Connie Chiu (born 1969) is a

fashion model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Thoug ...

and jazz musician known for being the world's first fashion model with

albinism Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino. Varied use and interpretation of the term ...

. Chiu was born in British Hong Kong and grew up in Kowloon. The congenital absence of pigmentation in her skin and hair, makes them sensitive to the sun. To avoid Chiu's exposure to Hong Kong's intensive sun, her family moved to Sweden when she was seven years old. Connie Chiu was first introduced to modeling at age 21, when her sister asked her to become a model at one of her final shows. After sending a black-and-white photograph to French fashion designer

Jean-Paul Gaultier Jean Paul Gaultier (; born 24 April 1952) is a French haute couture and prêt-à-porter fashion designer. He is described as an "enfant terrible" of the fashion industry and is known for his unconventional designs with motifs including corsets, ...

, he invited her to model at his autumn/winter 1994 show. At age 25, Chiu began modeling for

fashion photographer Fashion photography is a genre of photography which is devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, sometimes haute couture. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking a picture of a dressed model (person), model in a photo ...

s such as

Terry Richardson Terrence Richardson (born August 14, 1965) is an American fashion and portrait photographer. He has shot advertising campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Aldo, Supreme, Sisley, Tom Ford, and Yves Saint Laurent among others, and also done work for mag ...

, Paul Burley, Heidi Niemala and

Morten Smidt Morten is a common given name in Norway and Denmark. Approximately 22,138 have this name as a given name in Norway and about 52 people have it as a surname. Notable people with the name include: *Morten Abel, Norwegian singer *Morten Andersen, Dan ...

. Chiu later studied

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...

. Chiu starred in the music video for the single "Stalker" by

Recoil Recoil (often called knockback, kickback or simply kick) is the rearward thrust generated when a gun is being discharged. In technical terms, the recoil is a result of conservation of momentum, as according to Newton's third law the force r ...

, the solo project of

Depeche Mode Depeche Mode are an English electronic music band formed in Basildon, Essex, in 1980. The band currently consists of Dave Gahan (lead vocals and co-songwriting) and Martin Gore (keyboards, guitar, co-lead vocals and main songwriting). Depech ...

member

Alan Wilder Alan Charles Wilder (born 1 June 1959) is an English musician, composer, arranger, record producer and former member of the electronic band Depeche Mode from 1982 to 1995. Since his departure from the band, the musical project called Recoil b ...

References

External links

Connie Chiu official website
* 1969 births Living people People with albinism Hong Kong female models Swedish female models Chinese female models Chinese emigrants to Sweden Hong Kong emigrants to Sweden {{Sweden-bio-stub