Stardolls: The Fun Continues

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I've been on a Stardoll bender the past ten days. Whew... talk about a lost weekend!

Here are a few more looks that I received in my inbox...

GoldenPigsy braved the ridicule of his friends to make these outfits for Fan Bingbing and Faye Wong. When he's not playing Stardoll, our porcine pal dishes out "brain slop" (which includes great reviews of bizarre Taiwanese wuxia movies) at his blog GoldenPigsy's Gilded Trough.

Here's Gong Li and Jay Chou, courtesy of Lucky Cat Zoë. Besides whiling away her time figuring out every possible combination of Jay Chou's impressive accessory collection, Zoë throws together a tasty chop suey of reggae, blues, and vintage Asian pop for her fabulous online radio show, Lucky Cat. If you've never had the pleasure of listening to one of her programs, get your ears over to Zoë's podcast archive. And then follow her on Blogger or Facebook, so you don't miss out on her next series of shows.

Finally, let me conclude this post with a double dose of cute and a solemn promise that I will never play with nor post a Stardoll ever again! ;p

Let's Play Stardolls!

A few readers were game enough to submit some of their creations after wasting precious moments of their lives at Stardoll. First up are Maggie Cheung and Zhang Ziyi, dressed up courtesy of ewaffle, who specializes in observant and amusing fashion commentary at his blog Favorite Hong Kong Actresses. He's dressed Maggie (one of his "favorites") much as she might look in real life; while for Zhang Ziyi, he's imagined an outfit she might have worn if Zhang Yimou had made a Category III wuxia film — House of the Naked Killers, anyone?

Next on the runway are Faye Wong and Maggie, both dressed in a funky mix-and-match mode by sbk and dleedlee (respectively). sbk is an Asian movie fan and Holga mistress who loves to double expose at her blog Pictures, Thoughts and Comments. dleedlee is the unsung hero who trawls the World Wide Web for all the latest Chinese movie news and gossip, which he presents fresh daily on his blog Roast Pork Sliced from a Rusty Cleaver.

Finally, here's Bai Ling dressed by me. Although she is much maligned for her nip slips and funky outfits, I have a soft spot for kooky individualists like Miss Bai. I'm not exactly a fan (although I loved her in Dumplings), but I will always stand in her defense.

Anyway, many thanks to dleedlee, ewaffle, and sbk for sharing their outfits! If anyone else wants to join the fun, send me your looks and I'll post them next week.

Dressing up Maggie Cheung

Don't ask me to explain, but somehow I ended up at this website called Stardoll, where you can dress up your favorite celebrities, including — to my surprise — Maggie Cheung. (Sorry, guys! Lo Lieh is not available for dressing up.)

To the left is my first attempt ever at this kind of thing. (Don't laugh!) If anyone else wants to play... lol... just email me your outfits and I'll post them. I'm certainly not advocating that any of you join Stardoll. Just use your computer's "print screen" function and then crop the resulting screen capture with whatever image editing software you happen to have.

If no one wants to join me, that's fine. I'm just as happy playing by myself!

Wilson Shieh: Maggie Cheung's Fitting Room

Here's another cool thing that I missed during my recent trip to Hong Kong: these wonderful drawings by Wilson Shieh, one of my favorite contemporary artists, which may have been shown at Osage Gallery in an exhibition of his latest work that ended just three days before my arrival.

I can't remember how I discovered Wilson Shieh, but ever since, I've been a big fan of his witty and whimsical work. Earlier this year in March he had an exhibit at Osage entitled Chow Yun Fat's Fitting Room, which playfully deconstructed the actor's star image.

In the two pieces above, he's applied the same sort of treatment to Maggie Cheung. What I like about Wilson Shieh's art is that it can hold as much or as little meaning as you want. You can ponder the calculated manufacturing of the star system or take simple delight in the paper doll-inspired depictions. The irony of Wilson's work is always gentle, tempered by a genuine affection for his subjects.

Further Viewing

• Assorted Works (2008-2009, Osage Gallery)


• Assorted Works (2009, Singapore Tyler Print Insitute)


• Ladyland (2007, Grotto Fine Art)


• Assorted Works (2005, Crown Point Press)


• Nanyang, Ocean of the South (2005, Grotto Fine Art)


• An Alternative Antiquity (2002, Grotto Fine Art)


• Assorted Works (1996-2004, Hong Kong Art Archive)