Metal Skin as Sartorial Design: Styling the Prosthetic Body on Social Media

This paper examines an underexplored area in fashion scholarship by focusing on how prosthetic limbs are esthetically integrated as forms of identity expression and cultural authorship. Using visual and discourse analysis of content from the Chinese social media platform RedNote (Xiaohongshu), the study explores how disabled influencers style and incorporate prosthetic limbs into fashion practices and online self-presentation within digital visual culture. Drawing from the affirmative model of disability and fashion theory, the paper uses Fashioning Affirmative Embodiment as a conceptual lens that synthesizes existing frameworks to analyze prosthetic customization as aesthetic agency, subcultural participation, and resistance to ableist norms. While the findings are not intended to generalize across disabled populations, this study offers a situated analysis of visual practices that challenge and broaden the global scope of fashion and disability studies. The findings point to the development of a visual language in which prosthetic limbs are styled in relation to trend-driven and genre-based esthetics. In these practices, assistive technologies become associated with narrative meaning and stylistic experimentation. By focusing on the Chinese digital context, the study contributes to existing discussions in disability and fashion studies by situating embodiment, belonging, and self-expression beyond predominantly Western frameworks.