Influencer Scarlett Hao is an ambassador for the curvy Asian woman active within the fashion industry. Hers is the Business of Big Beautiful Branding.
Influencer Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_) speaks up for that curvy Asian woman active within the fashion industry. Hao is the first curvy Chinese influencer and promotes a body-positive attitude to women around the globe. Hao has thus far gained over 160k followers on Instagram, with an average engagement or 3k to 4k per post. High. End. Photography by @jchchechenchenchen. Image via Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_)
Operating under her personal brand name Scarlett Halo, plus size model Hao has over 160k followers on Instagram. With an on average engagement or 3k to 4k per post. Her first-ever post on China’s Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) app raked in 4k likes within a matter of three hours.
It’s your typically dreary yet by no means depressing New York winter afternoon. A serious chill is in the air and everybody strutting around SOHO seems to have huddled up inside the very same coffee bar where Chinese New Yorker Scarlett Hao and this Northern European self are meeting up for a little chit and ample chat.
Accompanied by a steaming red beet latte — red wine would have been preferred, were it not for the pre-4PM time of day — Hao indulges in her intense passion for spreading the body positive word.
Hao back in 2018 made a guest appearance on a primetime Chinese talk show when the host asked her, “Do you think you look good or fat?” Instantly, this Beijing host’s choice of words summed up a cultural preference embedded in a society’s thinking and actual wording. “Fat” (胖 or pàng in Chinese) signifies “ugly” and being “thin” (瘦 or shòu) is a compliment.
Subsequently, the real question becomes… What does Hao have to say on the topics of cultural body image and influencing body positivity?
Social Media As A Soft Power Tool
Hao shows up to our interview dressed in a lilac casszh sweater springing up like a jazzy flower from a sea of New York black sleek. This woman walks the branding walk and, taking into account her rapid yet solid rise on the influencer | Key Opinion Leader track, talks the talk. Hao is a prime example of social media changing the dynamics of not just purchasing power, but also soft power around the world.
Hao in 2015 founded her personal brand Scarlett Halo, to share her fashion style and body-positive messages. Scarlett inspired women all over the world to be confident, stylish and love themselves. Her goal is to speak up for that curvy Asian woman operating within the fashion industry — #Asiangotcurves. The Scarlett Halo brand spreads a mentally body-positive attitude to women in all four corners of the globe.
Social media as a soft power tool, according to American political scientist and pioneer in the field of soft power theory Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “arises from a country’s culture, political ideals and policies”. This contemporary new media enables users to get what they want through attraction rather than coercion or payment. Ergo…
The effectiveness of Instagram with reference to content sharing and influence inspiring action, looking at the success of the Scarlett Halo brand in terms of following and engagement, in particular, demonstrates just how social media is among the most important components of current discussions on social issues. Themes such as body shaming, body image, and body acceptance | positivity, therefore, are prime cases in point.
Hao’s first post on China’s Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) app raked in 4k likes within a matter of hours. Hao is seen here on December 2, 2018, walking The Real Catwalk in New York City. The Real Catwalk is an annual body-positive celebration of all genders, backgrounds, sizes, and shapes — i.e. people.
The Coercive Power Of China’s Body Image
Hao back in high school was one of those girls who develop early. She wasn’t immune to the teenage boobs joking about breasts and other curves and subsequently became very self-aware. There is, after all, no inoculation for the pestering pox.
Nevertheless, Hao managed to turn her story from one of negative awareness into a tale of positive branding. Not all of her peers have that stamina and character to defy and rise above newly installed cultural standards. Let alone to go on and define their own set of what they think constitutes sexual attractiveness — i.e. body positive self- empowerment.
Concerning that perception of body image and subsequent pressure to be thin among China’s urban twenty- and thirty-somethings, one or two concerns remain.
Urban China’s New Ideals Of Sexual Attractiveness
The obsession with physical appearances can lead to the phenomenon that is “beauty sickness”. Renee Engeln, author of “Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women”, highlights how the average first-world urban woman owns some 40 cosmetic products and spends about 55 minutes getting ready every day. Beauty sickness can also lead to eating disorders, depression and the desire to go under the knife.
China’s social media, Hao reminds us, too, is at scorchingly stigmatizing fault in this respect.
A Digitally Ideal Or Ideally Digital Body Image?
Chinese social media so-called weight loss challenges “inspire” young female Chinese millennials to “monitor” their weight. That’s a whole lot of air quotation marks, right there. Hao shares a top three Sina Weibo (Weibo aka China’s Twitter equivalent) “body shaming” throwbacks (2015-2017):
Weibo trend #1: Collarbone coins
In order to demonstrate their skinny figures, young Chinese females were posting selfies with stacks of coins standing upright on their collarbones. Some people were able to balance as many as 20 coins on a collarbone. An egg was considered an acceptable substitute for the rolls and rows of coins.
This “challenge” saw women sharing pictures of themselves on the social media platform whilst holding a piece of A4 printer paper in front of their waistlines. The ability to completely hide their waist behind the sheet of paper proved the sign of tested success. The width of A4 paper is 21 cm meaning that the pos(t)er’s waist had to be no bigger than 25 inches.
China’s social media body testing craze all began with the Belly Button Challenge. This fad encouraged people to wrap their arms around their backs to touch their belly button, falsely asserting that this achievement proved they were fit and healthy.
Weibo trend #3: The iPhone 6 knees
Last but not least on this top three viral Weibo body testing trends was about being able to hide both knees underneath an iPhone 6 (15.8 cm in height) “strategically” placed on top of the kneecaps. This trend was all about promoting pencil-skinny legs. The “iPhone 6 legs” fad accumulated over 90 million views and 80,000 comments on the social media platform.
Taking the digitally ideal of beauty one step further, we find long-legged Shudu: The world’s first digitally doctored “supermodel”. Shudu is, in fact, an image created using the 3D image rendering software program DAZ3D. How this new digital image will affect the perception of beauty among actual living flesh and blood women from one cultural beauty ideal to the next remains to be seen. Hao, for one, will not be coerced and leads by non-impressed example.
Influencer Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_) speaks up for that curvy Asian woman active within the fashion industry. Hao is the first curvy Chinese influencer and promotes a body-positive attitude to women around the globe. Hao has thus far gained over 160k followers on Instagram, with an average engagement or 3k to 4k per post. High. End. Photography by @jchchechenchenchen. Image via Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_)
You Are Your Own Super Power Brand
Mistress of her fate, Hao is a proponent of putting all things body-related in healthy order. Mentally, physically and then universally so.
Hao with her Scarlett Halo brand advocates for a new presentation of the Asian female to the West. Her outspoken brand revelation chooses to cast aside the stereotypical image of the thin (Chinese) woman and break with cultural tradition, making room for new actual data and literal portrayals of diversified female beauty. After all, what constitutes “normal” anymore?
The time had come for a complete overhaul; taking the negative thoughts and turning them into positive assets of self-empowerment. Hao embraced her looks, from head to toe, backed up by a little Chinese cultural fact we like to call “the woman rules the roost”.
Contrary to popular belief, a stereotype strengthened by the fact that China’s female celebrities seldom or never speak in public, the China Woman is by no means repressed. Not speaking publicly is merely a sign of elegance, but there where the real power lies — i.e. the home — the women of China have the last word. As does Hao.
So in reply to that one earlier mentioned Beijing host’s question: Scarlett Hao looks bold. And beautiful.
Hao balances the line. The line between East and West. The line between the largest “normal” size and the smallest plus size. The line between strictly business influencer and bodily morale booster. With “empowerment” always the red wire.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. There is no need to toe society’s line.
*Farren (2002) retrieved from Ye Luo, William L. Parish, Edward O. Laumann. A population-based study of body image concerns among urban Chinese adults, 334-335. Population Research Center, University of Chicago/National Opinion Research Center, 2006.
Featured Image: Photography by @jchchechenchenchen. Image via Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_)
Get in touch with Scarlett Hao via:
email: scarlett@scarletthalo.com
IG: @scarletthalo_
The Scarlett Halo Collective IG: @scarletthaloco
Spotted a fashion fail or have something to add? Please let us know in the comment section below or email us at info@temper-magazine.com
Copyright@Temper Magazine, 2020. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce Temper Magazine content without consent -– you can contact us at info@temper-magazine.com
Social Media As A Soft Power Tool
Hao shows up to our interview dressed in a lilac casszh sweater springing up like a jazzy flower from a sea of New York black sleek. This woman walks the branding walk and, taking into account her rapid yet solid rise on the influencer | Key Opinion Leader track, talks the talk. Hao is a prime example of social media changing the dynamics of not just purchasing power, but also soft power around the world.
Hao in 2015 founded her personal brand Scarlett Halo, to share her fashion style and body-positive messages. Scarlett inspired women all over the world to be confident, stylish and love themselves. Her goal is to speak up for that curvy Asian woman operating within the fashion industry — #Asiangotcurves. The Scarlett Halo brand spreads a mentally body-positive attitude to women in all four corners of the globe.
Social media as a soft power tool, according to American political scientist and pioneer in the field of soft power theory Joseph S. Nye, Jr., “arises from a country’s culture, political ideals and policies”. This contemporary new media enables users to get what they want through attraction rather than coercion or payment. Ergo…
The effectiveness of Instagram with reference to content sharing and influence inspiring action, looking at the success of the Scarlett Halo brand in terms of following and engagement, in particular, demonstrates just how social media is among the most important components of current discussions on social issues. Themes such as body shaming, body image, and body acceptance | positivity, therefore, are prime cases in point.
Hao’s first post on China’s Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) app raked in 4k likes within a matter of hours. Hao is seen here on December 2, 2018, walking The Real Catwalk in New York City. The Real Catwalk is an annual body-positive celebration of all genders, backgrounds, sizes, and shapes — i.e. people.
The Coercive Power Of China’s Body Image
Hao back in high school was one of those girls who develop early. She wasn’t immune to the teenage boobs joking about breasts and other curves and subsequently became very self-aware. There is, after all, no inoculation for the pestering pox.
Nevertheless, Hao managed to turn her story from one of negative awareness into a tale of positive branding. Not all of her peers have that stamina and character to defy and rise above newly installed cultural standards. Let alone to go on and define their own set of what they think constitutes sexual attractiveness — i.e. body positive self- empowerment.
Concerning that perception of body image and subsequent pressure to be thin among China’s urban twenty- and thirty-somethings, one or two concerns remain.
Urban China’s New Ideals Of Sexual Attractiveness
The obsession with physical appearances can lead to the phenomenon that is “beauty sickness”. Renee Engeln, author of “Beauty Sick: How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women”, highlights how the average first-world urban woman owns some 40 cosmetic products and spends about 55 minutes getting ready every day. Beauty sickness can also lead to eating disorders, depression and the desire to go under the knife.
China’s social media, Hao reminds us, too, is at scorchingly stigmatizing fault in this respect.
A Digitally Ideal Or Ideally Digital Body Image?
Chinese social media so-called weight loss challenges “inspire” young female Chinese millennials to “monitor” their weight. That’s a whole lot of air quotation marks, right there. Hao shares a top three Sina Weibo (Weibo aka China’s Twitter equivalent) “body shaming” throwbacks (2015-2017):
Weibo trend #1: Collarbone coins
In order to demonstrate their skinny figures, young Chinese females were posting selfies with stacks of coins standing upright on their collarbones. Some people were able to balance as many as 20 coins on a collarbone. An egg was considered an acceptable substitute for the rolls and rows of coins.
This “challenge” saw women sharing pictures of themselves on the social media platform whilst holding a piece of A4 printer paper in front of their waistlines. The ability to completely hide their waist behind the sheet of paper proved the sign of tested success. The width of A4 paper is 21 cm meaning that the pos(t)er’s waist had to be no bigger than 25 inches.
China’s social media body testing craze all began with the Belly Button Challenge. This fad encouraged people to wrap their arms around their backs to touch their belly button, falsely asserting that this achievement proved they were fit and healthy.
Weibo trend #3: The iPhone 6 knees
Last but not least on this top three viral Weibo body testing trends was about being able to hide both knees underneath an iPhone 6 (15.8 cm in height) “strategically” placed on top of the kneecaps. This trend was all about promoting pencil-skinny legs. The “iPhone 6 legs” fad accumulated over 90 million views and 80,000 comments on the social media platform.
Taking the digitally ideal of beauty one step further, we find long-legged Shudu: The world’s first digitally doctored “supermodel”. Shudu is, in fact, an image created using the 3D image rendering software program DAZ3D. How this new digital image will affect the perception of beauty among actual living flesh and blood women from one cultural beauty ideal to the next remains to be seen. Hao, for one, will not be coerced and leads by non-impressed example.
Influencer Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_) speaks up for that curvy Asian woman active within the fashion industry. Hao is the first curvy Chinese influencer and promotes a body-positive attitude to women around the globe. Hao has thus far gained over 160k followers on Instagram, with an average engagement or 3k to 4k per post. High. End. Photography by @jchchechenchenchen. Image via Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_)
You Are Your Own Super Power Brand
Mistress of her fate, Hao is a proponent of putting all things body-related in healthy order. Mentally, physically and then universally so.
Hao with her Scarlett Halo brand advocates for a new presentation of the Asian female to the West. Her outspoken brand revelation chooses to cast aside the stereotypical image of the thin (Chinese) woman and break with cultural tradition, making room for new actual data and literal portrayals of diversified female beauty. After all, what constitutes “normal” anymore?
The time had come for a complete overhaul; taking the negative thoughts and turning them into positive assets of self-empowerment. Hao embraced her looks, from head to toe, backed up by a little Chinese cultural fact we like to call “the woman rules the roost”.
Contrary to popular belief, a stereotype strengthened by the fact that China’s female celebrities seldom or never speak in public, the China Woman is by no means repressed. Not speaking publicly is merely a sign of elegance, but there where the real power lies — i.e. the home — the women of China have the last word. As does Hao.
So in reply to that one earlier mentioned Beijing host’s question: Scarlett Hao looks bold. And beautiful.
Hao balances the line. The line between East and West. The line between the largest “normal” size and the smallest plus size. The line between strictly business influencer and bodily morale booster. With “empowerment” always the red wire.
Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. There is no need to toe society’s line.
*Farren (2002) retrieved from Ye Luo, William L. Parish, Edward O. Laumann. A population-based study of body image concerns among urban Chinese adults, 334-335. Population Research Center, University of Chicago/National Opinion Research Center, 2006.
Featured Image: Photography by @jchchechenchenchen. Image via Scarlett Hao (@scarletthalo_)
Get in touch with Scarlett Hao via:
email: scarlett@scarletthalo.com
IG: @scarletthalo_
The Scarlett Halo Collective IG: @scarletthaloco
Spotted a fashion fail or have something to add? Please let us know in the comment section below or email us at info@temper-magazine.com
Copyright@Temper Magazine, 2020. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce Temper Magazine content without consent -– you can contact us at info@temper-magazine.com
Perpetually in pursuit of the greater good that is “China Fashion”, van Paridon set up The China Temper to help promote the dynamite dynamic fashion scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai, and China overall. Catering to anybody and everybody who reads English and/or Chinese, Temper covers all the basics and bases. From China's street style scenery to its budding photographers, internationally renowned designers, and underground quirks plus phenomena: We present one hot-hip-happening current collective weaving The New "Made in China" tag.
The term “Made in China” is undergoing the ultimate 21st Century makeover. Escorted by the increasingly strong influence of a new thinking among China’s younger generations, regarding individuality and the expression thereof, the fashion scene in the Middle Kingdom is exploding. And stretches far beyond what meets the eye. It’s appliqué, one might say.
- Upping the ANTA: Niche Sportswear, the New Frontier In Athleisure Apparel - November 25, 2023
- China’s He Economy: What Men Want - November 18, 2023
- The Changing Role of Women in China: A Century in Clothing - November 3, 2023