Amid colorful dresses and jackets inside her atelier in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, Chinese social media influencer Amanda Yao seeks to promote self-acceptance through her plus-size clothing brand.
Her goal poses a challenge in China, where beauty standards related to thinness, clear skin, and childish features are praised.
A saying is spreading across social media confirming that “a woman is not beautiful if her weight exceeds 50 kilograms.”
In videos, women brag about their ability to wear child-sized clothes, or wear coins on their collarbones.
To confront this phenomenon, Amanda Yao launched a brand of modern and elegant plus-size clothing, away from the loose cuts and dark colors that are often reserved for large sizes.
The thirty-year-old woman says, “I want my clients to wear clothes that reflect their personalities, not soulless pieces of clothing designed only to make them appear thin.”
Breaking aesthetic standards
Amanda Yao is one of the few Chinese women who are determined to break the beauty standards imposed by Chinese society.
In order to promote her store, she posts pictures of her clothes on the Chinese “Xiao Hongshu” platform similar to Instagram, and often wears leggings and T-shirts while hiking in the hills surrounding Guangzhou.
In a post addressed to her 15,000 followers, the woman, who shamelessly explains that her weight is 100 kilograms, says, “I reject anxiety related to body image.”
She added, “What’s the problem if I wear a sleeveless shirt even though I have big arms?”
Bright colors
Amanda Yao launched her plus-size clothing brand 4 years ago, after returning from the UK where she had lived for years.
“I realized that it is very difficult to buy clothes here,” she says.
Wearing a green skirt and a wool sweater, she proudly shows off a pink silk jacket from her brand, Yao Design, and says, “I never post pictures of myself wearing black clothes.”
The designer wants to encourage her clients to adopt more bright colors.
In recent years, some Chinese brands have made efforts to create products that include more sizes.
The Neway and In Action A Day brands have announced products in larger sizes, but most of their products are still not directed to women who weigh more than 70 kilograms.
Nutritional disorders
Awareness is gradually increasing through social networking sites. On the Chinese “Xiao Hongshu” platform, the keyword “Rejecting anxiety related to body image” was reposted about 200,000 times.
Like Amanda Yao, other influencers post pictures of their clothes or meals, ignoring the pressures placed on them to diet, but the posts of Yao and other influencers remain very inconsistent with the majority of the content.
One of the latest trends in social media is for the account holder to post a photo of himself and ask for advice on changing his appearance.
The comments convey ideas about how to get perfect body details, such as the idea that a pointed chin is better than a square chin.
Speaking to Agence France-Presse, Stephanie Ng, president of the “Body Panther” association specializing in mental health, based in Hong Kong, said that with the constant viewing of bodies considered ideal, Internet users are at risk of “confusing their self-worth with their appearance.”
This phenomenon may have tangible consequences, such as eating disorders or loss of appetite, according to Stephanie Ng.
There is little official data on nutritional disorders in China.
However, the Shanghai Mental Health Center witnessed a very large increase in the number of its patients treated for eating disorders, reaching 3,000 people in 2021 after it was only 8 people in 2002, according to official media.
Amanda Yao confirms that criticism only strengthens her resolve. She says, “I want to help women who hate themselves to change their outlook on their appearance.”