Photographer Elizaveta Porodina [IG] has produced a staggeringly-beautiful fashion story for Vogue China’s [IG] September 2025 issue.

Before us, 32 images in this spectacular celebration of eight Chinese supermodels, eight distinct sets of attributes and eight life journeys come together “to create the most personal and meaningful style story for Vogue China’s 20th anniversary.”

The epic model cast includes Chu Wong, Du Juan, Fei Fei Sun, He Cong, Lina Zhang, Ming Xi, Shu Pei Qin and Xiao Wen Ju styled by Xiao Liu./ Hair by Zhou Xue Ming; makeup by Valentina Li

Eight Top Chinese Models and National Pride

Vogue China IG speaks with great sensitivity and pride about the evolution of China’s fashion industry and the role these top models have played in its success.

These women are not only pioneers and trailblazers of the industry, achieving success on the international stage with professionalism and talent, but also intimately connected to every key chapter of China’s fashion evolution. Their expertise, diversity, and influence are indispensable symbols of China’s aesthetic development, forming, together with VOGUE, the solid foundation of style we have built over 20 years.

Studying Porodina’s Brain

From the always-eloquent perspective of Elizaveta Porodina, she cites the personal aspects of the shoot for her own self. Now Anne has always gone deep on Porodina, and as far back as she goes. Today, I broke new ground on writing about photographers.

Considering how this photographer morphs into distinctly-different styles of images within months — I know no other photographer with this unique versatility of style in back-to-back fashion photography sessions with different clients.

So — in a first — I did an AI-generated analysis of Porodina’s creative brain function this afternoon, after seeing these images. AOC will share it separately and soon. Anne is very good at asking precise and complex, often long questions of AI. The nearly instantaneous results seconds inspire.

I’m also struck with the similarity between AOC’s commentary — and actual quotes from Givenchy’s Sarah Burton about her Fall 2025 campaign — and Porodina’s comments about the Vogue China 20th anniversary shoot. She wrote:

It was such an honor to shoot the 20th anniversary cover of @VogueChina — and such a personal one too. Having Chinese roots, this was more than just a shoot — in a way it felt like discovering, reevaluating and reconnecting with a dormant, yet powerful part of myself.

Spending time with this team — the editors , the models, the crew — you could really feel the years of friendship and trust between them. The way they moved together, laughed, leaned into each other — it wasn’t performative, it wasn’t staged. I just happened to be there with a camera and capture their friendship - how magical is that!

Grateful to have witnessed it, and to have been trusted with telling this moment.