What's Wrong With My Body?

Something that seems pretty pragmatic, but is being ignored by many in reality-- the world is full of people who have different sizes, height, weight and beauty, but the industry and society concentrate merely on one dimension— tall, thin, flat-chested and uncurvy people. These people are the beauty of this era, they are the muses of designers, and the darlings of the fashion industry. Designer clothes always look better in tall and skinny people. The phat (I like to use phat instead of fat-- Pretty, Hot and Awesome but Thwarted by the society) and petite people are discriminated, they are said to be irrelevant to the fashion which deals with fantasy, dreams, illusions and aesthetics, especially phat people. They are often the one who get bullied, looked down, discriminated the most. Chic? No.

Shit.

The good news is that this issue has got a lot of attention, the bad news is it is not enough. There are many body image activists and positive body image influencers like Tess Hollidays, Ashley Graham, Jennifer Lawrence, Adele, Rebel Wilson, Melissa A. Fabello and so on are voicing out their opinions and some had even started a campaign regarding on this issue (i.e. #effyourbeautystandards by Tess Hollidays). I hate how people actually label this activity as ‘fat activism’, which I think is quite irrelevant to the message they are trying to convey, and it also makes no sense that people start to reverse the discrimination and call skinny people as ‘skinny bitches’.

Source: www.stylehasnosize.com

You might be aware of how the fashion industry reacts to this kind of activism. They are now trying to be more responsible, they start using plus-size models and have a wider size range. You know what they call this in the business world? Corporate social responsibility, it is so superficial and it does not solve the issue. If you think size 000 jeans are appropriate or a size UK10 is considered as plus-sized model, I'm puzzled.

This phenomenon forms the rationale behind my argument that the fashion industry is not ready to embrace the change yet, they could not act fast enough to provide what the market wants, or even to lead and educate the market, although we know the fact that fashion industry is often regarded as a market that is fast-paced and forward-looking. Some people argue that this is the modus operandi of fashion industry, they have a certain standards and aesthetic principles. However it seems extremely outdated and ridiculous, it needs to change. Today the fun of fashion, lies merely on the materialism, superficiality, nudity, and the so-called beauty standards, which are ironically, set by the media, the industry, and of course implicitly, by us.

For example, J. Crew's size 000 jeans have been criticised not for promoting bad body image, but for vanity sizing. Vanity sizing is based on the misguided notion like say, you are size 8, but the stores label you as size 6 to feed your ego that you're actually two sizes smaller and you would buy their clothes because you are happy about it. You are trapped, because you're lured into buying their clothes, and you are implicitly putting your self-worth based on your size. In an interview with CBS This Morning, J. Crew’s president and creative director Jenna Lyons commented that they were actually reacting to what the market wants following their store opening in Hong Kong. While I agree the part that some Asians are really skinny, why are they not reacting that same fast pace to carter the needs of phat girls?

J. Crew's size 000 is for women with 23 inches waist.

Fashion industry, after all, is still a business. Now there is a myth: why are they reluctant to produce and design for phat people, while there is actually a big market? And for those who did, why is the sales are so bad? I've come with few hypotheses.

1. Phat people are accustomed to believe that they won't look good regardless of what they wear.

They know people would bully them verbally and ask them to change their clothes as the clothes looked odd on them, because of the society’s stereotyped beauty standards. Hence, they would not spend money on themselves. — >society’s perception flaws.

2. The clothes are simply not designed for them, but for skinny people.

They look at the fashion shows and see all the models wear them beautifully but they are all from a so-called 'standard size', they walk into the shops and see the mannequins are looking so gorgeous with unrealistic body figure. Quite sensibly, you know they would not spend money on your stores when you don't keep them in mind while designing. This is also arguably one of the reasons why most of the fashion stores are left with bigger size clothes, and the small sizes always run out of stocks quickly, which they claim 'The plus size market is simply losing money! Look at all the leftover stocks! They are all in bigger sizes!' Now you know why, the fashionistas just simply get thinner and thinner, while the rest get phatter and phatter. —> industry’s flaws.

3. The clothes for phat girls are often for phat aunties.

We know phat people grow naturally like all of us do, they don't skip 13-35 years old. Why are clothing lines often make big size clothes that look too old for them? --> industry's flaws.

4. Cost.

It simply requires more costs to produce bigger clothes as compared to smaller clothes. Imagine a size UK12 shirt, it is twice as large than size UK6 shirt. When cost is higher, price will be higher. If price stays the same for all sizes, the profit margin for big size clothes becomes very small so they are not motivated to produce it.

5. Aesthetic? Paper=Model?

Consider the following quote from Fashion Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones & Anonymous:

“Dresses, shirts and skirts look so perfect when you draw them on pieces of paper in the studio… when other people get involved— that things get fucked up and I start having to compromise. Real women get in the way of the art and true aesthetic of fashion, and that’s the problem. So the thinner they (the models) are, the closer they are to the piece of paper the dress was designed on, and the better it is for me or any other designer.”—> Industry’s flaws??

Although this is a novel, but it is based on true story narrated by anonymous and written by Imogen Edwards-Jones. Well, I don’t have any practical experience as a designer so it’s kind of unfair for me to comment, so you interpret this on your own.

Rick Owen SS14

Everyone should be given the basic rights to freely decide and pursue the kind of body he or she wants, without having to be influenced by anyone’s so-called standards.

We should not just fight for phat people, nor the short and petite people, we should fight for everyone, and anyone who has lost the right to freely pursue the kind of body he or she wants, anyone who is genetically borne with certain body but is being unfairly criticised for it.

We must fight to stop those close-minded and barbarous labels such as ‘fat godzilla’, ‘skinny bitches’, and ‘macho queen’; ‘fat kid’, ‘bamboo’, and ‘girly boy’, and those people who did have got to pay for the consequences, for example, the reporters got banned and fined? Jennifer Lawrence has suggested that these acts should actually be legalised, and I couldn't be anymore agree.

If you are raising your brows now, claiming that we are promoting unhealthy lifestyle because of phat acceptance, excuse me but:

• You can look phat but still healthy, balanced diet and adequate amount of exercise are the key but it is not an assurance to look skinny. Some people are just borne to be looking phat, curvy or a larger bone frame.

• Skinny people are not necessarily healthy, it is a well-known fact that many models suffer from anorexia, which is extremely unhealthy too.

• We are fighting for body acceptance, not fat acceptance. Fat acceptance=body acceptance but body acceptance =/ fat acceptance.

While there are many campaigns, articles, talks, and so on that ask us to embrace our flaws and difference, I think it is just not enough. It is insufficient to ask phat people, black people, short people, petite people, curvy people, all kinds of discriminated people to change their mind, to change how they look at themselves, and to embrace their flaws. They do not have flaws, the flaws are in fact the society's perception and the fashion industry’s operation.

Obviously we could not wake up as flawless as Beyoncé, because we wake up as flawless as ourselves. The media just has to stop asking us to embrace Beyoncé's or Karlie Kloss' body and at the same time warn us that we actually could not wake up as flawless as they do.

Stop asking us to get our summer bodies ready just because you think we need to have a perfect body to wear a bikini, you know our bodies stay the same no matter it's spring, summer, autumn or winter-- it's the same God damn body.

Stop telling us Jennifer Lawrence has got fat and made an issue about it because who doesn't love pizza as she did?

Stop photoshoping people's photos you know we hooooman created photoshop, photoshop does not create human, use it responsibly and ethically.

The designers just have to stop discriminating different types of bodies just to feed your ego. You are making clothes for people-- for everyone. When you could not fulfill this basic task as a designer, you ain't designer, you just ain't. Don't you dare look down on phat people and think these people ain't got money to buy from you, or simply have a lower fashion sense. Perhaps they 'look' like that, but it is because there is simply no clothes for them, and it is because of this so-called glamorously looking fashion industry.

Let's don't be outside chic mental sick human.

I’m so thrilled that some media is starting to convey this kind of message, such as Buzzfeed (and start seeing MTV is following as well), I’m so happy to see such a post that includes different sizes and ethnics of people, that did not specially label them as plus size, skinny, or short. Isn’t this a wonderful post (world)? Aren’t they all beautiful? Media plays such a big role, and I’m excited to see what kind of change and positive influence we can bring to make this world a better place, and to make fashion a better game, perhaps by stop labelling, stop making an issue about body image, stop promoting and insulting, stop reporting fashion news and styles by separating plus size from non-plus size.

Besides, I'm also excited to see shops like Asos is having clothes that specially fit the needs for different people such as petite and plus size. But it is still not enough, the lookbooks, the campaigns, the advertisements, the fashion shows, they need to use all kinds of bodies, without specifically mentioning it, making an issue about it, or even an entire show or advertisement just for a certain type of body.

The key is:

1. Reporting, Designing, and Advertising for everyone, and do it at the most neutral way possible.

2. Start appreciating different types of beauty, aspire to be what you want to be, without being influenced by society’s standards.

3. Stop bullying, labelling and discriminating.

The real world of fashion, should have no boundaries, no standards, no rules-- the only limitation is your creativity and personality. Your body should not be your limitation. Fashion should be fun, and is highly individualised.

When I say individualisation, that is absolutely not about having your name embossed on your bags, but the way you reflect your uniqueness and personality on your styles.

It is not about the number of luxuries you own, but it is about HOW you wear, not WHAT you wear. It is not about a girl who is obsessed with dieting, smoking, hanging logos on her body, taking selfies, and travelling.

It is an attitude, it is about how you dress, it is about embracing and expressing yourself.

It is hard, but it is not impossible. Real entrepreneurs educate and lead the world to be a better place.

Let everyone chooses freely. Report responsibly, and design with heart.

#Campaign