Lauren Tsai is a twenty-something half Chinese half American girl who grew up in Hawaii and she has been able to forge a career for herself in Tokyo with limited knowledge of the Japanese language. You’d think that an illustrator has no need to be proficient in languages, but Tsai shot to fame practically overnight by appearing in a Japanese TV programme. It’s hard to believe that a girl with such a clear objective in mind –to earn a living as an artist– would like to present herself to Terrace House, but this has most likely been the best way she could have launched her artistic career, even though this wasn’t necessarily a calculated decision.
LAUREN TSAI, FROM MODEL TO FIRST-RATE ARTIST
Far from being a fallen reality star, Lauren Tsai has been able to use her fame to propel her career as an illustrator, and she has even collaborated with brands like Nike or Marc Jacobs. And that is because Tsai, ever since she appeared in 2016 in the Japanese reality programme Terrace House (known around the world thanks to Netflix), has fascinated us for her introversion and artistic sensibility, two very uncharacteristic qualities of contestants of these kinds of shows. And that is why it is so surprising that a girl that wasn’t looking for fame, ended up in reality show that has a great deal of influence in Japan, as well as internationally; but always expect the unexpected with Tsai.
After graduating from high school, she took a gap year to take a bit of a break from school, but soon after the opportunity presented itself. She feared eventually regretting not taking it, which is why she took a shot at it. From there, the Japanese audience fell in love with her and her sweet nature. On top of that, she showed off her artistic abilities. In contrast to her good girl persona, her drawings showed a darker, surrealist and even macabre side to her, taking inspiration from movies like Howl’s moving castle by Hayao Miyazaki, or Tim Burton’s story Nightmare before Christmas directed by Henry Selick. Instead of scaring the Japanese audience off, this only made their interest in the girl grow even more. Tsai became an enigma they wanted to decipher.
And this is how by accident she managed to kill two birds with one stone: becoming an it girl, posing for magazines and starring in fashion campaigns, and using the platform that had been given to her to present her art to the world. She has managed to not only do collaborations, as the image of Nike x Ambush but also as an invited guest in customising (hand-painted) Air Force 1 sneakers, all of this to her credit, without any outside help. Not only that, but she has launched a ready-to-wear and purse line with Marc Jacobs and she has released her first book, which is a collection of sketches, titled lt's All For You. Lauren Tsai is the perfect example of a millennial who has a finger in every pie. Do you want more from her? She’ll soon star in Marvel’s own show called Legion. Now you now that you should never waste any opportunity that comes your way.
