Xiao Yang, a Chinese influencer and product based mostly in Chengdu, has been sporting a prosthetic leg for just about 20 yrs. Although she claims it’s now incredibly a lot a section of her overall body, Yang’s prosthesis has brought about her to have a challenging relationship with manner and dressing up. “In superior university, when I was extremely eager to dress up, I considered that the prosthetic limbs affected my exterior natural beauty,” she tells Vogue. “Wearing a prosthesis also prompted one side of my buttocks to be deformed. I [still] really feel unsafe if I wear tight trousers or tops that are shorter than the buttocks—like [I’m] staying exposed. I wore T-shirts and straight trousers for a extended time.”
A short while ago, nonetheless, Yang began experimenting more with her manner choices and significantly observed herself seeking her prosthetic to reflect her modern, modern day design and style (she has a closet whole of awesome graphic tees and statement blazers, by the way). Lower to before this year in Chengdu, when she satisfied Xiaoyu Zhang and Min Li—the two designers guiding the Chinese jewellery model YVMIN—and the 3 of them came up with an concept: What if we address prosthetics like wearable artwork?
“We imagine it is only purely natural to embellish any portion of our entire body, prosthetic as nicely,” suggests Zhang. Yang was promptly on board with the principle, which involved turning her prosthetic limb into a bold assertion accessory of types. “This job tells every person that donning a prosthesis is a simple fact that are unable to be changed—but sporting a prosthesis that appears to be like attractive is also achievable,” Yang says. “This feeling is super awesome there will undoubtedly be much more people who need to have to practical experience it.” The consequence? 3 various decorative shells that can be worn in excess of Yang’s prosthetic leg, with sweet information like a heart-shaped “knee cap.”
Typically, YVMIN produces delicate, feminine jewellery, this sort of as bowed earrings and heart-formed pendant necklaces. But the layout duo noticed an chance to problem them selves by operating with Yang to generate a little something completely new. “When we noticed Xiao sharing her OOTD images on social media with her powerful particular fashion, we imagined it would be a fantastic chance,” states Zhang. “We resolved to only make the shell for the prosthesis, which avoids numerous specialized challenges, and can also make lots of parts at the same time for Xiao to dress in on diverse instances,” says Zhang.