Eileen Gu: Sport and fashion aren’t so different for the Chinese-American skier and model

If Eileen Gu’s account of previous Saturday’s Freestyle Ski Planet Cup party in Calgary is nearly anything to go by, a day in the Olympian’s lifestyle is as assorted as it is active: She took initially location in early morning qualifiers, wrote two essays, browse some René Descartes and George Berkeley for a philosophy class and then “did some physics” just before returning to the slopes for the ultimate.

This time previous year, American-born Gu was less than two weeks away from earning her Olympic debut in Beijing, representing China, her mother’s place of start. As a single of the Games’ most closely sponsored athletes, she was already a recognizable deal with. But several exterior the snowboarding environment had seen her in action. Any recommendation that her talents experienced been overstated shortly dissolved as she took house 3 medals, such as golds in the halfpipe and large air competitions.

Gu tends to make her runway debut at Louis Vuitton’s 2023 Cruise demonstrate in San Diego, California in Might 2022. Credit rating: Jerod Harris/Getty Photos

“Individuals generally imagine that vogue and snowboarding are these two totally disparate entities … when in actuality, the main facets are basically quite similar,” she reported, talking to CNN athletics anchor and correspondent Coy Wire forward of this weekend’s Wintertime X Online games in Aspen, Colorado.

“Both equally are rooted in a perception of self-expression and creative imagination. Both have to have a whole lot of self-assurance, becoming equipped to accomplish underneath stress, and currently being equipped to be your self unapologetically. And I believe that people attributes actually do carry in excess of.”

Not only do sport, school and fashion overlap, they contribute to one a different, explained Gu, depicting the juggling act as a make any difference of symbiosis, not compromise. What she learns in psychology applies to snowboarding, which in convert sparks creativity that she carries into vogue modeling meanwhile delivers lessons in resilience and self esteem that are then used to her higher education work — “so it all goes in a circle,” she mentioned.

Hurtling down a halfpipe could have minimal in widespread with strolling a runway but “all of it is related,” the 19-calendar year-old explained. Drawn to action sports activities for the perception that she is “regularly pushing” her have boundaries, Gu said skiing leaves her emotion “like I’m capable of nearly anything.”

“Mainly because if I can press my overall body to do a double cork, who says I are not able to incorporate one more 180 (levels rotation)? Or if you want to flip it into yet another location of my existence, who states I won’t be able to get a superior score on the subsequent take a look at, or shoot my dream journal?”

“Beauty is electric power,” she later extra. “And magnificence is getting capable to be robust, not just in what your body seems to be like, but also what your system can do.”

Eileen Gu reacts following her ultimate soar in advance of profitable gold all through the Women’s Freestyle Snowboarding Freeski Large Air Ultimate at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Game titles on February 8, 2022. Credit history: Mao Jianjun/China Information Services/Getty Photographs

Style ‘characterized by balance’

“Just viewing the way art can actually be put on the human body, and how expressive it can be in a demonstrate. (It can be) not just about the persons carrying the clothing and how they glance … but also about the environment, the tunes, the established — you will find so substantially that goes into it.”

She describes her personal design, like considerably else in her life, as “characterized by harmony” — “involving masculine and feminine, involving elegant and sporty, in between playful and mature.

“All of individuals truly are unique sides of my lifestyle, and relying on the day, I find style is a wonderful way for me to express how I feel … I glance various each individual working day, even within a couple of several hours. But which is what is entertaining about it.”

Gu is signed with IMG Types, the agency behind Kate Moss, Bella Hadid and additional of fashion’s most significant names. She has labored with Victoria’s Mystery, Tiffany & Co., Swiss watchmaker IWC and cosmetics giant Estée Lauder (as effectively as a assortment of brands in China, which includes café chain Luckin Coffee, telecoms company China Cellular and Interior Mongolia’s Mengniu Dairy).

Gu attends the 2022 Fulfilled Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Town. Credit history: Theo Wargo/WireImage/Getty Visuals

“For me, developing up, there were not that a lot of girls in the ski sector,” she reported, adding: “I am youthful and I am trying to do my best, and I just want to be the person that a lady at household can see on Tv set or on their cell phone and say, ‘Hey, you know, if she can do that, then I want to consider it, as well. She appears like she’s having enjoyable. When can I attempt?'”