New UK fashion magazine for Asian women, The Wow, and the man behind it all
- Wei Liu, founder and editor of The Wow, says he wants to reach all women with Asian heritage and also Western people interested in Asian culture
- He was surprised how many Asian actors, models and photographers wanted to help – a sign, perhaps, of how few opportunities they get in Western media
“Although Asian is one of the largest ethnicities in the world, diverse images of Asian women are rarely included in Western mainstream magazines,” writes Wei Liu in his editor’s letter for the newly launched The Wow magazine. “Hollywood waited for 25 years to see another all-Asian cast in the film Crazy Rich Asians, so how long should we keep waiting to see a magazine for them? It’s about time, so here we are.”
Liu is exhausted when I meet him in a cafe in London’s Victoria district. “I’m working on the magazine all by myself at the moment,” says the 31-year-old recent graduate of the London College of Fashion (LCF). “I had one classmate who helped with contacts before, but she went back to China.”
Liu’s publication was born out of his final project at university. It debuted this month on the shelves of WHSmith, Selfridges and various independent newsagents across the UK, with international delivery available too. The plan is for it to be a twice-yearly publication.
Despite being self-funded, The Wow does not look like a magazine done on the cheap. Inside the first issue there is an interview with British-Chinese actor Jing Lusi (Crazy Rich Asians, Stan Lee’s Lucky Man), a photo shoot with Instagram model Lovisa Lager, and personal essays exploring different aspects of race.
