Blogger now a fashion star in China

BEIJING - Agence France-Presse

Blogger Han Huohuo enjoys front-row seats at European catwalk shows. AFP photo

Until recently Han Huohuo was just a twenty-something Chinese fashion blogger. Today he enjoys front-row seats at European catwalk shows and rubs shoulders with the editor of Chinese Vogue. More than a million people now follow the wildly famous fashion blogger on weibo, China’s answer to Twitter, and a leading website recently listed him among the country’s top 20 movers and shakers in the industry.

The 28-year-old’s flamboyant style, he favors women’s clutches, skintight black pants and the occasional high heel, and passion for the industry have won him fame in a country where fashion icons are just starting to emerge. Experts say his rapid rise to fame over the past four years was propelled by international brands eager to latch onto anyone who holds sway in China, which is set to become the world’s largest luxury market by 2015, according to a Boston Consulting Group forecast.

His microblog, set against a leopard-print background, features a stream of portraits of himself stalking city streets in leather pants, designer purses, fur-lined coats and gold bracelets. Now his fame extends to the upper crust of the fashion world, including the editor of Chinese Vogue, Angelica Cheung.