Meet Yanet founder Daisy Royle, the designer trying to challenge the “generational curse of body shaming”

From rifts with her mum to Fashion Week with Dolce and Gabbana, the London College of Fashion design student and entrepreneur has been ruminating about plus-size and curve representation since secondary school.

“I said if she says 12 negative comments about her body this year, then she’s going to be uninvited from my graduation.” Daisy Royle is considering cancelling her own mum from her graduation ceremony because she feels so strongly about plus size and curve representation. That’s not to say that her mum isn’t an important person in her life. She’s so important that Daisy named her brand after her.

Royle designs primarily maxi length dresses, experimenting with various silhouettes to complement the female curve and uses a new sizing system of measurements she has personally taken from women aged 16-54 and sizes UK 6-24, as she was unsatisfied with the accuracy of the current sizing system.

Though born in Lancashire, UK, Daisy Royle has a rich Spanish heritage, a heritage which inspired the creation of her brand and brand name, Yanet. The fashion brand aims to rectify the lack of curve clothing and curve bodies on the runway. The name is an ode to her mother and her mother’s childhood, growing up in the Canaries. “Yanet is my mum's nickname in the Canaries. So, whenever we go over there, everyone calls her Yanet.”

But why does Daisy have such an infinity with her mother’s nickname? – a moniker that on the surface didn’t have any immediate connection with messages of body positivity and representation. A collection of anecdotes given by Royle gave me my explanation.

Royle said: “I remember when I was in high school, I asked my mum to put some moisturizer on my back and she could see the stretch marks obviously on the top of my bum. She was like, Daisy, oh my god, you're getting stretch marks. I'm so sorry! I didn't know about this. I'll get you some Bio Oil.”

Daisy’s mother grew up partly in the Canaries as a dancer, a career where physique traditionally is monitored. Royle reflected on how being a dancer in a country that was “more liberal with their bodies” during 1980/90s was likely damaging to her mum’s perception of herself – an explanation for her mother’s reaction to seeing Daisy’s stretch marks.

She adds how messages of body positivity on social media made her feel as though she could relate to others, saying: “I remember asking my friendship group in high school, ‘does anyone else have stretch marks?’ and they said no, but I was seeing online, ‘love your stretch marks.”

Her mother’s rigid comments surrounding body image are a stark contrast to Daisy’s journey of self-acceptance. Royle says that “Naming the brand Yanet was like a love letter to her, and that's what it's rooted in, proving to her that you can love the change that comes with your body.” This tribute to her mother is not only a reflection of Daisy’s care for plus and curve representation in fashion today, but her efforts to try and break the negative discourse around size and appearance, a discourse which she feels trickles through generations.

When she started her degree, Daisy knew she wanted to create clothes that fit her. “I was just like, I want to make clothes that fit me, so I'm going to design clothes that fit me. Then I realised, oh, this is what I would be classified as [curve clothing size]”.

As a both a designer and budding entrepreneur with her brand Yanet, Daisy opted for the E-DIPS Enterprise Diploma – a diploma in between her second and third year focusing on the business side of fashion design, with a placement. “I knew I wanted my brand in the UK, in London, let me make connections here”, said Royle

She interned at Karoline Vitto, a well-known size-inclusive womenswear brand. Imagine, walking into your first major placement a seeing pictures and plans to be showing at Milan Fashion Week. Well, that’s what Daisy was greeted with. “I went in, there was pictures of like, Dolce Gabbana shoes and sunglasses on the wall […] We were doing Milan Fashion week S/S 24, supported by Dolce and Gabbana.” Might I add, the first full curve show in Milan Fashion Week.

Reflecting on the show, in which she got to dress models, such as Ashley Graham, Royle said: “I will always remember the energy of the show and how, all the models were so ecstatic because they were finally working with each other. It was just amazing.”

Daisy’s enthusiasm for what she does is evident, from her devotion to catering for the curve market to her burning desire to alter her mum’s outlook on body image. It remains to be seen whether daisy allows her mother to attend her graduation. She has set a standard for her mum to adhere to, a healthy standard, one where you embrace your body and its changes, not reject them. “For some reason you grow up with or you're under the impression that if these clothes don't fit you, or a piece of clothing that you loved now doesn't fit you anymore, because your body's changed, that's your fault. Bodies change.”