Rebirth of the Fashion King

Chanel's Paris headquarters.

Li Xun walked down the spiral staircase carrying a bag containing photo albums, with Sebastian following half a step behind him, carrying a briefcase and a sample garment that had just completed its initial prototype stage.

The fittings at the studio finished a little later than usual today. Karl and Virginia were still upstairs discussing the accessory options for the last few outfits in the haute couture collection. He came down first to buy an espresso at the coffee shop on the corner and then waited for them in the car.

He pushed open the glass door.

A black minivan was parked across the street.

Fan Bing stood at the entrance of No. 31 Kangpeng Street.

Today she is wearing a black dress from Chanel's Spring/Summer 2009 Ready-to-Wear collection. The waistline is very tight, and the neckline just reveals her collarbone.

She was wearing a white ceramic J12 watch she had bought yesterday and black shoes with red soles.

She saw Li Xun come out and took a step forward.

"Designer Li."

Li Xun didn't stop. He turned his head and said something in French to Sebastian, who glanced in Fan Bing's direction, nodded slightly, and walked towards the parking lot first.

"You don't need to waste your time on me."

Li Xun didn't even stop walking when he said this, and his tone was neither cold nor warm.

Fan Bing followed his steps, maintaining a distance that was neither offensive nor easily relinquished.

She has been working in the Chinese entertainment industry for almost ten years and has been rejected countless times. She has long since passed the stage of backing down because of a single cold remark.

"I only need five minutes."

"You already used thirty seconds yesterday." Li Xun turned onto the outskirts of Saint Honoré, his pace neither fast nor slow.

"Those thirty seconds made me realize one thing: what you want, I can't give you."

"What do I want?" Fan Bing asked.

Li Xun did not answer.

He stopped at the coffee shop on the street corner, pushed open the glass door, and greeted the barista behind the counter in French. The barista obviously recognized him, smiled, said something, and started making an espresso.

Fan Bing stood at the entrance of the coffee shop, hesitated for less than a second, and then went inside.

The shop is small, with only three bar seats and two small tables against the wall. Old movie posters are pasted on the walls, and the air is filled with the aroma of deep-roasted food.

Li Xun leaned against the bar counter waiting for his coffee, while Fan Bing stood next to him, taking off her sunglasses and placing them on the bar counter.

  

"Designer Li, I spent a considerable amount of money on Rue Cambon yesterday. If you work in the store, you should be able to see my spending records. I didn't come to Paris to shop. I want a ticket to the Chanel 2009/10 Fall/Winter Haute Couture show..."

"Your spending amount has nothing to do with your seat in the show." Li Xun took the espresso from the barista, without adding sugar.

"Whether you spend 300,000 or 3 million, it's just a retail transaction. Chanel's customer system and brand cooperation system are two separate things. If you just want to be a customer, you're welcome to Cambon Street, but what you want isn't in this store."

Fan Bing paused for a moment.

The information her agent found overnight matched her prediction: the seating arrangement for Chanel's haute couture show was determined by three steps: the creative studio submitted a suggested list, the brand's public relations department reviewed it, and finally Karl Lagerfeld personally confirmed it.

The creative studio's recommendations are weighted in the hands of the three core figures.

Karl Lagerfeld himself, Virginie Viard, the director of his creative studio, and the 23-year-old Chinese designer in front of me.

Li Xun.

"So you can decide this," Fan Bing said.

"Of course I can, but I don't intend to do so."

Why?

Li Xun took a sip of the concentrated liquor and turned to look at her.

Fan Bing wore light makeup today, with a thin base and only basic enhancements to her eyebrows and eyes, which was much more subdued than her usual heavy makeup looks when she attends events in China.

She had clearly done her homework, knowing that the European fashion world doesn't like overly made-up faces, and deliberately adjusted her makeup strategy.

Her team is indeed professional.

But the way Li Xun looked at her was exactly the same as yesterday—calm, without any extra emotion.

"Because of Liu Yifei?" Fan Bing asked first.

Li Xun did not respond.

"I checked her schedule. She has no fashion week schedule, no brand events, no magazine covers. She has never even been on the cover of one of the top five women's magazines in China..." Fan Bing's voice was steady, and she did not raise her voice because of her emotions.

"I came to Kangpeng Street in 2007. At that time, Liu Yifei didn't know which way the door of Chanel Haute Couture faced."

"I've been on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and inside Vogue China. I've attended the Harper's Bazaar Charity Night for three consecutive years. I have ten times more resources in the domestic fashion industry than she does."

"My face..."

She paused for a moment.

"You can tell from my face that I was born for the fashion industry."

Li Xun leaned against the bar counter, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

He did not deny it.

Fan Bingbing's facial features are indeed top-tier in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Her potential in the fashion industry is indeed higher than that of most Chinese actresses.

"Your face is suited for the fashion industry," Li Xun said.

Fan Bing's pupils twitched slightly.

"But my industry has no shortage of suitable faces."

Fan Bing opened his mouth, his circle...

Li Xun's tone remained calm.

"Chanel receives no fewer than 20,000 styling cards from around the world every year, each one featuring a face perfectly suited for the fashion world."

In Milan, Paris, London, and New York, among the new models introduced by modeling agencies each year, there are at least 500 white girls who look more fashionable than you, and of them, no fewer than 50 have similar bone structure to yours.

But the vast majority of them can't even get an interview with Chanel, let alone sit in the front row at a haute couture show.

"So," Fan Bing continued.

"The standard for decision-making is not face."

"Of course not the face."

After finishing his coffee, Li Xun straightened up from the bar and took out a few euro banknotes from his pocket, placing them under his cup.

"You started your personal studio in China a long time ago. In name, it was independent, but in reality, it was highly dependent on Huayi's resource system."

Huayi's film projects, Huayi's variety shows, and Huayi's media relations.

You should know exactly what percentage of your annual exposure you receive in resource exchanges from Huayi.

Fan Bing's fingers tightened slightly.

"I don't quite understand," she said. "Mr. Li is a fashion designer, why would he care about the resource allocation of domestic talent agencies?"

"The logic behind Chanel's selection of brand ambassadors is not based on who is the most popular. We are a luxury brand, not a talent agency. We don't need to sign someone with nine layers of resources tied to them to open up the Chinese market."

The things behind you—Huayi, charity, personal connections, and power struggles—are not advantages in my eyes; they are risks.

Fan Bing was stunned.

She hadn't expected Li Xun to have investigated her so thoroughly.

It's not about the superficial itinerary and resume, but the core logic of the resource structure.

"Zhou Xun was also a guest of Chanel," Fan Bing said, lowering her voice. "She's also an artist under Huayi Brothers, and you guys are too—"

"Because Karl Lagerfeld is a trendsetter in the fashion world, he can ignore a lot of risks, but I can't."

Fan Bingbing truly deserves to stand at the top of the global fashion industry.

If her face and bone structure were born in a parallel world without those "rules," she could very well become the first Chinese face truly recognized as a supermodel by the global fashion industry.

But she chose the wrong path.

It wasn't because she wasn't smart enough, or because she wasn't hardworking enough, but because she was too smart, too hardworking, and too eager to win.

She turned herself into a meticulous resource machine, calculating every step to the extreme, only to be completely consumed by those calculations in the end.

Li Xun's sympathy was limited.

Chanel's brand image is not meant to help anyone, nor is he here to do charity. He is a fashion designer who has returned with memories from a previous life, knowing which trends will take off and which will be bubbles.

Fan Bingbing was not even on his list.

"Designer Li."

Fan Bing's voice interrupted his thoughts.

A middle-aged couple who looked like tourists walked into the coffee shop and were ordering in broken French.

Li Xun stepped aside to make room for them at the bar, and also helped the two tourists with their translation.

Fan Bing was suddenly shocked by what she saw.

……

After Li Xun finished his work, she spoke again.

"I have a question."

Li Xun waited for her to finish speaking.

Why were you willing to approach Liu Yifei?

Fan Bing asked the question in a calm voice, but Li Xun noticed that her hand holding the sunglasses tightened for a moment.

That's what she really wanted to ask today.

After two days of research, spending a few hundred thousand euros, standing at the entrance of Cambon Street for two afternoons, and going around in such a big circle, I finally came here just to ask this one question.

On what grounds?

Why is it that Liu Yifei can get things that I can't?

Why did she get the ticket that I couldn't get even after all my scheming, without doing anything?

Why...

"When Liu Yifei looked at me, she didn't have that kind of ambition," Li Xun said.

Fan Bing's fingers stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"Literal meaning."

Li Xun glanced down at his watch. Carl and Virginia should be coming down from the studio soon, and he needed to end this conversation quickly.

"When she first met me, she knew I was a Chanel designer. After she learned who I was, her reaction wasn't about what I could get out of her."

Fan Bing remained silent.

Li Xun continued speaking.

She didn't calculate or weigh things against me, and she didn't treat every meeting as an opportunity for resource exchange.

She came to talk to me because she wanted to, not because she needed to. She didn't see any ulterior motive in this person helping me get anything; she simply thought, "This person is here, and I want to talk to him."

"What's the difference?" Fan Bing asked.

"Of course there's a difference."

Li Xun tapped the table with his index finger knuckle.

"You want to sit in the front row of a haute couture show through me. You call that getting acquainted, you call swiping your card for hundreds of thousands of euros that you're sincere, and you call your bone structure and how well it fits into the fashion industry that you're capable. But from my perspective, you're just calculating."

"If you succeed today, you'll have a front-row seat at Chanel's haute couture show. What about next year? Next year you'll want to sit closer to Anna Wintour, the year after that you'll want to be a brand ambassador, and the year after that you'll want to be a brand ambassador."

You will never be satisfied, you will never stop calculating, and you will never put the brand value of Chanel above your personal interests.

Fan Bing's lips twitched slightly.

"Isn't this the source of your assessment of me? I'm ambitious and have ulterior motives, so I'm not worth your time. Liu Yifei isn't ambitious..."

"She does."

Li Xun interrupted her.

Fan Bing was stunned.

"Of course Liu Yifei has ambitions." Li Xun's tone became more serious.

"How could someone who became a household name in the Chinese-speaking world at the age of seventeen through a TV series not be ambitious? Liu Yifei's ambition is much greater than you imagine, and much more dangerous than you imagine. She just changed the way she achieved it."

"Her approach was to herself."

"Your approach is towards others."

Li Xun frowned slightly: "There's another very important thing. When Hua Yi smeared me, my parents were very worried, especially my mother. I have no reason to give a nice face to any artist connected to them."

To be honest, if I were to swallow my pride and beg Karl Lagerfeld or Anna Wintour, I could shut down any artist or fashion industry connection associated with Hua Yi.

The only reason you're still here talking to me is because I don't want to owe them any favors.

Fan Bing stood still.

The coffee shop door was pushed open, and Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard walked in.

They saw Li Xun and Fan Bing standing next to a small table against the wall, their eyebrows slightly raised.

"Ah," Karl said in French, "it's her again."

Virginia glanced at Fan Bingbing, her gaze sweeping from her black dress over her red-soled shoes before returning to her own.

Her expression was calm, but Li Xun, having known her for so many years, knew that her expression meant it was expected.

"I've already ordered for you, let's chat as we walk." Li Xun stood up.

……

Fan Bing watched as Karl Lagerfeld and Virginie Viard turned and left with him.

She discovered that Li Xun's position at Chanel was higher than she had imagined.