The highs and lows of life as China's top foreign model

No one wanted Anina Trepte to come to China. The agents and designers she was working for in Paris told her it would ruin her career. There was no fashion here, no modeling industry, no chance for her to rise to the top or make any money, they said.
She came anyway.

"I always have just done whatever I wanted to do at any cost, at any price," Trepte said.

"Life gives you signs, and if you know how to read those signs, you will end up at the right place at the right time."

Why exactly Trepte decided to flee the runways of Paris for the catwalks of China is a question better answered by her appearance than with words.

"If you have a unique look, you can get chosen for a lot of things," Trepte said. "I am the only red-haired model, at least in Beijing. If designers want that classic Ralph Lauren look, I get the job."

And in Beijing, she has become something of a celebrity, frequenting local radio and television programs, hosting high-profile events and attending the city's most posh parties. CCTV recently awarded her with the title of China's top foreign model.

Her backup plan is a project called 360Fashion, a network of fashion professionals who collaborate using Web 2.0 and mobile technologies that Trepte launched at the 2005 Paris Fashion Show.

In her spare time, she visits clothing factories, fashion designers, photographers and studios around the country, working to build a bridge between clothing design in the East and West.

"China was the logical next step to complete the circle," she said. "If there was no China, there would be no fashion."

Trepte, also known as Anina.net, has launched her own fashion mobile gaming application in China and the US and is working on prototypes of a mobile fashion magazine.

She is always connected, using her mobile phone to blog about the fashion industry in China and abroad with the goal of making a traditionally closed sector more open to the public.

"I want to be this new type of model," said Trepte, a regular at tech conferences around Beijing. "I want to be a social media model and open the door to the fashion industry."