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Elaine Yau

Li Dongtian’s phone book reads like a who’s who of the Chinese entertainment world.
Fan Bingbing is a frequent visitor to his Vietnamese restaurants, for example, and pictures of the reclusive Faye Wong attending his promotional events always make the entertainment news.
It is not hard to figure out why Li holds such sway over China’s biggest stars – the looks they wear to various functions have often been created by Li and his team.
Li, who opened the country’s first image consultancy – Tony Studio – in 1999, is known as the godfather of styling in China.

“In the first five years [after Fan Bingbing joined the entertainment industry], I was the one who did her image,” Li says.
“During that period, she went from doing [only] costume period pieces to modern drama. Until now, our team [at Tony Studio] is responsible for her image. Other celebrities whose images I transformed include Zhou Xun, Zhao Wei and Zhang Ziyi.”

The Beijing native credits his interest in beauty to his frequent visits to the Forbidden City when he was young.
“The Forbidden City’s architectural proportions and symmetry are very beautiful, [and] hair is also about structure, which can be calculated like maths. The landmark’s very Chinese colours, like vermilion and gold, and the old blue bricks and red columns are very interesting.”
After secondary school, Li enrolled in the Beijing outlet of a make-up and hairstyling school opened by Hong Kong cosmetics entrepreneur Cheng Ming-ming. A chance encounter with a star scout then led him to the entertainment industry. “I had an outré hairdo, with two sides shaved very short and long tousled hair at the [top]. Such a hairstyle was rare then,” he recalls.

The scout arranged a shoot for him at a production studio where, upon seeing that the hairstylist there was too busy to see to all the actors, Li offered to help out – an act that left a lasting impression on the production people.
“I didn’t become an actor, but I made my connection with the movie industry,” he says. By the time he turned 20, Li had put his skills to the test in several movies and, in the early 1990s, he went to San Francisco and New York, where he began to ponder the meaning of “Eastern beauty”.
“I saw many things in America which could not be found in China. They included models and fashion photographers. The East and West see aesthetics differently,” he says.
“Westerners don’t put much stress on structure, as their face structure is very three-dimensional – they care more about colours – whereas Easterners [tend to have a] flat face. I have to use make-up to create structure. I like doing Easterners’ faces more, as they are more interesting.”
The Shanghai boutique Fan Bingbing spent four hours browsing
These sorts of insights helped Li see the potential in struggling model Lu Yan. Lu, who comes from a mining town in Jiangxi province, eastern China, is not considered conventionally beautiful but caught the eye of Li, who designed a freckled look for her. Lu’s photos attracted the attention of French modelling agencies and, in 1999, she left China for France, where she became a successful model and later married a French investment consultant.
“My stay in America acquainted me with Western views of Asian [women],” Li says. “[With her] small eyes, thick lips, small eyebrows and protruding cheekbones, Lu is like an ancient Eastern beauty to me. She has a very oriental look and doesn’t need much make-up.
“When she first came out, her face only had a smattering of freckles. Freckles are beautiful in the eyes of Westerners. I created the freckles for her to [accentuate her youth]. Contrary to what most people thought of her then, I believed she would become a supermodel. She eventually did.”

Li says he wants to promote Eastern beauty to the world.
“I use lots of Peking opera elements when applying make-up. Due to the popularity of micro-plastic surgery, the faces of Chinese girls are like those of mixed races now, [but] the quintessential Chinese look should be a face with single eyelids, a not-high nose, and thick red lips.”
For men’s styling, Li embraces the use of make-up and skirts. “Wearing make-up like foundation and lipstick has become fashionable for men, especially for those born after 1995. Scottish men wear skirts (he is referring to kilts). Women in skirts exude grace. For men, they exude raffish elegance. Men in make-up and a skirt can still maintain their manly physical traits – the key is to not look like a woman when doing that.”

Li, whose business empire runs to 17 restaurants, 35 hair salons, two styling schools and various make-up and hair styling product lines, says his next goal is to develop an online beauty education school.
“I don’t want to open more bricks-and-mortar stores. I want to pursue the short-video [beauty tutorial business].”
Li says his ultimate goal is to become the Chinese version of his idol, hairstylist and businessman Vidal Sassoon. “I was friends with him. For four years, I worked on his China performance team, helping him do backstage make-up. He laid down the Western aesthetic concepts on hairstyling. I hope I can do the same for Asians,” Li says.


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Fashion

Chinese image maker talks about creating Fan Bingbing’s look, the beauty of a flat face, and why men should wear skirts

Li Dongtian with actress Michelle Yeoh.

Make-up artist and hairstylist to the stars Li Dongtian

Model Lu Yan was discovered by Li Dongtian. This is one of Lu Yan's images featuring a look created by Li

Actress Zhang Ziyi in a look created by Li Dongtian, make-up artist to the stars

December 3rd, 2019-Shanghai, ChinaFan Bingbing at an event for Fan Beauty

Li Dongtian is an image consultant to leading Chinese actresses, and an entrepreneur. His clients include Fan Bingbing, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh.

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SHANGHAI, CHINA - NOVEMBER 27: (L-R) Actress Yang Mi, singer Chris Lee (aka Li Yuchun), businesswoman Su Mang, fashion investor and Yu Holdings CEO Wendy Yu attend a Bosideng x Jean-Paul Gaultier down jacket show on November 28, 2019 in Shanghai, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

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Shutterstock image of Chinese  bride and groom in the streets of old Venice, Italy.[07FEBRUARY2020 FEATURES]CREDIT: Shutterstock

Handout image of Veronica Tasciotti Amati, a Chinese-speaking destination wedding expert.[07FEBRUARY2020 FEATURES]

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Shutterstock image of Chinese bride and groom in the streets of old Venice, Italy.I[07FEBRUARY2020 FEATURES]CREDIT: Shutterstock

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Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty


Li Dongtian styled hair on film sets in his teens, and, after a stint in the US, founded China’s first image consultancy. His clients include leading actresses
With plastic surgery all the rage, Li has firm ideas about how a Chinese face should look, and enjoys the challenge of using make-up to give them structure



Image consultant Li Dongtian started out styling hair on Chinese film sets, and has worked with leading actresses such as Fan Bingbing, Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh.


Beauty

Celebrity style

Fame and celebrity

Fan Bingbing