just like the male actors. “I went straight to register myself in a gym where I knew that stunt people — like Hong Kong action actors — [were] training there. I was very fortunate. [They] were very generous … maybe they were curious as well. Miss Malaysia, beauty queen. And she wants to try and do this?”

Yeoh went on to break boundaries as a leading woman in the Hong Kong film industry, working on films like “Yes, Madam,” “Dynamite Fighters” and “Magnificent Warriors.” But in 1987, she decided to step back from her career following her marriage to Poon, the tycoon who gave her her start.

“I am a great admirer of women who can juggle and balance, but I don’t know how to multitask in that way,” she explains. “I made a very specific choice. I was 28 and I would be filming constantly away. It was a very personal choice. Being an actress is something that I loved. But being a wife was something that I loved more at that time.”

To get into that boy’s world, you have to prove yourself. It’s hard enough as a man trying to get into that circle, let alone a woman. They sort of look at you and go like, ‘Okay, within two seconds you’re going to be in that corner going like waaaah,’

—  Michelle Yeoh

Yeoh was not able to have children and the marriage ended a few years later. The Hong Kong media championed Yeoh’s return to cinema, and given a choice between two new film projects, she picked “Police Story 3: Supercop,” the 1992 action comedy with Jackie Chan.

“That was the time when you come back and you feel you have so much you want to prove, not just to the world, but first of all to yourself that I am able, I am still fit, and I’m still fighting for what I believe in and what I love to do.”

No Hollywood Dreams

Yeoh had never really thought about Hollywood until a producer she had worked with, Terence Chang, called her from Los Angeles asking if she would consider making a go of it.

“It was never, ‘Oh, I want to be a Hollywood star.’ I was happy. I was enjoying my life. I was doing things that I wanted to do. Then Terence said, ‘Why don’t you come? Just come for, you know, a visit’,” she recalls.

But what Yeoh found was that roles for an Asian woman in Hollywood were few and far between, and executives there lacked a basic knowledge of Asia.

“They always said, ‘Oh, you speak English!’ she remembers.. “And they didn’t know Hong Kong from Malaysia from Japan. One day when [someone] said that, I turned around and said, well, the flight over here was 13 hours. It was long. So I learned [how to speak English on the plane]!”

“Our market was not big enough for them to feel that they should bother with us,” she continues. “Until the day that we can build up such a powerful box office — which is now what we have with China and the rest of Asia and India — then we are formidable. Then they would go, ‘We should make movies for them as well’. But when they don’t recognise us, you go, ‘God, do I want to be in this industry?”

Eventually, given her experience in stunts and action films, Yeoh ended up in a conversation about starring alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond spy thriller “Tomorrow Never Dies.”.

“They decided ‘we want a strong female character because times change’ [which meant] they wanted a Bond girl who wasn’t just a femme fatale,” says Yeoh.

Yeoh followed up with starring roles in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” for which she learned to speak Mandarin phonetically, Rob Marshall’s “Memoirs of a Geisha,” and the hit romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” which underscored the commercial viability of a film with an all-Asian cast.

But finding roles wasn’t always easy, sometimes resulting in long gaps between films while she waited for opportunities that matched her ambitions and aligned with her values. Along the way, she turned down many roles that played towards stereotypes of Asian people.

“There was always a need to [justify] why an Asian woman was there. So unless it was in Chinatown or it was a take-out, then you don’t have to explain it because [the thinking was] an Asian woman would not be sitting behind the desk as a GM or politician. She would be where she’s ‘supposed’ to be,” she recalls.

“Having saved enough money from working in Asia, I [had] the opportunity to say no, because when I say yes to this, that means I agree this is what we are and what we should be. I am not saying that everybody has to think like me, but I believe that a few of us who can make and push the change, we have to grab that opportunity to do it. I don’t want to be part of something that I don’t believe in.”

“The studios or the producers thought there wasn’t a market, saying that no one wants to see an Asian hero or a heroine,” she recalls. “We need more of those kinds of roles, because if I look at all my peers — I mean, look at Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence — they have such a wide repertoire of films that gives them the ability.”

It wasn’t until she received the script for “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” that she felt she could bring her full self to a film. “It really was like all the things I’ve done in 30 years, all put into one,” Yeoh recalls.

Bridging Cultures and Generations

In the latest Balenciaga ad campaign released in August, Yeoh is pictured seated on a chair, legs splayed with a high-volume 80s style hairdo, wearing signature Balenciaga ready-to-wear, with the brand’s new Bel Air bag front and centre.

Being a Balenciaga ambassador places Yeoh amongst a group that includes Hollywood A-lister Nicole Kidman, French cinema legend Isabelle Huppert, mega-influencer Kim Kardashian and multi-hyphenate Thai star Krit Amnuaydechkorn.

“Fashion also changed, it wasn’t just me,” Yeoh says. “It’s not just about dressing the younger people, right? Other groups are just as important. I’m not going to wear what the 20-year-old is going to wear. You have to find a different generational representation of it. And I think what I represent is to be proud that you are different, that you are older and there’s nothing wrong [with it].

“Michelle can wear anything from hoodie and trainers to a couture gown and always looks absolutely stunning and elegant,” says Balenciaga creative director Demna. “I love the diversity of looks that she chooses to wear and how they are all complementary to her personality and individual style. She wears fashion — and not the other way round. She has this natural style and elegance that is above fashion and very rare today.”

“I don’t believe in a Gen-Z only driven ambassadors approach,” adds Cedric Charbit, CEO of Balenciaga. “We chose people … for who they are and what they have accomplished. At Balenciaga the point is to, over time, form a group of people that are real voices, pushing boundaries and inspiring globally.”

Indeed, Yeoh’s following across Asia was clearly a draw, as well as her unique ability to bridge East and West, a rare example of an Asian actress who was making it big in Hollywood films.

As for Yeoh, she says she chooses her endorsements as carefully as her films. “I found that with Balenciaga, they were culturally very deep. But at the same time, they were pushing the boundaries of having someone like Demna, who was very edgy, who was very today and, you know, and still at the same time very classical in many ways.”

I don’t believe in a Gen-Z only driven ambassadors approach. We chose people… for who they are and what they have accomplished. At Balenciaga the point is to, over time, form a group of people that are real voices, pushing boundaries and inspiring globally.

—  Cedric Charbit, CEO of Balenciaga

Olympian Spirit

There are just 111 members of the International Olympic Committee. Among them are Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States Princess Reema Bandar al-Saud; Canadian swimming champion and former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency Richard “Dick” Pound; Princess Anne, a senior member of Britain’s royal family and an Olympic equestrian; and, as of last October, the boundary-breaking actress Michelle Yeoh.

“This was one thing that I really wanted because I’ve always loved sports,” she says. “Sports have been part of my life, like dance has been part of my life. I love the message and the spirit of what it’s supposed to bring: peace working together through sports. I can shine the light on certain things, for example, the refugee team, which is very, very dear to [IOC president Thomas Bach]’s heart and the Olympic spirit.”

That spirit is critical to Yeoh’s success.

“Michelle has such dignity and such a gentle way about her that makes you pay attention. Her incredible athleticism and the fearlessness with which she accomplishes her action stunts can only fill you with awe,” says Zhang Ziyi, her co-star in “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.” “She seems to have this same no-fear approach to living her life. Steadfast and laser-focused, she has achieved the seemingly impossible. We can all learn from her.”

So how does Yeoh feel about her success?

“What is success? What does it really actually mean?” Yeoh ponders, repeating my question. “If you look at the dictionary, it means something that you’ve achieved in other people’s eyes; that you’ve reached a certain goal. For me, I think the most important [thing] is that I have truly loved what I’ve done over the years. Then I can look at myself and think, I’ve had successes. I’m successful because of participating in the IOC, in projects, in movies and TV series that I engage in by choice.”

“I was not obliged to do something that I would not be proud of — and in my eyes, that’s a gold medal.”