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Sunday 23 November 2008
A Little Large? You Can Still Look Good
Former stylist Chen Quanling runs a plus-size clothes shop in Beijing. She tells of her dream of helping large women regain confidence in a society that thinks high fashion clothes should only be seen on skinny models.
Former stylist Chen Quanling runs a plus-size clothes shop in Beijing. She tells of her dream of helping large women regain confidence in a society that thinks high fashion clothes should only be seen on skinny models.
Tell me about your plus-size clothes shop and why you started a business like this.
I opened the shop in autumn last year to try to help well-built women in this city find fashionable clothes to help them look better. I used to be a stylist and specialised in helping people find a style that suited their figure and character, but I found there were almost no fashionable dresses for large women. I also discovered there were too many large women having difficulty buying nice dresses and resorting to plain men's T-shirts and sport tops. There was a gap in the market and I had the desire too fill it so I opened my shop.
My shop stocks a Taiwanese brand and you can see that all the dresses are of good quality and fashionable design that suits the shape of large women. We also offer a free tailoring service, free delivery and free style design.
While most plus-size dresses are of a plain design and dark colour, our clothes are of a variety of colours, especially bright ones such as white, pink, bright green, blue and even red. All our clothes are made of cotton and have a special design to ensure they are comfortable to wear and are not too tight, which is all too common on dresses for large women.
Tell me about your customers. Are they happy to wear your clothes?
I have always been slim but I do understand the lack of self-confidence of many large and well-built women. To tell you the truth, a great majority of such women I see are very insecure from years of pressure living in a society obsessed with a concept of beauty that only includes the slim. In our society women are bombarded by advertisements featuring skinny models in tight dresses. All kinds of fashion ads deliver the same message: to be beautiful you must be thin.
That's unfair to large women and I want to convey through my service that you can still be pretty and fashionable if you are large. I've met too many large women who are extremely unsure of themselves and some of them have developed a great inferiority complex, but in coming to my shop, even without buying clothes, they can have fun and enjoy a social experience.
They all trust me and my judgment on their dress style as well as the quality of my clothes. I also talk to our tailors to suggest changing some parts of the clothes to meet the special needs of some very plump women and they are always very happy with my advice. I never use words such as "fat" in front of them, nor criticise their bodies. I know many of them have had the experience of being treated badly by assistants at other fashion shops, but in my store they are all treated as princesses and can try on any dress they like. I never blindly persuade them to buy something that doesn't suit them.
I know of a great number of tricks for losing weight but I never agree with girls who blindly try diet pills. I encourage them to get a better shape through exercise and reasonable control of calorie intake.
How is your business? And what's your future plan?
The business is all right after one year. The clothes in my shop are medium price, but of course they are more expensive than a plus-size T-shirt in a supermarket due to their high quality and design. Capital is always a problem and if I had more money I'd like to expand the shop and add plus-size shoes. You know it's also very hard for large women to find nice, comfortable shoes.
Also I have a plan to organise a plus-size model troop, and I have already recruited several cheerful, large women who are good looking and have good performance skills. I have organised them to sing and dance together and we have practised on the catwalk too. I provide them clothes for shows and hope they can be invited to show off their talents and beauty on stage and in the media. Not for money, just to present plus-sized beauty.
1 comment:
A Little Large? You Can Still Look Good
Chen Quanling spoke to Vivian Wu
23 November 2008
Former stylist Chen Quanling runs a plus-size clothes shop in Beijing. She tells of her dream of helping large women regain confidence in a society that thinks high fashion clothes should only be seen on skinny models.
Tell me about your plus-size clothes shop and why you started a business like this.
I opened the shop in autumn last year to try to help well-built women in this city find fashionable clothes to help them look better. I used to be a stylist and specialised in helping people find a style that suited their figure and character, but I found there were almost no fashionable dresses for large women. I also discovered there were too many large women having difficulty buying nice dresses and resorting to plain men's T-shirts and sport tops. There was a gap in the market and I had the desire too fill it so I opened my shop.
My shop stocks a Taiwanese brand and you can see that all the dresses are of good quality and fashionable design that suits the shape of large women. We also offer a free tailoring service, free delivery and free style design.
While most plus-size dresses are of a plain design and dark colour, our clothes are of a variety of colours, especially bright ones such as white, pink, bright green, blue and even red. All our clothes are made of cotton and have a special design to ensure they are comfortable to wear and are not too tight, which is all too common on dresses for large women.
Tell me about your customers. Are they happy to wear your clothes?
I have always been slim but I do understand the lack of self-confidence of many large and well-built women. To tell you the truth, a great majority of such women I see are very insecure from years of pressure living in a society obsessed with a concept of beauty that only includes the slim. In our society women are bombarded by advertisements featuring skinny models in tight dresses. All kinds of fashion ads deliver the same message: to be beautiful you must be thin.
That's unfair to large women and I want to convey through my service that you can still be pretty and fashionable if you are large. I've met too many large women who are extremely unsure of themselves and some of them have developed a great inferiority complex, but in coming to my shop, even without buying clothes, they can have fun and enjoy a social experience.
They all trust me and my judgment on their dress style as well as the quality of my clothes. I also talk to our tailors to suggest changing some parts of the clothes to meet the special needs of some very plump women and they are always very happy with my advice. I never use words such as "fat" in front of them, nor criticise their bodies. I know many of them have had the experience of being treated badly by assistants at other fashion shops, but in my store they are all treated as princesses and can try on any dress they like. I never blindly persuade them to buy something that doesn't suit them.
I know of a great number of tricks for losing weight but I never agree with girls who blindly try diet pills. I encourage them to get a better shape through exercise and reasonable control of calorie intake.
How is your business? And what's your future plan?
The business is all right after one year. The clothes in my shop are medium price, but of course they are more expensive than a plus-size T-shirt in a supermarket due to their high quality and design. Capital is always a problem and if I had more money I'd like to expand the shop and add plus-size shoes. You know it's also very hard for large women to find nice, comfortable shoes.
Also I have a plan to organise a plus-size model troop, and I have already recruited several cheerful, large women who are good looking and have good performance skills. I have organised them to sing and dance together and we have practised on the catwalk too. I provide them clothes for shows and hope they can be invited to show off their talents and beauty on stage and in the media. Not for money, just to present plus-sized beauty.
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