Last week’s China-fuelled rally in luxury-goods stocks is based on unstable foundations, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. analysts.

Stimulus measures announced by the economic giant are unlikely to have a positive impact on high-end discretionary spending in the near term, Goldman’s Louise Singlehurst wrote in a note on Tuesday, downgrading Gucci-owner Kering SA to sell.

“We expect a difficult six months ahead for the luxury peers,” the analyst wrote. “The appetite to purchase high-end discretionary goods is dependent upon the health and confidence of the consumer.”

This sentiment was echoed by HSBC Holdings Plc’s Erwan Rambourg, who said on Tuesday that the road to a recovery in Chinese luxury consumption “will be long.”

Despite last week’s gains, a Goldman Sachs basket of European luxury goods makers remains down 16 percent since reaching a peak in mid-March.

Goldman’s Singlehurst is particularly cautious on companies in the middle of a turnaround, like Kering, whose shares have slumped 37 percent this year. While the analyst is positive on Gucci’s plans to reposition its portfolio to a more “evergreen” style, earnings visibility could take a hit.

“In the current market environment where store traffic is depressed and consumer confidence is soft, particularly in China, we see this is a difficult ambition to achieve,” Singlehurst added.

By Kit Rees

Learn more:

Gucci-Owner Kering Slumps to 2017 Low on China Demand Fears

Kering SA’s stock plunged to a seven-year low on Monday, with analysts downgrading the Gucci owner amid concerns over weak demand in China, marking a sharp decline in the luxury sector.

Dockworkers walked out of every major port on the US East and Gulf coasts for the first time in nearly 50 years, staging a strike that could ripple across the world’s largest economy and cause political turmoil just weeks before the presidential election.

The 36 affected ports have the combined capacity to handle as much as half of all US trade volumes, and the closures immediately halt container operations and auto shipments. Energy supplies and bulk cargo won’t be directly affected. Some exceptions will be made to allow for the movement of military goods and cruise ships.

The significance of a work stoppage at every major container port from Houston to Miami and New York-New Jersey depends on how long the strike lasts. The economic loss from the shutdown, which began at 12:01 Tuesday morning Eastern Standard Time, will be between $3.8 billion to $4.5 billion a day, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Shipping congestion resulting from a week-long strike would take about a month to clear, according to Grace Zwemmer at Oxford Economics.

Shares of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd AG fell on Tuesday, after both container lines gained more than 11 percent in September.

The International Longshoremen’s Association is seeking higher wages and a rollback of the language on automation in a six-year contract that expired at midnight. Union leader Harold Daggett has for months threatened a strike starting on Oct. 1 if no deal is reached before the deadline. The last time East and Gulf coast dockworkers went on strike was in 1977.

“We are prepared to fight as long as necessary, to stay out on strike for whatever period of time it takes,” Daggett said in a statement posted to Facebook. The last offer from the companies “fell far short of what ILA rank-and-file members are demanding in wages and protections against automation.”

The ocean carriers and terminal operators represented by the US Maritime Alliance, also known as USMX, have accused the ILA of refusing to negotiate since the union called off talks back in June. A strike was all but certain until Monday afternoon, when reports emerged that the White House has been in communication with the two sides over the weekend and some progress has been made on wages.

President Joe Biden, who prides himself on being pro-union, has said the dispute is a matter for collective bargaining and he wouldn’t invoke his authority under national security laws to order dockworkers back to the ports while negotiations continue.

Trade, transportation and retail industry groups have been urging the White House to intervene to limit damage from the strike. Container carriers are preparing to impose surcharges tied to the disruption, raising the overall cost of shipping.

$2.1 Billion a Day

“It would be unconscionable to allow a contract dispute to inflict such a shock to our economy,” Suzanne Clark, CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a letter to Biden on Monday.

“Taft-Hartley would provide time for both parties in negotiation to reach a deal on a new labour contract,” Clark continued, referring to the 1947 congressional act that allows a president to intervene in labour disputes that involved national security.

Estimates from the National Association of Manufacturers show the strike jeopardises $2.1 billion in trade daily, and the total economic damage could reduce GDP by as much as $5 billion a day. NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons urged Biden to force a resumption of operations while negotiations continue.

“The president can protect manufacturers and consumers by exercising his authority, and we hope he will act quickly,” Timmons said in a statement late Monday.

The Teamsters union issued a statement Monday urging the Biden administration to stay out of the dispute. ILA leader Daggett has warned the White House not to intervene, and said if forced back to the ports, dockworkers would handle fewer containers than usual, slowing operations.

The union hasn’t endorsed a presidential candidate, though according to Daggett, former President Donald Trump “promised to support the ILA in its opposition to automated terminals” during a Mar-a-Lago meeting last fall. Neither Trump nor Vice President Kamala Harris has drawn public attention to the strike threat.

“Moments ago, the first large-scale eastern dockworker strike in 47 years began at ports from Maine to Texas, including at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said a statement just after midnight.

“In preparation for this moment, New York has been working around the clock to ensure that our grocery stores and medical facilities have the essential products they need,” she said.

Meanwhile, the flow of goods has already been redirected by the threat of disruption. Many importers brought their goods in early or through West Coast ports to mitigate the risk and pad inventories.

Port terminals along the coasts wound down their operations ahead of the midnight deadline, and railroads are also pulling back service.

“The most important thing is going to be for the carriers, shippers and workers to come to terms,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on Bloomberg Television’s “Balance of Power.” “There’s really no substitute for the ports being up and running.”

By Laura Curtis

These days, if you want to sell skincare, you need the claims to back it up.

Claims purport what exactly a product can or should do for the wearer’s skin — the way Tatcha, for instance, says its Dewy Skin cream “instantly plumps with 3x hydration and a dewy glow” or how Drunk Elephant states that its C-Firma Fresh Day serum “noticeably diminishes the appearance of signs of ageing and photodamage.” Usually backed by a clinical study, they “lend [products] an aura of credibility,” said Liz Whitman, a beauty executive who launched a “clinical-grade” skincare brand called Exponent, and are meant to give shoppers an informed reason to click purchase.

They’re especially important today, when beauty consumers are more aware of the ingredients in their skincare than ever before; they want efficacious products, and with that, brands are finding ways to convince customers that their offerings measure up. About 92 percent of consumers say results are their primary motivation for making a skincare purchase, according to figures from Circana.

Where these claims come from, however, is more complicated. They predominantly originate from an invisible constellation of third-party manufacturers, who will perform the tests and produce the white papers as a B2B service. But there is no set standard for efficacy testing, which means that many tests end up with small sample sizes, are done in a short amount of time, and may not include no human subjects at all. When claims can be generated for a couple thousand dollars, brands are less than incentivised to conduct clinical trials, which provide the best results, but the cost of which can stretch into the low six figures.

But the distinction between claims that are backed by cheaply-done studies, and those substantiated with more expensive, rigorous clinical data isn’t always clear, particularly to those they’re intended for.

“Consumers aren’t aware of the differences. It’s not their fault, I’m sure they would, but it’s just all so designed to be confusing,” said Whitman.

A decade ago, it was unimaginable that so many consumers would understand the difference between alpha and beta hydroxy acids. Soon, the smart beauty shopper may demand more from their claims, too. Brands today must navigate how they can put out data they can stand behind while minding the realities of their budget.

What sorts of tests do beauty brands conduct to get claims — and how much do they cost?

The cost of a study depends on many factors: how long it takes, how many people in the sample size, what sort of experts are involved and how they’re measuring the impact on the skin. The intended audience also matters — is it for mature skin, or for newborns? — and the desired result — does it hydrate, or brighten? — until a specific plan is in place. It’s relatively easy to see improvements in skin hydration, for instance, explained Julian Sass, a PhD and cosmetic chemist based in Montréal, while hyperpigmentation is harder to measure.

Sass frequently consults with brands big and small during what he calls the “substantiation process,” and admitted that “a lot of brands won’t do these tests because they’re expensive.” He begins by asking clients, “What do you want to be able to say?” Then he’ll present a range of options tiered by price.

At the highest end, there are clinical studies, which rely on expert supervision and span weeks of observation. For ironclad independent claims on a wrinkle cream, Sass recently worked on a trial of a single product that cost a brand around $80,000. Whitman said that a 4-week clinical test on 30 subjects with before and after pictures cost about $25,000 per SKU; she tested five. They’re undeniably the most valuable for brands and consumers, but because of that cost, they’re less popular. When Whitman surveyed 500 “top-selling, performance-driven” skincare products, she found that less than 20 percent were supported by clinical claims.

Instead, most brands choose to lean on consumer perception studies, which Sass said are “table stakes” in the industry. These studies rely on the reports of consumer testers, and can be performed for less than $10,000 — but are the most susceptible to bias.

“I mostly use these for claims that are not really scientific,” said Sara Jakaj, an efficacy studies specialist for the UK-based testing firm CE Way. “For example, the client wants to claim shiny hair. It’s not something that can be measured.” CE Way doesn’t conduct clinicals, in part because they take too long.

Jakaj will receive samples of a product, cast 20 participants, and take biophysical measurements on qualities like skin’s moisture level before and after the period, for about €1,500 (about $1,700). Some brands may economise by forming sample groups from engaged audience members.

How can brands decide what tests are worth it for them?

The lack of a uniform system means that brands are running all sorts of different tests, and can claim results even if their test is more limited. If a sample size, for example, is limited to a small number of people, that’s usually only disclosed in small print next to an asterisk at the bottom of a webpage.

One brand Sass worked with, for instance, had a “really quick turnaround” timeline of just a few weeks for a clinical test. They did an in vitro study, where a product is observed for a few days in a laboratory to glean information about how it performs on skin, rather than tested on individuals who report back their findings. Sometimes, claims simply rely on tests done on raw ingredients, rather than engaging a new test of their individual product. (“Contains rareberry, clinically proven to…”)

The variety of options and lack of a set standard means that it’s relatively easy for brands to get away with cheaping out on studies. But strong claims are especially useful for smaller brands, who may need to do more to prove their mettle.

Eric Hill, a business development manager who covers health and beauty testing for UL Solutions, has seen the importance of claims rise, especially as consumers move away from megabrands to patronise indie labels. “People have much more willingness to trust in [new brands] than they used to,” said Hill. That is, if they can secure that trust.

For this reason, startups are finding tests to be a worthy investment. Tower28 performed multiple tests to support its collection-wide claim that it’s suited for sensitive skin — the reason founder Amy Liu launched the brand in the first place.

“The thing that matters the most is that your product lives up to the expectation that you’re setting for it,” Liu said. Still, to keep costs manageable, Liu cut a deal with a tester to keep her costs for each in the low five figures.

A legacy brand like L’Oréal-owned CeraVe, meanwhile, has more resources and as such, “every test plan is tailored to each product,” explained Nada Baalbaki, global scientific director for CeraVe. But even they tap third-party help: CeraVe works with a contract research organisations like RBC Consultants, which provides data to several brands under the L’Oréal Dermatologic Group umbrella.

At the end of the day, it’s all in service of proving that a particular product delivers on its promise.

“I’ve tried so many peptide creams,” Sass said wearily, of the trendy plumping ingredient. “Now, I don’t buy them unless they have clinical results.”

Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day’s most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.

PARIS and MILAN — On the Saturday evening of Milan Fashion Week last month, 62 year-old Michelle Yeoh quietly made fashion history when she turned up at the Bottega Veneta show dressed in the brand’s leather jeans paired with an off-white leather shirt in its signature intrecciato weave.

I had been working on a story about Yeoh for several months, and knew she had been named an ambassador for Balenciaga, eight months after becoming the first Asian woman — and second woman of colour — to win the Academy Award for Best Actress, cementing her status as a bona fide Hollywood A-lister with global appeal.

I scratched my head. Why was she at the Bottega show? Most contracts stipulate that ambassadors cannot wear other brands to public events, let alone attend their runway shows. But there she was: seated in a prime position, next to François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, which owns both Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta.

As it turns out, her global starpower had enabled Yeoh — known for breaking boundaries since her time as an action film star in Hong Kong — to break another barrier, establishing formal ties with not one but two of the most important brands in the luxury fashion ecosystem, at the same time.

“Of course, CEOs of the houses speak to one another, and when Balenciaga was working on formalising their relationship with Michelle, we saw an opportunity to build our own relationship in parallel,” says Bottega Veneta chief executive Leo Rongone, confirming the brand’s contract with Yeoh for the first time.

“We want to make sure that each relationship is distinct, and that the relationship with Bottega Veneta has its own context,” he adds. “Our relationship has not been formally announced yet. We have a project planned for early 2025 that will be the vehicle for what comes next.”

None of this would have been possible without the historic Oscar win that catapulted Yeoh to the top of Hollywood, while giving her new resonance with fans on the other side of the world in Asia.

When she made her way to the stage of the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 13, 2023 to accept the award for her performance as stressed-out laundromat owner Evelyn Yang in the sleeper hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” she spoke directly to the audience in Asia, as well as also to older women for whom she is living proof that your career doesn’t have to peak in your thirties or forties.

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. “This is proof that ... dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.”

Across Asia, the reaction to Yeoh’s historic win was deafening. Within 48 hours, the hashtag congratulating Yeoh was viewed more than 360 million times on the Chinese social media platform Weibo. More than 350,000 congratulatory messages were posted on Twitter (now X), calling her “brave,” “confident” and “a role model” for women everywhere.

Back in her native Malaysia, more than three hundred people, including her mother Janet Yeoh, had gathered for an Oscars party in Kuala Lumpur. Although it was already midday the next day and they were watching along on television, they had dressed in evening gowns and tuxedos, celebrating Yeoh’s win as if they were with her in Los Angeles.

“I swear to God, it was a roar,” Yeoh says now, moved to tears as I replay the video of her mother taking in the moment that changed Yeoh’s life and reflecting on the pan-Asian euphoria that followed her historic win. “The best actress [award] is always the second to last to come out. You know, everybody has got their awards and you’re sitting there and suddenly it hit me. ‘What if I don’t win?’” she says, knowing that she was carrying the expectations of an entire continent.

Yeoh was right to wonder if she would win. Despite having had a 39-year career in which she had displayed the versatility of Meryl Streep (3 Oscars, 21 nominations), stunt skills to rival those of Angelina Jolie (1 Oscar, 2 nominations) and beauty and elegance comparable to Cate Blanchett (2 Oscars, 8 nominations), Yeoh had never been nominated for — let alone won — the most coveted award in film.

Now, she’s conquered fashion, too.

This year, Yeoh once again graced the Oscars red carpet — this time as a global ambassador for the storied house of Balenciaga — dressed in a sparkling, off-the-shoulder gown which the brand’s creative director Demna had created from three vintage couture dresses that he sourced on eBay and then deconstructed and sewed together to create something entirely new.

Like winning Hollywood’s top accolades, scoring coveted ambassadorships at top luxury brands like Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta is highly unusual for an Asian woman in her sixties.

“Just before the Oscars, [there was] a silly television commentator who turned around and said, you know, ‘You’re past your prime’,” she recalls, shaking her head. “It’s like, how dare you? How dare anybody tell you what you are capable of, and what your prime is.”

“As you get older, people tend to put you aside even more. If you allow that, then you will always stay at the side. In my generation you can see Demi Moore, Nicole [Kidman], or even Judi Dench and Helen Mirren. We stand up strong and say, ‘Yes, we have wrinkles on our face. So what? So do you. There is nothing wrong with that. We are who we are. And I think that is what the fashion world has latched on to.”

Indeed, in recent years, fashion has begun to recalibrate its relationship with older stars, using icons from Joan Didion to Isabelle Huppert (herself a Balenciaga ambassador) in their marketing campaigns.

Yeoh had long-standing relationships with Giorgio Armani and Valentino going back to her time as an action star in Hong Kong and has been an ambassador for luxury watch brand Richard Mille since 2011. But it wasn’t until she won an Oscar that big fashion deals came her way.

As you get older, people tend to put you aside even more. If you allow that, then you will always stay at the side. ‘Yes, we have wrinkles on our face. So what? So do you.’ There is nothing wrong with that. We are who we are. And I think that is what the fashion world has latched on to.

—  Michelle Yeoh

Yeoh’s ascent came amid wider cultural change. Hollywood was embracing diversity with new vigour amid shifting socio-political winds in the United States. Meanwhile, China had become the world’s second largest fashion market; Asian culture had penetrated the West in a way not previously seen; and there was rising national pride in fast-growing frontier markets in the Global South and Global East, where customers expected to see themselves represented in ad campaigns

Leslie Sun, Vogue’s Asia-Pacific editorial director, believes that “politics and economics aside,” there are two main factors behind the timing of the fashion industry’s interest in stars like Yeoh.

“One [is] the increased exposure to, understanding of, and curiosity about a more authentic side of Asian culture that has risen in the West over the past decade,” explains Sun. “This has allowed films and television shows portraying Asian cultures, with mainly Asian production and cast or in Asian languages, to enter mainstream conversations. As a result, Asian faces have become more ‘relatable’ globally, which I suppose is what brands are seeking in [their] campaigns and ambassadors — and I’d say the same applies to magazine covers.”

Vogue China, the Taiwanese edition of Vogue (which Sun oversees directly), and the US edition of Elle were among the fashion glossies that shot Yeoh for cover stories shortly before or after her Oscars win.

“Another key factor is the evolution of women’s roles,” continues Sun, pointing out that Yeoh’s groundbreaking performances in the 1980s and 1990s as a female “action star [set] her apart from her contemporaries” early on. “Throughout her career, she frequently portrayed strong-willed characters who were fighters, both literally and metaphorically. While her role selections have diversified over the years, what has evolved even more is the growing acceptance of the fighter quality in women as an attractive trait.”

“The unequal expectations placed on women ageing in the industry are unfortunately still very prevalent,” adds Sun. “Michelle leads the way in that, despite her beauty, it wasn’t her looks that defined her success. It was her innate sense of self and her understanding that she has so much more to offer than her physical appearance. One of the reasons she has become such an inspiration to many women is because she possesses a rare confidence, where the only expectations she feels compelled to meet are her own.”

The Making of a ‘Fighter’

Finding time for a two hour in-person interview with Yeoh over the summer was not easy. For several months, she had been flying back and forth between Prague — where she was managing a gruelling filming schedule for the mini-series “Blade Runner 2099″ starring alongside Hunter Schafer and Mikkel Bratt Silset — and Paris where she had official duties at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games as a member of the International Olympic Committee and where she shares a home with her husband Jean Todt, a French motor racing executive.

Meanwhile, she was also gearing up for global promotion for the screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked, “in which she stars alongside Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jonathan Bailey.

When she walks into the lobby of the Plaza Athénée Hotel, she is dressed in a sporty pink tracksuit and platform sneakers, Olympic badges and other credentials dangling around her neck. Immediately after our interview, she needs to rush off to attend the IOC General Assembly before returning to Prague for a 6am call time. And as she collapses into a sofa in a suite overlooking Avenue Montaigne, she is exhausted from all of the back and forth.

Growing up in Malaysia, Yeoh was never interested in acting. “I went to the cinema because my mom is a huge movie buff. We saw movies from around the globe like “The Sound of Music” and “Tarzan” because my dad loved nature. And we also watched Hindi movies and Malay movies with subtitles,” she recalls. “But not once, as a child, staring at the silver screen [did] I want to be up there, or want to be one of them. I wanted to be somehow involved with the world of dance and ballet.”

Yeoh began ballet lessons at the age of four. At 15, she moved to the United Kingdom, to attend an all-girls boarding school. Later, she enrolled at the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance in London, though she knew from the start that a career as a professional ballerina was unlikely.

“Being Chinese, the shape and form … we did not fit into the classical look,” she says. “As long as I could come back to Malaysia and have my own school and one day share the love of ballet and dance with little kids, I would be happy with that. And in fact, that was my goal.”

But a severe spinal injury put these plans on hold and Yeoh returned home to Malaysia at 21 only to discover that her mother had secretly enrolled her as a contestant for the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant.

“She had no choice but to inform me because [from amongst] I don’t know how many thousands of girls from the whole of Malaysia, they narrowed it down and they said the last 100 semi-finalists will have to meet in Kuala Lumpur, and that’s when the judges will meet you,” she says laughing. “In the end, I agreed to do it so that it would get her off my back.”

In an unexpected twist of fate, Yeoh won the pageant. So, instead of returning to the UK, she spent a year in Malaysia on a promotional tour. “I learned a lot about my country — not just Ipoh and Perak, where I’m from — because you are the ambassador of Malaysia, and that encompasses 13 states and then Sabah and East Malaysia as well. It gave me an opportunity to really get to know my country.”

A multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-faith Southeast Asian country of 34 million people, Malaysia shares land borders with Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei and has a majority Muslim population as well as a significant number of followers of Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.

“We never saw differences in different cultures because we grew up together,” she says. “I grew up with the Muslims, the Malays, the Indians, Hindus, Chinese — whether they’re Buddhists or Christians. We embraced each other’s cultures … And I think that has always been such a solid foundation for me as a person.”

As her year as Miss Malaysia was coming to an end, Yeoh received a call from a Malaysian friend in Hong Kong saying she had shown the business tycoon Dickson Poon a photo of her and he wanted to meet.

Poon, who would later go on to acquire the UK luxury department store Harvey Nichols and set up its Hong Kong outpost, owned Dickson Watches and operated fashion brands like Charles Jourdan and Ralph Lauren in the Hong Kong market. At the time, he was looking to cast a woman for a commercial promoting his watches business — and soon Yeoh was filming a commercial with Hong Kong film legend and action hero, Jackie Chan. It was her first time in front of a camera.

“When there is an opportunity, you sometimes just have to seize it and go. What have you got to lose?” she reasons . “I could have said no on the phone call and that moment would have gone. You never know when those moments come, but when they do come… are you ready for it?”

Yeoh was definitely ready. She signed a two-year film contract with Poon’s production company, and soon became the leading actress in Hong Kong action films, starring opposite all the greats: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Chow Yun-fat and Sammo Hung.

“My first movie in Hong Kong was very typical at that time,” says Yeoh. “It was the guys who did the rescuing, who did all the martial arts and did all the stunts … You know, they were the heroes. The women were relegated more to the damsel in distress, ‘Oh, save me, save me.’”

“I was very fortunate that one of the wives of our producers said ‘You put her in the same box as you have all the other girls that we have … why don’t you let her blossom and be who she possibly could be?’”

“To get into that boy’s world, you have to prove yourself. It’s hard enough as a man trying to get into that circle, let alone a woman. They sort of look at you and go like, ‘Okay, within two seconds you’re going to be in that corner going like waaaah,’” she says, imitating a crying baby.

To succeed, Yeoh would need to do her own stunts, just like the male actors. “I went straight to register myself in a gym where I knew that stunt people — like Hong Kong action actors — [were] training there. I was very fortunate. [They] were very generous … maybe they were curious as well. Miss Malaysia, beauty queen. And she wants to try and do this?”

Yeoh went on to break boundaries as a leading woman in the Hong Kong film industry, working on films like “Yes, Madam,” “Dynamite Fighters” and “Magnificent Warriors.” But in 1987, she decided to step back from her career following her marriage to Poon, the tycoon who gave her her start.

“I am a great admirer of women who can juggle and balance, but I don’t know how to multitask in that way,” she explains. “I made a very specific choice. I was 28 and I would be filming constantly away. It was a very personal choice. Being an actress is something that I loved. But being a wife was something that I loved more at that time.”

To get into that boy’s world, you have to prove yourself. It’s hard enough as a man trying to get into that circle, let alone a woman. They sort of look at you and go like, ‘Okay, within two seconds you’re going to be in that corner going like waaaah,’

—  Michelle Yeoh

Yeoh was not able to have children and the marriage ended a few years later. The Hong Kong media championed Yeoh’s return to cinema, and given a choice between two new film projects, she picked “Police Story 3: Supercop,” the 1992 action comedy with Jackie Chan.

“That was the time when you come back and you feel you have so much you want to prove, not just to the world, but first of all to yourself that I am able, I am still fit, and I’m still fighting for what I believe in and what I love to do.”

No Hollywood Dreams

Yeoh had never really thought about Hollywood until a producer she had worked with, Terence Chang, called her from Los Angeles asking if she would consider making a go of it.

“It was never, ‘Oh, I want to be a Hollywood star.’ I was happy. I was enjoying my life. I was doing things that I wanted to do. Then Terence said, ‘Why don’t you come? Just come for, you know, a visit’,” she recalls.

But what Yeoh found was that roles for an Asian woman in Hollywood were few and far between, and executives there lacked a basic knowledge of Asia.

“They always said, ‘Oh, you speak English!’ she remembers.. “And they didn’t know Hong Kong from Malaysia from Japan. One day when [someone] said that, I turned around and said, well, the flight over here was 13 hours. It was long. So I learned [how to speak English on the plane]!”

“Our market was not big enough for them to feel that they should bother with us,” she continues. “Until the day that we can build up such a powerful box office — which is now what we have with China and the rest of Asia and India — then we are formidable. Then they would go, ‘We should make movies for them as well’. But when they don’t recognise us, you go, ‘God, do I want to be in this industry?”

Eventually, given her experience in stunts and action films, Yeoh ended up in a conversation about starring alongside Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond spy thriller “Tomorrow Never Dies.”.

“They decided ‘we want a strong female character because times change’ [which meant] they wanted a Bond girl who wasn’t just a femme fatale,” says Yeoh.

Yeoh followed up with starring roles in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” for which she learned to speak Mandarin phonetically, Rob Marshall’s “Memoirs of a Geisha,” and the hit romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians,” which underscored the commercial viability of a film with an all-Asian cast.

But finding roles wasn’t always easy, sometimes resulting in long gaps between films while she waited for opportunities that matched her ambitions and aligned with her values. Along the way, she turned down many roles that played towards stereotypes of Asian people.

“There was always a need to [justify] why an Asian woman was there. So unless it was in Chinatown or it was a take-out, then you don’t have to explain it because [the thinking was] an Asian woman would not be sitting behind the desk as a GM or politician. She would be where she’s ‘supposed’ to be,” she recalls.

“Having saved enough money from working in Asia, I [had] the opportunity to say no, because when I say yes to this, that means I agree this is what we are and what we should be. I am not saying that everybody has to think like me, but I believe that a few of us who can make and push the change, we have to grab that opportunity to do it. I don’t want to be part of something that I don’t believe in.”

“The studios or the producers thought there wasn’t a market, saying that no one wants to see an Asian hero or a heroine,” she recalls. “We need more of those kinds of roles, because if I look at all my peers — I mean, look at Emma Stone and Jennifer Lawrence — they have such a wide repertoire of films that gives them the ability.”

It wasn’t until she received the script for “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” that she felt she could bring her full self to a film. “It really was like all the things I’ve done in 30 years, all put into one,” Yeoh recalls.

Bridging Cultures and Generations

In the latest Balenciaga ad campaign released in August, Yeoh is pictured seated on a chair, legs splayed with a high-volume 80s style hairdo, wearing signature Balenciaga ready-to-wear, with the brand’s new Bel Air bag front and centre.

Being a Balenciaga ambassador places Yeoh amongst a group that includes Hollywood A-lister Nicole Kidman, French cinema legend Isabelle Huppert, mega-influencer Kim Kardashian and multi-hyphenate Thai star Krit Amnuaydechkorn.

“Fashion also changed, it wasn’t just me,” Yeoh says. “It’s not just about dressing the younger people, right? Other groups are just as important. I’m not going to wear what the 20-year-old is going to wear. You have to find a different generational representation of it. And I think what I represent is to be proud that you are different, that you are older and there’s nothing wrong [with it].

“Michelle can wear anything from hoodie and trainers to a couture gown and always looks absolutely stunning and elegant,” says Balenciaga creative director Demna. “I love the diversity of looks that she chooses to wear and how they are all complementary to her personality and individual style. She wears fashion — and not the other way round. She has this natural style and elegance that is above fashion and very rare today.”

“I don’t believe in a Gen-Z only driven ambassadors approach,” adds Cedric Charbit, CEO of Balenciaga. “We chose people … for who they are and what they have accomplished. At Balenciaga the point is to, over time, form a group of people that are real voices, pushing boundaries and inspiring globally.”

Indeed, Yeoh’s following across Asia was clearly a draw, as well as her unique ability to bridge East and West, a rare example of an Asian actress who was making it big in Hollywood films.

As for Yeoh, she says she chooses her endorsements as carefully as her films. “I found that with Balenciaga, they were culturally very deep. But at the same time, they were pushing the boundaries of having someone like Demna, who was very edgy, who was very today and, you know, and still at the same time very classical in many ways.”

I don’t believe in a Gen-Z only driven ambassadors approach. We chose people… for who they are and what they have accomplished. At Balenciaga the point is to, over time, form a group of people that are real voices, pushing boundaries and inspiring globally.

—  Cedric Charbit, CEO of Balenciaga

Olympian Spirit

There are just 111 members of the International Olympic Committee. Among them are Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States Princess Reema Bandar al-Saud; Canadian swimming champion and former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency Richard “Dick” Pound; Princess Anne, a senior member of Britain’s royal family and an Olympic equestrian; and, as of last October, the boundary-breaking actress Michelle Yeoh.

“This was one thing that I really wanted because I’ve always loved sports,” she says. “Sports have been part of my life, like dance has been part of my life. I love the message and the spirit of what it’s supposed to bring: peace working together through sports. I can shine the light on certain things, for example, the refugee team, which is very, very dear to [IOC president Thomas Bach]’s heart and the Olympic spirit.”

That spirit is critical to Yeoh’s success.

“Michelle has such dignity and such a gentle way about her that makes you pay attention. Her incredible athleticism and the fearlessness with which she accomplishes her action stunts can only fill you with awe,” says Zhang Ziyi, her co-star in “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.” “She seems to have this same no-fear approach to living her life. Steadfast and laser-focused, she has achieved the seemingly impossible. We can all learn from her.”

So how does Yeoh feel about her success?

“What is success? What does it really actually mean?” Yeoh ponders, repeating my question. “If you look at the dictionary, it means something that you’ve achieved in other people’s eyes; that you’ve reached a certain goal. For me, I think the most important [thing] is that I have truly loved what I’ve done over the years. Then I can look at myself and think, I’ve had successes. I’m successful because of participating in the IOC, in projects, in movies and TV series that I engage in by choice.”

“I was not obliged to do something that I would not be proud of — and in my eyes, that’s a gold medal.”