A Chinese man spent more than 180,000 RMB (US$27,000) on a lacy costume he thought was worn by his favorite teenage actress (ahem) only to find out it belonged to her male co-star, according to reports.
The man, surnamed Xu, purchased the one-piece dress trimmed with red fur and black lace on Thursday from an online auction of costumes used in Jackie Chan’s upcoming action movie Bleeding Steel.
The movie sees Chan play a “hardened special forces agent who fights to protect a young woman from a sinister criminal gang” and is due to be released Friday, according to IMDB.
According to Zhejiang Daily, Xu is a fan of 17-year-old Taiwanese actress Nana Ou-yang, who stars in the film, and wanted to be “supportive” by placing a bid for one of her costumes.
The item he chose was listed by Alibaba-owned Xianya — one of China’s biggest online auction sites — as a “sexy costume worn by a leading role in Blading Steel.”
Bidding quickly accelerated, so when Xu clinched his prize, you can’t blame him for wanting to boast a little.
The collector quickly sent out a message to a friend on WeChat crowing about his victory only to be informed he had made a somewhat embarrassing mistake.
Turns out, the role of “sexy dragon woman,” is played by Nana’s male co-star Show Lo.
Speaking to Qianjiang Evening News, Xu said his competitive spirit had driven him to shell out the significant sum in pursuit of the sexy dress.
He conceded he was too preoccupied with bidding to look at a press release released the morning of the auction detailing exactly which stars played which roles.
“Actually, I didn’t have that much time to know about [the movie]. I was just trying to be supportive of Nana,” said Xu, whose collection also includes model cars.
“I was also surprised at the price. I thought it would only cost ten thousand or so.”
While many netizens on Chinese social media site expressed amazement about the amount of money doled out in the hope of getting one of the teen actresses’ costumes, others noted that fans of the dress’s true wearer Show Lo might, in fact, be more enthusiastic.
“This costume could have been more expensive if people knew who it belongs to,” said one commenter, referring to the Taiwanese actor Lo.
And they were right.
Zhejiang Daily reported that Xu was ultimately able to resell the costume to a Lo fan for 200,000RMB (US$30,200).
That’s right, despite the error, Xu’s brief (and let’s face it, somewhat creepy) investment ultimately turned him a profit.
