Meet Scarlett Hao, PR agency founder and street-style aficionado. Read on to learn why she made it her mission to show the world that not all women fit the same mold.
I was born and raised in China, but I moved to Germany with my parents when I was five and a half. I stayed there for almost three years, then moved back to China, then back to Germany for another year, then back to China again. I moved to the US for my senior year of high school as an exchange student. After that, I decided to apply to college here and ended up in Seattle. I moved to LA for work, then finally moved to New York two years ago for graduate school.
Building a Following
After I graduated, I started my own agency because I love PR—it’s what I studied in college. I started a club when I was in college and was a part-time volunteer for a fashion magazine before landing my job at a big agency in LA. Then, in grad school, I focused on influencers and blogging. When I was at the agency, I wasn’t taken very seriously, but the two years of grad school gave me the luxury to grow and figure out my direction. Even though I came from a traditional PR background, I really enjoy all the new things going on with influencer marketing.
When I worked for the fashion industry, I got the opportunity to go to fashion events. I’ve had a sense of style since I was young, so I loved dressing up and started sharing photos from the events. From there, I built a little following, like a couple thousand people. And I was like, “Oh, okay, this is fun.” Lots of people commented asking if I was a blogger, because, back in the day, I worked with bloggers. I was like, “Maybe I should take it more seriously.” I started posting more regularly and more often. It was just a hobby back then. The first time I went to Fashion Week was in 2015. It just came out of nowhere—I wanted to check it out and it started this new dream.
In the beginning, I wasn’t trying to label myself or categorize myself. The goal was to have no label, no category. You’re just a blogger—you shouldn’t have to label yourself by size. But, before we can achieve that, you have to label yourself. Because when you label yourself, the more people who are in your category and interested in this topic start paying attention. You have to find your niche, find your market. Lots of people, they didn’t really think about plus-size fashion before, but after they saw my posts and my vision, the wanted to get to know the industry. That’s what we can try to do for now to make that great, size-inclusive future come sooner.
Red is my color. It’s my name.
Personal Style
Both my parents are not in this industry—they’re scientists. Not very stylish people. But my mom is very supportive of any hobby I have. I love to draw, and even when I was younger, I loved to read all the magazines. That definitely started my whole journey, because I was reading magazines since I was 10 or 13. All the fashion magazines, including Vogue. It helped me to have the vision that I needed to dress up seriously, the perspective of how I should present myself. And, definitely, some designers influenced me a lot. My favorite was Vivienne Westwood. She is very rock and roll, colorful, and unconventional. I think I also have a sense for color, so that’s something I feel helped me a lot. You can see in my photos that I’m very colorful, and not afraid to mix up colors.
Red is my color. It’s my name. V-necks are definitely my favorite, and I feel very confident in wrap dresses. I like a slit on the leg and showing a little bit of skin. It doesn’t matter what size you are—it’s always sexy, cute, and feminine. I try to follow the trends, but not always. Knowing your body helps you know what style works better for you. Then you can always try to find the same styles in different patterns, or find other styles in the color you love. I know red always looks good on me, so I try to find red in different shapes and shades. Find one thing that will specifically work for you and go outside the box from there.
I want to show people there’s diversity in the Asian community. We’re different. We’re unique. We have voices.
Shattering Stereotypes
I went to a show at Fashion Week, and even though I have great style, nobody was taking photos of me. And lots of girls who were skinnier, or wearing basic clothing, were getting their photos taken. I was like, “Okay, interesting.” That’s the first time I realized that maybe it’s because of my body type that they didn’t really notice me, even if they like my style. They know the editor might not pick it. Finally, this photographer stopped me and we had a little shoot. He asked, “Oh, where are you from?” I said, “I’m Chinese.” He said, “There’s no way you’re Asian. You’re curvy.” In my culture, they don’t really understand what “plus size” and “curvy” mean. I did my research and started to understand better. And I found that there are rarely Asian faces representing this industry. I wanted people to notice us—that’s when I started building my brand. And that’s also the time my followers grew way faster, after I found my niche. It was quite slow before I started labeling and categorizing myself. I feel like more opportunities are coming, and my vision and message are becoming clearer and stronger than before.
As Asians, we don’t all look the same. Asian people are thought to be very skinny and shy. Our culture has a two-way problem. The west doesn’t really try to see us as more than that. But, also, we promote ourselves that way. Like with celebrities, we see Asian faces, but we don’t necessarily hear their voices. Because in our traditional culture, with females, the less you speak, the more elegant you are. That’s the culture. I want to show people there’s diversity in the Asian community. We’re different. We’re unique. We have voices.
Social media is amazing because there’s this culture of new ideas being brought up.
Media Representation
Before social media, there was no opportunity or tool to let everyone’s words be heard. Voices were selected by media first. Social media is amazing because there’s this culture of new ideas being brought up. And I feel like we still have a long way to go to make people really listen and believe in the ideas—not just see them as trends or money-making opportunities. I hate people saying, “Oh, it’s so trendy, let’s do that.” No, you have to understand why it’s trendy. There’s a reason it became trendy. But there’s definitely money there, there’s opportunity. I don’t want to avoid saying that.
We all have the research that shows the percentage of women who wear bigger sizes is larger than what the market offers. There are opportunities, there are markets, so why not encourage people to shop? And for brands, I always say that you have to serve your customer. I hate girls saying, “I’m going to lose 10 pounds because they don’t make my size.” No, if they know you exist, they should make the effort to make a dress for you and earn your money.
Love Scarlett’s “Worship Me” tee, designed by body-positive rapper and singer Lizzo? Buy yours today and support the plus-size fashion education of student designers!
