What Size Do You Wear for Uniqlo Tees?

The children’s clothing section at Uniqlo in China has gained an unexpected new clientele: adult women.  

In the latest viral challenge to sweep Chinese social media, women pose for dressing-room selfies in children’s T-shirts from the Japanese fashion giant. The trend has ignited a heated debate about whether it promotes body shaming, with experts raising concerns that it reinforces the country’s unhealthy standards of beauty.

Published on March 18, 2021 in The New York Times, Yan Zhuang's 'Women Posing in Children’s Clothing? Fad Sparks Body-Shaming Concerns' raised many eyebrows. China has had so many viral internet challenges for being thin across the years. It's not even fitness. It's beyond dumb. 

The media in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, and even the fans are extremely critical of celebrities and how they look. That's how the entire fashion industry is driven. The western concept of beauty ain't that much different either. It's seriously superficial. It's like how people used to like three-inch bound (and smelly) feet on noblewomen, and how we marvel at our grandmothers' or great-grandmothers' 21-inch waist, evident in their heritage and heirloom tailored cheongsam, kebaya and such. 

But for many Asian women, it's not a fad or diet thing because many are petite. Sure, many aren't. And that's okay. People come in all sizes. Although big women in Asia needs to face a lot of nonsense from relatives who think it's in their right to tell you every year if you've grown fat or thin by their standards. There's no pleasing another older Asian woman who outranks you in terms of familial hierarchy. However, it isn't cool if it's body-shaming, and it leads to unhealthy body image and self-esteem issues as well as anorexia and bulimia. 

The thing that got me raising eyebrows is this, Brandy Melville's sizes. Wasn't there a store in Singapore at ION Orchard and then it closed? I don't know anything about this brand. So this is news to me. Madness. 95 pounds = 43 kg. I stand at 161cm / 5ft 2. I fluctuate between 45 to 48 kg. I have kept this weight range for about 13 years. I'm not doing this to be fashionable. I'm doing this so that I don't drop dead suddenly from clogged arteries, diabetes and high cholesterol. Without an exercise regime and an overdose of carbs, I flew up to 65 kg. That was seriously unhealthy. I couldn't even walk up an average flight of stairs without being out of breath. Now, I'm generally a size S for most brands, UK8 and US2/US4, depending on what it is. Oddly, I can be a L to XL for Asian brands. HAHAHAHA.  

The challenge has been labeled the latest iteration of “BM style,” a type of fashion recently popularized by the cult Italian brand Brandy Melville, which is youthful, casual and, above all, thin (its stores carry only one size: extra small).

Since the brand opened its first Chinese store in Shanghai in 2019, it has become an aspirational symbol for young women desperate to squeeze into its clothes. An unofficial sizing chart circulated on Weibo showed how much women at various heights would need to weigh to fit — a 5-foot-3 woman would need to weigh 95 pounds.

Brandy Melville did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Anyway. I still buy from Uniqlo since their casual wear is priced at a range I like. Yes, fast fashion, child labor, Xinjiang cotton and all that. I read those. I'm not buying more, but I'm not throwing out what already has been bought. For Uniqlo's standard tees, I wear a Uniqlo Size XL for kids. Or its occasional 160. I can't help it! I like my tees skimming, a little tight. It doesn't have to be snug. Uniqlo's women's size S can be still a tad loose; size XS isn't often available. Conversely, the man can never fit even an XXL for Uniqlo tees. Hahahah. They don't carry 3XL often for men either.

Anyway, may I point you to the insult of 'OlymPig'? That was made 'popular' by the Tokyo Olympics' ex creative chief Hiroshi Sasaki. Talented entertainer Naomi Watanabe responded to 'Olympig' with a formal statement and emphasized that she is comfortable with her body. She has magnanimously not attached any missiles to the man who uttered it and made fun of her. What grace.

As a celebrity, she said, it is true that people tell her that she “is big.” 

“I’ve been working with the full understanding that people poke fun at my appearance,” Watanabe said. “I am happy with my body. Being fat is not everything (about me), so I will continue to work as Naomi Watanabe, as always.” 

She mentioned, however, how she feels as an individual. 

“I sincerely hope the world becomes a fun and rich place where (people) respect and accept each other’s uniqueness and viewpoints.”