Spreading body positivity through fashion

GUANGZHOU - Surrounded by racks of colourful dresses and blazers in China's manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, plus-size clothing brand owner and influencer Amanda Yao is on a mission to promote body positivity.

- PHOTOS: AFP

She is part of a small but growing number of women in China challenging restrictive beauty standards, including thinness, pale skin and childlike features.

Online, a frequently circulated saying claims that "there are no good women over 50kg", while recent social media challenges have women squeezing into children's clothes or showing off the coins they can stack on their collarbones.

Ms Yao makes fashionable, high-end clothing for plus-size women, offering a vibrant contrast to the poorly cut offerings usually available in "slimming" dark colours.

"I want my customers to have clothes that express who they are inside, rather than soulless pieces that exist only to make them look thinner," the 35-year-old said.

When it comes to clothing, most Chinese retailers focus on smaller sizes and "think that larger people don't need fashion and don't need beautiful clothes", she said.

"But we have work, we have families, we have respectable lives, and we also need some fancy clothes sometimes."