Age, Nationality and Gender affect Angelica Cheung’s choice of clothing for her character, Lela Rose, in Chinese Dance Mambo, a mainstream Chinese film that was recently made by Hollywood. Angelica is Chinese, born in Hong Kong, raised in Australia, and currently pursuing a degree in fashion design at tertiary level at La Trobe University. When working with choreographer Mo Wu, she would choose a specific theme for each dance routine, incorporating traditional Chinese elements such as dragons, serpents, and other mythological creatures. While studying in Beijing, she would also experience firsthand the oppressive Chinese government censorship, which controls all mass media and Western entertainment. This experience would deeply influence her later work.
In the Chinese national soap opera, Lela Rose, Angelica Cheung would act out the roles of a Chinese playwright, an actress, dancer, and a publisher. Cheung has portrayed all these roles successfully, making Chinese women and girls queasy at the very thought of being so closely tied to a foreign identity (in fact, many of the characters in the play are described as being like foreigners). One of her most significant achievements has been to become the first editor-in- chief of Vogue China. Though Chinese Americans has long complained of a lack of opportunities for them in Hollywood, Angelica Cheung has broken through the Chinese stereotypes. She has written articles for Vogue, wrote a regular column for The New York Times, and has even been invited onto the Oprah Winfrey Show to talk about China and her experience growing up as an Asian in the United States.
While not directly related to Chinese culture, Angelica’s early experiences in the entertainment industry definitely shaped her personal style. She has always maintained strong ties to Chinese art, literature, music, and film, regularly visiting China and bringing back invaluable stories and insight for her Vogue China stories. Her strong international connections have allowed her to launch numerous ventures into entertainment, ranging from a series of children’s books for Chinese American families to launching a string of Chinese language programs in English across the US. As she embarks on a new career as an editor-in-chief for Vogue, one can only expect her to grow more successful and be more influential in the Chinese fashion scene.