The Next Big Thing

I wonder what most people will say if they are asked, “What do you think that will be the Next Big Thing?” Obviously, my professional endeavor implies that I agree with the sentiment of the recent New York Times article on Diane Von Furstenberg “Diane Von Furstenberg and China – A Perfect Fit?” (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/fashion/19Diane.html)

“Ms. Von Furstenberg isn’t about to miss the Next Big Thing. She graced the cover of Newsweek in the 1970s. She was part of the Studio 54 crowd when disco was in style. And she sold dresses on QVC, the home shopping network, when retailing first migrated to live television. Now, her brand is migrating to the most populous place on earth.”

A few years ago on a business trip to Geneva, I stayed in a nice quiant hotel built entirely with wood. In the library of the hotel, I saw an autobiography of Diane Von Furstenberg, and ended up reading most of it when I was jetlagged. Prior to that, I had never heard of her, or any of the Miller sisters, or for that matter, most of these people who are not movie stars or singers but are celebrities of a more “exclusive” nature.

While I was reading that book, I remember thinking to myself, “so this is how the rich and famous aristocrats live”. For those who are familiar with contemporary Chinese history, it is hard not to notice the parallel between the Soong sisters and the Miller sisters. They all came from money and status. They were all educated abroad. Their marriages were all high-profile. I watched the movie “The Soong Sisters” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soong_Sisters_(film) - at Wellesley College when the director went there to promote the film, since Wellesley was Soon May-ling’s alma mater. I was much into melodramas, and therefore loved the tagline of the movie - “Revolution is a kind of love, and love is a kind of revolution.” Now that I am thinking about it, it really makes no sense! Somehow, at the time of watching the lives of the three sisters intertwined with the tubulent times of China, I found it “utterly profound”!

Of course I also remember the opening of the film, “Once upon a time in China, there were three sisters. One loved money, one loved power and one loved her country.” Again, anyone who knows a bit about chinese history would know that the one who loved money married H. H. Kung, who was one of the richest people in China. The one who loved power married Chiang Kai-shek and became Madame Chiang Kai-Shek. And the one who loved her country married Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who was a widow for most of her adult life. It is interesitng how these three sisters were eventually defined by their marriages, and of course one would expect that for women from that period.

Now, the Miller sisters were raised in privilege and married into more privileg. Pia married a Getty, Marie-Chantal married a Prince of Greece, and Alexandra married Alexandre Von Furstenberg, the son of Diane Von Furstenberg. While they are not well-known as the movie stars, the movie stars often wish that they could trade places with them, especially if these stars themselves came from trailer homes, never finished school and spoke no foreign languages and therefore were forever self-conscious about making faux-pas.

As China became more and more of a player on the global scene, I sometimes encounter thinly-veiled anti-China sentiment in the form of snobbery. It is a bit akin to how the “unsinkable Molly Brown” was viewed by her fellow first-class passengers on the Titanic. Nouveau riche is a condescending term describing those with newly made money but no class or taste. The Chinese may speak English, but with a Chinese accent that is decidedly not as classy as say a French accent. And no matter how much money they make, they still do not have class.

Well, in addition to the arrogant Anna Wintour who started visiting China, now the aristocratic multi-lingual Diane Von Furstenberg is knocking at the doors of China. Perhaps in the face of the Next Big Thing, no one can afford to care about class.

Now I write like a fanatically nationalistic Chinese! :) To be honest, I am not, but I am decidedly against snobbery. Those who resist the wave of the future (a term so unfortunately made infamous by Anne Lindbergh) certainly will be buried under the wave or pushed into oblivion.