John Lwin

John Lwin (Burmese: ဂျွန်လွင်; born Tin Aung Lwin on 15 July 1967) is a former Burmese model, model agency founder,[1] event organizer, and LGBT rights activist.[2] After being model scouted at a young age while living in Singapore, he enjoyed a successful career, modelling in Southeast Asia between 1989 and 1995, from Hong Kong to the Philippines.[3][4] He has discovered and trained more than 200 models and 30 actors.[5][2]

John Lwin
ဂျွန်လွင်
John Lwin at Myanmar International Fashion Week 2016
Born
Tin Aung Lwin

(1967-07-15) 15 July 1967
Yangon, Burma
NationalityBurmese
Alma materRangoon University
Occupationformer Model, Event organizer, LGBT rights activist
Years active1989–present
Height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Parent(s)Hla Myint
Mya Mya Aye

He is the founder and CEO of Stars & Models International, Myanmar's first modelling agency[6] and Star Event Production which has been organizing music concerts, the L'Oréal red carpet galas and Myanmar International Fashion Week.[7][8]

Early life and education

Lwin was born on 15 July 1967 in Yangon, Myanmar. He is the youngest son of Hla Myint, a retired chief railway engineer in the Myanmar Rail Transportation Corporation, and his wife Mya Mya Aye, a former school teacher. He has an elder brother Aung Moe Kyaw, a businessman and CEO of International Beverages and Trading Company Limited (IBTC). He graduated high school from Basic Education High School No. 2 Bahan. He then enrolled at the Rangoon University and graduated with a degree in Zoology and also studied hotel management in Singapore.[9]

Career

In 1989, he moved to Singapore from Yangon to study hotel management. After, he joined Carrie Models International, a local modelling agency. Since then, he took professional training in modelling and catwalk.[5] He was the only Burmese model in Singapore at that time. In 1992, he won the title of Singapore's "Face of the Year". Afterwards, he worked with brand companies from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to appear in commercials for brands such as Nescafé.[3][6]

John Lwin successfully ending off Myanmar International Fashion Week 2016 with designers and actors

In 1995, he moved back to Yangon and founded the country's first modeling agency named Stars & Models International and he has discovered and produced more than 200 models and 30 actors, including: Sai Sai Kham Leng, Moe Hay Ko, Myint Myat, Aung Ye Lin, Yu Thandar Tin, San Yati Moe Myint, Shwe Hmone Yati, Aung Min Khant, Paing Takhon, and many others.[2][10]

Afterwards, he agreed to set up Myanmar Asia Trading, which involved exporting male fashion wear from Myanmar to Singapore. His network of contacts in the fashion industry expanded and he was invited to organize Myanmar's first fashion show in 1995.[3] In 1998, he founded Star Event Production which arranged the first MTV Exit Live in Myanmar at People Square. He has plans for 300-400 events per year, including music concerts, Myanmar Women's Day Ceremony,[11] Grand Royal Concert,[12] the L'Oréal red carpet, Myanmar International Fashion Week and Myanmar Academy Awards Ceremony.[13][5]

In December 2013, he acquired the copyright of Manhunt International, to enable Myanmar's male models to compete internationally.[6] In 2016, he received "Best Event Organizer Award" at the Shwe FM 7th Anniversary Awards. From 2016 to 2018, he also helped the government organise and host the Myanmar Academy Awards Ceremony.[2]

LGBT rights activism
John Lwin is walking the runway by holding the rainbow flag at the L'Oréal red carpet galas in Myanmar

Lwin is a supporter of the LGBT rights in Myanmar, he actively participated in many LGBT rights campaigns in Yangon.[14] He is lobbying for the abolishing of Article 377 of Myanmar's Penal Code. He believes that in order to achieve equality, the government should take responsibility for ensuring that LGBT people are represented in every sector.[15]

On 5 July 2019, he has walked the runway by holding the rainbow flag at the L'Oréal red carpet gala in Myanmar with the aim of standing for the oppressed LGBT.[15][16]

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gollark: Well, yes, because you keep packing it arbitrarily with extra people?
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References
  1. "CULTURAL REVOLUTION?". The Irrawaddy. 5 June 1997.
  2. Wan Chern, Kang (23 August 2019). "How the Myanmar entertainment industry found its feet". The Myanmar Times.
  3. Clark, Issy D'Arcy (6 December 2018). "Q&A: Father of fashion John Lwin". Myanmore.
  4. Mudditt, Jessica (26 September 2014). "Strut it: Myanmar's male modelling industry". Jessica Mudditt.
  5. "Myanmar's godfather of fashion". Myanmore. 19 January 2018.
  6. Mudditt, Jessica (9 August 2014). "The highs and lows of the male catwalk". Mizzima. Archived from the original on 18 March 2015.
  7. Satt, Myo (23 November 2017). "International fashion week to return in December". The Myanmar Times.
  8. Satt, Myo (19 September 2016). "International fashion week set for October". The Myanmar Times.
  9. "第17回 ミャンマー人の肖像 John Lwin ジョン・ルイン Stars & Models Int'l Co". Yangon Press (in Japanese). 1 April 2019.
  10. Han, Yu Phyu (29 June 2019). ""အောင်ရဲလင်းနဲ့ မိုးဟေကိုက အောင်မြင်သွားလည်း မပြောင်းလဲဘူး"လို့ ဂျွန်လွင် ပြော". The Irrawaddy (in Burmese).
  11. "Myanmar Women Day Celebration Show". Golden Place.
  12. Su, Chit (24 April 2014). "Risqué business: Grand Royal embroiled in pandal scandal". The Myanmar Times.
  13. Satt, Myo (22 March 2017). "Modern and modest: Fashion at the Myanmar Academy Awards 2016". The Myanmar Times.
  14. "ကွယ်လွန်သူ ကိုကျော်ဇင်ဝင်းအတွက် LGBT အသိုင်းအဝိုင်းမှ ဝမ်းနည်းစကားများ". The Irrawaddy (in Burmese). 26 June 2019.
  15. Nyan, Zwe (6 July 2019). "LGBT တွေအတွက် ခွန်အားပေးချင်တဲ့ ဂျွန်လွင်". 7Day News (in Burmese).
  16. "ခမ်းနားတဲ့အပြင်အဆင်တွေနဲ့ L'Oréal Paris Red Carpet Show". Kamayut Media. 8 July 2019.
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