China Fashion & Beauty
Move Over ‘A4 Waist’, Here Comes the ‘iPhone6 Legs’ Hype – Growing Concerns Over China’s Online Skinny Trends
Now that China’s ‘A4 waist’ online challenge has swept across Sina Weibo, it is time for another trend to show off how skinny you are: the ‘iPhone 6 legs’ (iPhone6腿) rage. Despite the wide propagation of slimming trends, voices opposing these sort of hypes are growing louder.
A new trend has taken over Chinese social media. Over the past few days, ‘iPhone 6 legs’ have become a trending topic, with thousands of female netizens posting pictures that show how their smartphones can cover their skinny legs. Although many netizens ridicule the trend, there are also some who worry that these hypes propagate unhealthy beauty standards.
From A4 waist to iPhone legs
Lately, China has seen several trends that have propagated a thin figure as the ruling beauty standard. Since September 2015, an online challenge swept across Sina Weibo, WeChat and other major social media in China, where the goal was for people to try and reach their belly button backhand. Soon, two new challenges emerged, that focused on putting coins on your collarbone and holding a pencil with the bottom line of your breast. The latter is believed to come from Japan, but was no less popular amongst Chinese netizens.
Along with these challenges came an online obsession with the so-called ‘mermaid line’, ‘vest line’ and ‘bikini bridge’ – the former two referring to the shape of one’s abs, the latter concerns the visible ends of one’s pelvis.
Recently, ‘A4 waist’ (A4腰) pictures took Chinese social media by storm. For this rage, girls posed with an A4 paper before their waist; if there was no waist visible besides the paper, their figure was slim enough for the challenge.
Social media’s propagation of beauty criteria does not stop here. Another hype has now become trending on Weibo, where girls are showing off their legs with an iPhone6 in front of it. The supposed rule is: when the iPhone6 covers the width of your legs (knee area), your legs conform to the standard beauty ideal.
Trends like these are quickly followed by others. Sina Weibo now also shows a series of photos where young girls are wrapping paper money around their wrist to show off their slenderness under the hashtag of ’50 RMB Wrist’ (50元手腕).
Unhealthy standards
On Weibo, not all netizens are pleased with yet another beauty trend. “These everyday trends bore me,” one netizen says: “Your standard of beauty is not healthy!”
Weibo’s recent trends in attaining a slim figure have resulted in a tremendous amount of individual postings, where mostly women are either showing off their perfect figure by succeeding the challenge, or where they are expressing their firm resolution to achieve these results. Influential social media users have released various tips to acquire the perfect figure. As iRead (@壹读), a popular media source on Sina Weibo, states in its video: “One no longer has the courage to post to their friends if one does not have the right body lines.”
Although people are still posting pictures hiding their waist behind a vertically held piece of paper and public Weibo accounts still provide tips to slim your waist, the voices opposing these kinds of trends are becoming louder; Chinese (social) media are becoming seemingly more aware about the beauty ideals it promotes.
Most importantly, people now voice their concerns about the potential health risks of China’s recent slimming trends. One article on Weibo has suggested that trends like the A4 waist could potentially lead to eating disorders, stating that 95% of people suffering from them are young girls who are obsessed with losing weight to meet the ruling “beauty standards”.
iPad legs
But health is not the only concern. Feminist online platform Voice of Feminists (@女权之声) recently published two articles (article 1; article 2) criticising the new trends. They pointed out that such beauty standards are not just “unhealthy”, but also indicate that women are being objectified in a masculine society. The articles argue against homogeneous and male-dominated beauty standards. They have also launched a campaign for women to love their waists – regardless of whether it is A4 size or not.
The A4 waist phenomenon has now also traveled to other international social media platforms, and netizens outside of China post their responses to the trend on Facebook and Twitter. Some women have posed with their diploma’s in front of their waists, propagating that brains go above beauty. Their message, similar to that of Voice of Feminists, is yet again imported back to Sina Weibo. iRead and Nouvelle d’Europe (@欧洲时报) both published articles about these foreign netizens, stating that “A4 paper is only made to prove how clever and creative you can be. Women don’t need to be compared by a fuc*ing sheet of paper”.
With the new ‘iPhone6 trend’, many netizens seem fed up with China’s skinny trends, calling the girls who post these pictures “brain-dead”, and wondering how the general beauty trend has come to be so unrealistic.
Some netizens have a different problem, with many stating: “I don’t even have an iPhone 6.” Other netizens want to start their own trends: “I don’t have iPhone 6 legs,” one Weibo users comment: “but I have iPad legs.”
“Forget the iPhone 6 legs,” yet another says: “These are Macbook legs.”
One thing’s for sure – with China’s latest skinny trend, everyone seems to wants Apples.
– By Diandian Guo & Manya Koetse
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China Brands, Marketing & Consumers
Zara Dress Goes Viral in China for Resemblance to Haidilao Apron
Who’s gonna buy this Zara dress in China? “I’m afraid that someone will say I stole the apron from Haidilao.”
A short dress sold by Zara has gone viral in China for looking like the aprons used by the popular Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao.
“I really thought it was a Zara x Haidialo collab,” some customers commented. Others also agree that the first thing they thought about when seeing the Zara dress was the Haidilao apron.
The “original” vs the Zara dress.
The dress has become a popular topic on Xiaohongshu and other social media, where some images show the dress with the Haidilao logo photoshopped on it to emphasize the similarity.
One post on Xiaohongshu discussing the dress, with the caption “Curious about the inspiration behind Zara’s design,” garnered over 28,000 replies.
Haidilao, with its numerous restaurants across China, is renowned for its hospitality and exceptional customer service. Anyone who has ever dined at their restaurants is familiar with the Haidilao apron provided to diners for protecting their clothes from food or oil stains while enjoying hotpot.
These aprons are meant for use during the meal and should be returned to the staff afterward, rather than taken home.
The Haidilao apron.
However, many people who have dined at Haidilao may have encountered the following scenario: after indulging in drinks and hotpot, they realize they are still wearing a Haidilao apron upon leaving the restaurant. Consequently, many hotpot enthusiasts may have an ‘accidental’ Haidilao apron tucked away at home somewhere.
This only adds to the humor of the latest Zara dress looking like the apron. The similarity between the Zara dress and the Haidilao apron is actually so striking, that some people are afraid to be accused of being a thief if they would wear it.
One Weibo commenter wrote: “The most confusing item of this season from Zara has come out. It’s like a Zara x Haidilao collaboration apron… This… I can’t wear it: I’m afraid that someone will say I stole the apron from Haidilao.”
Funnily enough, the Haidilao apron similarity seems to have set off a trend of girls trying on the Zara dress and posting photos of themselves wearing it.
It’s doubtful that they’re actually purchasing the dress. Although some commenters say the dress is not bad, most people associate it too closely with the Haidilao brand: it just makes them hungry for hotpot.
By Manya Koetse
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China Arts & Entertainment
Jia Ling Returns to the Limelight with New “YOLO” Movie and 110-Pound Weight Loss Announcement
After a year away from the spotlight, Chinese actress and director Jia Ling is back, announcing both a new film and slimmer figure.
Chinese actress and director Jia Ling (贾玲) has been trending on Weibo thanks to her upcoming film YOLO (热辣滚烫) and her remarkable weight loss transformation.
Jia Ling is a famous Chinese comedian actress, known for her annual Spring Festival Gala performances. She has been especially successful in the previous years as she made her directorial debut in 2021 with the award-winning box office hit Hi, Mom (Chinese title Hi, Li Huanying 你好,李焕英), in which she also stars as the female protagonist. That same year, audiences saw her as Wu Ge in Embrace Again (穿过寒冬拥抱你).
It has been a while since we’ve heard from Jia Ling, but on January 11, she resurfaced with a Weibo post in which she explained her absence from the limelight.
In her post, Jia wrote that she has spent the entire year working on the YOLO (热辣滚烫) movie, for which she lost a staggering 100 jin (斤) (110 lbs/50 kg). Just as with Hi, Mum, Jia is both the director of YOLO and the lead actress.
According to Jia, it was a tiring and “hungry” year, during which she ended up “looking like a boxer.” She added that the movie, set to premiere during the Spring Festival, is not necessarily about weight loss at all, but about learning to love yourself.
Within a single day, Jia Ling’s post received nearly 60,000 replies and over 855,000 likes.
Jia Ling’s post on Weibo.
The topic became top trending due to various reasons. It is because fans are excited to see Jia Ling back in the limelight and are anticipating the upcoming movie, but also because they are eager to see Jia Ling’s transformation.
From fans on Weibo: Jia Ling fanart and a meme from one of her well-known Spring Festival performances.
A short scene from the movie showed Jia Ling’s slimmer appearance, and a screenshot of it went viral, with Weibo users saying they hardly recognized Jia anymore.
One hashtag related to Jia Ling’s weight loss, about expert views on losing so much weight in such a relatively short time, received over 450 million on Weibo on Thursday (#医生谈贾玲整容式暴瘦#).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, medical experts quoted by Chinese media outlets caution against rapid weight loss methods, recommending a more gradual approach instead.
Nevertheless, there is great interest in the extreme diets of Chinese celebrities. As discussed in an earlier article about China’s celebrity weight craze, the weight loss journey of Chines actors or influencers often capture widespread attention as people are keen to adopt diet plans promoted by celebrities.
YOLO (热辣滚烫), which will hit Chinese theaters on February 10, tells the story of Le Ying (乐莹), who has withdrawn from social life and isolated herself at home ever since graduation. Trying to get her life back on track, Le Ying meets a boxing coach. The meeting proves to be just the beginning of a new journey in life filled with unforeseen challenges.
The Spring Festival holiday typically sees peak box office numbers in China, making this movie highly anticipated, particularly after the success of Hi, Mum three years ago. On Weibo, many view Jia Ling’s weight loss as a testament to her dedication and are eager to see the results of her year-long efforts in the cinema next month.
By Manya Koetse
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April 12, 2016 at 11:51 am
“y published two articles (article 1; article 2) criticising the new trends. They pointed out that such beauty standards are not just “unhealthy”, but also indicate that women are being objectified in a masculine society. The articles argue against homogeneous and male-dominated beauty standards.”
There’s no mention of masculine social dominance in these articles…. you just wasted my time reading them.