Real-life mermaid sells custom-made tails online

Pan Gaojie, 22, is a professional model. She is 1.7 meters tall, and has flowing dark straight hair, slim but with womanly curves, swarthy skin and deeply mysterious eyes.

Pan Gaojie said says she always dreamed of becoming a mermaid after growing up with films like The Little Mermaid and Splash.

Last summer, she was hired by a company to dress like a mermaid and perform in water. "It was amazing," Pan said, adding that she loved the feeling of freedom and weightlessness in water.

Pan disliked the costume provided by the host. Therefore she ordered a custom-made tail from her tailor friend in Yunnan, which cost her 2,500 yuan before the performance.

In order to pursue her dream of becoming a mermaid, she began to make mermaid dresses by herself. Later, Pan opened an online shop named “Empire of Atlantis”, selling custom-made tails at a price from 1,800 yuan to 4,000 yuan.

A dancer from the UK once ordered a mermaid costume from her online shop, said Pan. "He is very satisfied with 'my tail'."

Pan said that she sold custom-made mermaid dress not for making money. "I did it for fun. The money I made from modeling is much more than selling a mermaid dress," Pan said. She would like to keep on perusing her dream of mermaids.