Ordinary body types on the runway

By Wang Yu

Every year, fashion watchers ask the same question: how can you know whether those awesome clothes the models show off will fit the average person?

The answer is simple. You can’t.

While the industry gets its money from people with ordinary body types, the runways only have room for Size 0. Fashion blogger, which have already triumphed over fashion magazines as the top source for fashion advice, have for years challenged the industry to step out of its comfort zone and put average people on the runway. They may finally win that battle.

China’s fashion industry is still relatively young, and its perennially weak designs rarely wow an audience. But hiring ordinary people as models – a trend that began as a cost-cutting strategy – may bring new folloers to domestic fashion labels.

Nathan Zhang tailors a jecket for his friend Xiao Bao, one of his models. PHotos by Bo Wen