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Ma Yanli was a promising professional athlete with a photogenic face and figure made for gold medals and magazine covers. Sidelined by an injury, the medals were not to be had, but Ma wouldn't stay idle long. Indeed, the minute the 1.79-meter beauty hit the runway, she became a successful fashion model. After a decade gracing magazine covers and garnering kudos on the catwalk, Ma wouldn't fade away. Ma Yanli wears a jeans evening gown, one of the designs in MaryMa collection. Ma Yanli has changed roles - again. From professional athlete to supermodel and now, fashion designer, all in the span of eight years. As the applause rose at the end of her autumn collection show for the MaryMa Design label, Ma gushed, "It's a thrill to come out with my favorite model and take the curtain-call as a designer. Now, it's my show." Effortlessly chic in a long-sleeved chiffon shirt of her own design, Ma maintained poise in front of all the applause and flattery that was all the more surprising because it came for a simple country girl from Henan Province. Raised in a poor Henan village, Ma was never considered a beauty, but her height and athletic ability saw her entering sports school at the age of 10, first to play volleyball, then, at 14, to row. "Being an athlete is immensely challenging," she says. "It's a test of your determination and will power, not just your physical endurance." A suggestive arch of the eyebrows is the only hint of just how difficult it was. It built, however, a strength of mind and character that served her well later on. When an injury dashed her dreams of becoming a world champion, she arrived in Shanghai, a city of dream. "Shanghai is my second home." she says. "Here I found myself." Encouraged by a saleswoman's compliments on her 179-centimeter height, Ma auditioned for the Shanghai Fashion Co. Ltd.'s model agency, and secured a contract. Her combination of exotic looks and chiseled features was a huge hit, and a year later, in 1995, she walked away with the first prize of the Shanghai International Model Competition, outshining more than 500 participants from 40 countries. Since then, she has consistently ranked among the top 10 models in China. Like her role model, Cindy Crawford, Ma has parlayed her combination of beauty, business acumen and hard work into a profitable industry. In addition to the model's usual bread-and-butter magazine work, catwalk, and campaigns for major fashion houses like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Versace, Escada, Ports, Dior and Issey Miyaki, she has also ventured into practically every field possible: television, film and advertising. The shelf life of a model, after all, is brief. Even as she lined up contracts with Dove chocolate, Pantene hair products, Braun shavers and Chaohongji Jewelry, Ma says, "I never believed the fantasy that it would last very long. Some girls did. They just came straight in, and suddenly a car, no worries about buying a gown or an outfit for big occasions, and started talking about holidays in Maldives." As to her switch over to design, she says, it is only natural. "I've always liked fashion. As a model, I was consumed with thinking about how a particular outfit should be shown to best advantage, but now I love fashion because I can fully express myself through it." It was not a flighty decision, however. In 1997, she took a temporary three-year hiatus to study fashion design at the Donghua University. As she works to hone her own style as a designer, she says that she finds inspiration in travel and music. Her autumn collection, she says, was inspired by her trip to the Nile and Aegean in March. "Fashion is closely related to culture. Different cultures can spark the creative engine in me," she says. If her designer's style is still evolving, Ma's personal style has already been defined: She is the girl next door, dressed in doctored denims and simple tops. She says most of her own clothes are priced between 300 (US$36) to 500 yuan. "I prefer the idea of mix and match. Designer labels aren't necessary as long as you can carry off an outfit with the right panache," she says. It's a style that reflects the country girl in Ma. Her purchase of a villa in Beijing has allowed her to bring her parents to stay with her. "I love to stay with my parents," she says wistfully, "I owe them so much." Darting around her "castle" in a nightgown, not a speck of makeup on her face, is when she feels most like herself. And as lovely as she is all gleamed up on the catwalk, at home in her bedroom slippers is when she looks her best.