When Calvin Luo collaborated with one of China’s most influential Influencer Yi Meng Ling

When Calvin Luo collaborated with one of China’s most influential Influencer Yi Meng Ling

by Zoe Zhang

As one of China's cutting-edge fashion brands, Calvin Luo was founded by designer Yucheng Luo in 2014. Its design style emphasizes structure, simplicity and transgender beauty. Asexuality, technology, 70s retro, and unisex are his labels. Calvin Luo in A men's clothing series will be launched in 2018, and a sub-brand DTW focusing on daily casual wear will be launched in 2022.
 
Whether it is an established fashion brand or a new fashion brand, the development process is usually accompanied by setbacks and controversy. When Calvin Luo released the "summer capsule" collection in the spring and summer of 23, it announced China's "head" influencer Yi Meng Ling as the brand ambassador . And the announcement certainly sparked discussion, with different groups debating this collaboration.
 
One of the most successful Chinese influencers in 2023
Who is Yi Meng Ling? Yi Mengling became a content creator in 2018. During this period, she was still a model, shooting graphic models for independent fashion stores. The real opportunity for Yi Mengling to become well-known to the public was her subsequent relationship with Chinese Rapper Ma Si Wei.
Because of the celebrity effect, people who like Ma Si Wei also began to pay attention to his girlfriend. Yi seized this opportunity very well. During the relationship, she attracted many people to become her with her fashionable outfits and beautiful outlook.
 
As of April 2023, Yi's fans have exceeded 22 million on the entire network, and he has become one of the most influential influencers in China with a total revenue of 300 million rmb and a quotation of 650,000 rmb per advertisement.
 
Every picture, text and video posted by Yi as a content creator has attracted a large number of female fans. Almost all comments include asking about the brand of clothes or shoes Yi wears, and the same product she appeared in the post will be purchased by countless people in a short tume. As an influencer, Yi's performance in bringing goods and monetizing traffic is very outstanding.
 
 
 
 

More importantly, Yi's life has become the type of life that some girls pursue to some extent. It can be said that Yi has influenced some people's values and ideals. Jiapei Sun, a fan of Yi, said, "I admire Yi very much, because as a fashion blogger, her outfits are very advanced. And her photos show her confidence and beauty. The confidence she shows makes me yearn for it very much!"

 

Why Controversial?
While gaining popularity, Yi decided to enter the Chinese entertainment industry in May 2023. This decision turned her originally smooth career into a controversial person overnight. Some voices that opposed and badmouthed her gradually surfaced.
 
Netizens are not optimistic about Yi's desire to become an actress. In online comments, "Her face is not suitable for the big screen at all. If she acted in a TV series, I would definitely not watch it." "Yi's picture is too different from her own." , "It will definitely be a disaster if she appears in a TV series", "Who said she is beautiful?" and other negative remarks. Some people even directly stated in the comments, "I don't want to see posts about Yi anymore!!"
 
What happened to Calvin Luo in the collaboration with Yi Meng Ling?
The news that Yi wanted to enter the entertainment industry almost made most of the netizens who paid attention to her feel dissatisfied and opposed. And the opposition did not end with the passage of time.
 
When Calvin Luo announced that Yi and the famous Japanese model Kiko Mizuhara became brand ambassadors, people had a negative attitude towards Yi. In addition to comparing Yi with Kiko Mizuhara and making a worse evaluation of Yi in online comments, some consumers even posted it under Calvin Luo’s social account Such a comment "Another brand wants to destroy its own brand."
 
"I like to buy designer brands. As a Chinese, I prefer to focus on Chinese designers. I have purchased Calvin Luo products many times. In addition to clothing creativity, I experience more of Calvin Beauty is gender-neutral. I don’t hate Yi, but when I saw her wearing the Calvin Luo capsule collection, I thought I would not continue to pay for this brand.” Hejing Zhou, a Northwestern University student who loves to support various designer brands, said.