Back to Looking like a Barbie Doll Under Societal Norms

After a century of body positivement movement and a change in our societal standards for body looks, we are back to this fashion style of looking “skinny”. While everyone has their definition of what skinny means, we all can agree it means looking small with barely any stretch marks, cellulite, or jiggly body parts. The fashion industry has always focused on designing products for smaller sizes; ones that will flatter and look the best on the skinniest people. Unfortunately, this pattern in the fashion industry is back at it with the help of social media. Both celebrities and influencers are supporting this cycle of fashion labels by doing anything to look skinny and wear these products that only fit this particular body part. We all know society gets influenced by these people and will never stop completely from it.

One particular celebrity, Kim Kardashian, is a perfect example of how fame and social media can influence our society in wanting to become “skinny”. Kim lost around 15 pounds in 6 weeks to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s dress for the Met Gala this year. She opened up to the public about cutting sugar, carbs, and alcohol while working out a couple of times a day. This extreme diet is not only healthy but inhumane. Kim was starving herself to fit into a skinny dress that represented luxury, fame, trend, and popularity. While Kim’s process of looking like this was talked about almost as if it was a good thing, it also negatively affected many women today.

Many women today already face body dysmorphia and struggle with body disorders, they don’t need someone like Kim Kardashian to increase their anxiety over their bodies even more. So many women struggle with accepting their natural bodies. It often leads them to starve themselves, make themselves throw up, or become depressed. Women want to feel good enough physically to feel confident in their clothes. They want to look sexy and feel good about themselves no matter what they wear. Most fashion labels' products are designed to make you feel confident when only looking skinny. But who are they to decide who can wear their product? Or is that something we must accept as a society once and for all? Most of these women with average-looking bodies don’t even fit into the mini skirts, tight skinny jeans, or crop tops that are trendy and in style today. Some might try to get the biggest size and fit in but at the end of the day, they aren’t fully satisfied with how it looks on them.

A good example of fashion labels not making products for all sizes that are trendy would be designer Miu Miu. Their infamous “mini skirt” does not fit everyone, especially the average and bigger women. American model Polama Elsasser had to get a custom skirt from the brand to fit in the trendy skirt. My first question is how can Polama accept this nor support a skirt that doesn’t wasn’t even designed to fit her body shape and size? This is another example of celebrities and influencers supporting this cycle of fashion labels. While Kim starved herself to fit into the stylish dress, Polama used her advantage of fame to get a custom-made skirt created for her. The more affluent people in our society continue to support this behavior in the fashion industry, the more society as a whole will struggle to fix this issue once and for all.

Sources

Cortés, Michelle Santiago. “Could Thin Be in Again?” The Cut, The Cut, 27 Oct. 2022, https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/internet-thin-culture-is-back.html.

Gladwell, Hattie. “What It's like to Live with Body Dysmorphia.” Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan, 10 Sept. 2018, https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/a22886284/body-dysmorphia-symptoms-meaning-how-it-feels/.