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  • Essay / Essay on Gendered Bodies in the Fashion Industry

    For example, Liu Wen, a Chinese model, entered the list of “new supers” on the famous fashion website, models.com. “New Supers” lists models who are not just industry icons, but are also new legends in the contemporary fashion industry. The majority of popular Asian female models, such as Liu Wen, Feifei, Soo Joo Park, have baby faces as well as slim, flat bodies with no obvious secondary sexual characteristics. Their appearances are sexually coded with particular meanings. Their thin, flat bodies and baby faces make them look like tame teenage girls. So their innocent, submissive baby faces and slender bodies can fulfill men's sexual desires. In other words, their bodies are sexualized as objects of heterosexual men's desires. Compared to Asian female models, black female models tend to be sexy, confident, and mature because their curvy bodies with perky breasts and butts are also coded with these meanings. The sexy, confident and mature image of black female models would increase men's feelings of stress. This is one of the reasons why East Asian female models have become more popular than black female models in recent times.