Badass Young Women’s Passion Projects
-Plus-size model Kim Ji-yang
|
By
Kang Ye-won
Published
Oct. 11, 2017
Translated
by Marilyn Hook
※ Editor’s note:
This series publishes interviews with millennial women who devote their youth
and passion to start projects that improve equality in society.
If you do a
Google search for Kim Yi-yang, you’ll see various photos of her as a plus-size
model, articles from 66100[1], her
magazine for plus-size people, and interviews with her about appearance and
body image, accompanied by photos.
In the eight
years since she began energetically advocating for plus-size fashion in South
Korea, it’s not just her style and weight that have changed, but also her
personal life, in ways including her wedding last year. But the woman that
appears on the search results page appears not to have changed at all.
 |
| Kim Ji-yang, creator of 66100, a plus-size fashion magazine. © Kim Ji-yang |
Modeling, editing, and much more… “I’m a
control freak”
For our
interview, I met Kim Ji-Yang in the studio from which she runs her online store.
Wearing no make-up, she looked a bit tired and pale. When I asked what had
changed the most about her between her debut as a plus-size model at age 24 and
her current situation as the owner of a plus-size fashion magazine and an
online store, she said smoothly that she had gained composure.
“I used to get
excited when a project went well even a little bit, or sad if it went a little
poorly, and that was hard. Now I take it all in stride. When something sad
happens, I tend to just think, ‘Okay, things will probably go better next time.’”
Most recently, Ms.
Yang became a cohost of the OnStyle channel show Body Actually, where her slogan is “Be confident!”, and says “the
reaction has been five time more positive” than she expected. Body Actually is a reality program that
boldly shows and discusses women’s health issues in ways ranging from the hosts
trying a new form of sex ed by asking people on the street to draw a clitoris,
to reporting on using menstrual cups or visiting an OB/GYN because of a yeast
infection.
Ms. Yang has the
calm tone and attitude that come from confidence, but the initiative she has
begun and the reaction of the public and her readers to it is like a small wave
that, positive or negative, inexorably returns as a big wave.
 |
| Ms. Yang when she applied to be a plus-size model for American Apparel. © Kim Ji-yang |
After debuting
as a plus-size model at Full Figured Fashion Week in Los Angeles, her domestic
debut as a model and the editor of 66100
was “a refreshing shock” to Korean people. As the concept of a plus-size model
was largely unfamiliar to Koreans, her skill at self-branding as an
approachable-but-cool older sister while chipping away at prejudices about
plus-sized people played a big part in her success in those early days.
She’s also a
workaholic - or in her words, a “control freak” – who has been putting out the
magazine every three months (unusually often for an independent magazine) and
organizing branding events non-stop. She says, “I’ve never gotten to bed before
sunrise in the weeks before we turn the magazine in for printing.”
She has to
multitask in order to not just act as the magazine’s editor and the cover model
for most of its issues, but also plan and direct photo shoots for the inside,
write and edit articles, and oversee printing. Additionally, she plans and runs
fun and meaningful events that grow 66100
beyond a magazine into a brand for plus-size issues. Here are some
examples:
※ Film Party: This
is an annual party, co-hosted by Dadareum [“everyone’s different”] Network, in
which the guests take in a meaningful movie together.
※ “Big and
Beautiful” calendar: Last year, she collaborated with illustrators to create,
exhibit, and sell a calendar with a plus-size theme.
※ Innocent Pleasure:
Named to be the opposite of a guilty pleasure, this gourmet club’s goal is to
enjoy eating good food.
※ Do-It-Yourself
Makeover: A four-week series of classes for people who have low self-esteem or
want to change up their style. Participants go through a process of self-led
change that involves finding out what they really like, shopping for clothes
that match their style, receiving make-up and style tips, and, finally, doing a
profile picture photo shoot.
※ Symposium for the
Photo-phobic: A seminar or workshop for people who dislike having their picture
taken. It is so popular that it has been held several times.
Most recently, at
“My Appearance? What of It!”, an event put on by the Korean Women’s
Environmental Network, Ms. Kim participated in a performance that criticized clothing
brands’ limited sizes and unrealistically-proportioned mannequins.
The hardest part is “anti-fans”
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| Ms. Yang modeling for 66100. © 66100 |
After producing
this wonderful magazine on a quarterly basis for two years and then taking a
break, she is now preparing the next issue. The biggest reason for the break
was financial. The social enterprise grant that she received in 2015 was not given
again in 2016, and modeling in photo shoots for other magazines was not
bringing in a steady enough income, so she made the difficult decision to
suspend production.
The people who
had worked on the magazine with her are now employed elsewhere, while Ms. Yang
has moved her operations to an office in the inexpensive Dongmyo area and is
focusing on running the online store. In recognition of the fact that most
plus-size clothing is available exclusively online, she also operates a studio
where customers can try on clothes, have their sizing measurements taken, and receive
styling and posture correction services.
I asked her if
there is any one thing she would like to focus on if money weren’t an issue.
“Would I be
happy just modeling, or just editing the magazine? I don’t think so. These jobs
are all intricately connected. For example, I can’t do modeling work without
thinking about the message [of the photos], I can’t be the editor without
talking about fashion items, and I can’t be the president without talking about
the magazine’s contents.”
She really does
seem to be a “control freak” who needs to directly manage every part of the
process.
Of course, running
the online store alone also requires difficult multitasking. First, she goes to
Dongdaemun every morning to buy the clothing that has been ordered. Then,
there’s shipping, answering customer inquiries, serving visiting customers –
and when a new line of clothing comes in, even photographing and modeling.
But what is
harder than playing several different roles is dealing with “anti-fans”. She
says that the most difficult stress to bear is being asked whether she doesn’t
do things like modeling and publishing the “self-promoting” magazine to satisfy
her own selfish interests. She also says that it took time for her to
acknowledge that the work that she likes to do and the work that she does to
make a living may be different.
Meeting
customers who come in to try on clothes helps – maybe even more than it helps
them.
“People cry when
they come in [to my store] to buy clothes. They’ve had a lot of hurtful and
unfair experiences.”
Even though
they’re customers who’ve come in to spend money, they’ve often been subjected
to insulting remarks like “we don’t have anything that would fit you”, “you
want to buy this for yourself?”, and (when asked if an item can be tried on) “don’t
stretch it out”.
But verbal abuse
is even worse when it comes from family, friends, or acquaintances, instead of
these strangers.
“‘When are you
going to lose weight?’ ‘That’s why you don’t have a boyfriend/girlfriend…’ When
a person hears these kinds of remarks every day, they start to feel like
everyone believes that if a person’s appearance doesn’t meet society’s criteria,
it’s okay to treat them inhumanely. So they feel relieved to meet someone who
says that that kind of thing is wrong.”
She says that
feeling like, ‘I sell clothing, but it has a greater meaning to these people,’
has been healing to her as well.
 |
A photo published in the
fashion magazine Vogue. © Vogue Korea
Violent gazes are also a serious problem
At her lecture
at the eco-conference “My Appearance? What of It!”, put on by the Korean
Women’s Environmental Network on June 3rd of last year, Ms.
Yang spoke about violent gazes:
“When they’re
speaking, people’s facial expressions say, ‘Goodness, how much does she weigh?’
or, ‘I’m still okay, I’m smaller than her.’ It’s difficult to fight against
violent gazes. It is only when they turn into verbal abuse that we are allowed
to object to them. But I think we need to be more sensitive to violent gazes.”
Another widespread
problem that fat people face is being treated as if they don’t take good care
of themselves. This harmful social prejudice has been internalized – though to
different degrees - by everyone, including fat people themselves.
When Ms. Yang
found herself gaining weight, she would look in the mirror and think, ‘Am I
just lazy?’ or, ‘Do I not love myself?’ But she realized that the problem was
not her appearance, but that way of thinking.
We need more plus-size role models
The next issue
of 66100 will have “I feel good” as
its theme. It used to be difficult to find interview subject willing to openly
share their stories, but when Ms. Yang participated in the feminist festival FeMeet
in May of this year, she found people practically lining up to speak to her.
"Before,
people thought they had a problem and so had to lose weight, and no one had
high self-esteem. Now, there are a lot of people who say, 'I'm trying to love
myself, though my self-esteem is not high yet.'"
But she still
hears people using a double standard, saying things like, “Wow, that plus-size
model looks great. But I don’t like it when people I know are fat.”
Ms. Yang says
that many positive incidents and role models are needed for open-mindedness
about plus-size people to spread to society as a whole. For example, it’s
likely that attitudes will change as more role models like highly successful
plus-size models and entertainers (“Lee Guk-ju is a good example”) appear - but
nothing will happen if people stand by and wait, assuming that someone else
will step forward. That’s why Ms. Yang works “constantly” without resting.
“My motives are
the same as they were before, but I think that, before, I wasn’t sure who I was
helping. Now I think I’m starting to see.”
About the
Author: Kang Ye-won lives in Seoul. She used to work as a reporter for a
foreign news agency, and is now the editor of PLATOON, a magazine about underground art culture.
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