US-Asian style icons rally to support ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ movie
All-Asian cast film that could reshape Hollywood gets a rousing launch from fashion community figures amid wait for news of possible China release
Crazy Rich Asians may be one of the summer’s most highly-anticipated Hollywood fashion movies – not only for its adaptation of Singaporean-American writer Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel, but for its cultural significance to the US Asian community.
The movie is the second in Hollywood to feature an all-Asian cast after the release 25 years ago of The Joy Luck Club. To mark this huge step forward, leading Asian-American names from the world of luxury have rallied around to support the movie. From fashion designer Philip Lim, who has helmed chic luxury label 3.1 Phillip Lim for more than a decade, to fashion editor Eva Chen who works as director of fashion partnerships at Instagram, many high-profile Asian-American creative talents are using their influence to spread excitement and enthusiasm before the film’s official August 15 release.
On July 27, a special early screening was hosted by the Nepalese-American fashion designer Prabal Gurung at indie film theatre The Metrograph near New York’s Chinatown. Along with Lim and Chen, a host of key players in the Asian-American fashion community showed up to support the release.
To Gurung, the screening was meant to showcase the solidarity of the Asian community in the US, using his own influence – and that of his high-profile friends and colleagues – to raise public awareness.
Kevin Kwan was also closely involved in the film’s development and production, to ensure Asians were presented in an uncliched way through a proper medium.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Kwan and the film’s director Jon M. Chu turned down the enticing offer of a greenlighted trilogy with a “gigantic payday” at Netflix, to make sure the film would be seen on the big screen with the potential to reshape the Hollywood landscape.
Meanwhile, Warner Brothers has hired IW Group, a marketing and communications firm specialising in reaching the growing multicultural market in the US, to promote the film within the Asian-American community.