Body Incoherence

12 Nov 2022
By Pureza Fleming

Fashion is cyclical and so is everything it inevitably entails. No wonder, then, that the eternal battle over body weight continues to condition the industry in an almost schizophrenic way. Twenty years is a long time, and all the sizes in the world can fit in them. Is the skinny bitch back? Everything points to a positive answer.

Fashion is cyclical and so is everything it inevitably entails. No wonder, then, that the eternal battle over body weight continues to condition the industry in an almost schizophrenic way. Twenty years is a long time, and all the sizes in the world can fit in them. Is the skinny bitch back? Everything points to a positive answer.

In its March 2022 issue, The Body Issue, Vogue Portugal published a text that, in a way, glorified all body types. "All bodies are beautiful. And all really means all," suggested the title. The article revolved around a trend that, fortunately, had been in vogue for a few years: voluptuous bodies that conquered magazine covers, fashion and beauty campaigns, or runways, leaving aside the usual thin body. That "new" type of body, said to be "non-skinny", became in, and with it a legion of people happy to finally feel their bodies vibrating at the same frequency as Fashion. It was a long journey to put an end to the thinness trend (extreme or not), the same one that has almost always dominated the fashion industry. After Kate Moss, in the early '90s, appeared with her (natural) thinness, together with her rebelliousness, ready to rattle the standards of the time - simultaneously and with a personality so out of the box that it was impossible for the Fashion world not to fall head over heals - the "performed body" ideal was never the same again. Let's remember that not long before Miss Moss burst into the industry, the world had its eyes set on the clan of top models who dominated the catwalks. From Naomi Campbell to Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford to the chameleonic Linda Evangelista, they all had enviable, almost athletic bodies and a kind of (natural) beauty that is rarely seen today. They were bodies to be envied, yes, but they were still thin bodies - or they were far from the voluptuous bodies that would later appear on the covers of the most acclaimed fashion magazines. Moss-mania was intense, and from the 90s to the early 2000s thinness was never too much, and everything revolved around it. However, also as a result of some serious cases of anorexia made public at that time, extreme thinness began to be the subject of debate.

In 1997, a group of designers, including Stella McCartney and John Galliano, united to condemn the growing phenomenon of heroin chic style, by stating, "We disapprove of the fact that the Fashion industry glamorizes substance use." Even though today the tendency is to think of the heroin chic model as someone underweight, young, worryingly fragile, and even a bit dirty, at the time the term was linked to a widespread sense of moral panic at the fascination with drugs. It was so considered serious that even the then-President of the United States, Bill Clinton, proclaimed, "You don't have to glamorize drugs to sell clothes." So many campaigns against thinness were, albeit slowly, having an effect. Between one trend and another - from extreme thinness to XXL sizes -, God created Gisele Bündchen. The Brazilian dethroned the heroin chic style, demonstrating that the healthy look could also be very fashionable. One of the issues that got somewhat lost in the middle of the anti-slim narrative is that both the 90's supers and the Brazilian who became one of the highest-paid models ever, may not have been skinny, but they were thin. They were always thin, even if they were naturally thin. In other words: they were never fat, "chubby", or "curvy" - not like the curves that society has made a point of celebrating. From the Dove advertising campaigns, the cosmetic brand that exposed women "with curves" always under the motto of "redefining beauty standards", in 2004; to the appearance of the Kardashian sisters with their super curves and a body type that broke all beliefs of what would be considered a magazine body. As in everything related to trends, it seems that this ode to curvy bodies would also turn out to be short-lived.Is Kim Ok?" The question tops an article in The Sun newspaper, but the truth is that there are countless media outlets that, over the past few months, have questioned the state of health - mental, physical, or emotional - of Kim Kardashian. All because the American businesswoman is scandalously thinner than she has ever been. The same text reads, "Kardashian fans fear Kim is 'too thin' and looks 'smaller' than sister Kendall Jenner." It goes on to say, "Kim's butt is the same size as Kendall's, which is unusual considering Kim is known for her big butt." Kim, who reportedly revealed that she sprayed her food with Windex (a glass cleaner) to control her food cravings, is slimming down day by day, leaving her fans worried. In May of this year, the reality show star revealed that she had dipped into a superdiet to fit into the dress she would eventually wear to the Met Gala - a piece originally worn by Marilyn Monroe. Kardashian, who is currently 42, ended up losing 16 pounds to get into that dress, which she wore for just a few minutes. The criticism did not wait. "If I was starving I would say, of course; that would not be a good message to give," she clarified in an interview with Allure magazine. "But I had a nutritionist, I had a trainer. I never drank so much water in my whole life." He finished, "I don't see this kind of criticism being directed at other people, for example when they are forced to lose weight to play a role - they are [considered] geniuses by their craft." The Sun revealed that Kim's family was concerned that Kim was losing a lot of weight: "She's never been thinner and she barely sleeps," a source revealed to the publication. The concern with some thinness extended, also, to another member of the clan: Khloé Kardashian, who began to show signs of weight loss after the scandal of the paternity of Tristan Thompson. All over the Internet, suspicions are growing that Khloé, like Kim, may have removed the implants that she allegedly put in her buttocks - and that made her world famous. On TikTok, videos are multiplying of users who fear that this decision could have a direct (negative) impact on teenage girls who follow the daily life of the Kardashians - and who do not usually hesitate to follow the "trends" that the American family launches.

If it was the Kardashian clan that gave the first signs that thinness would dictate the trends again, Fashion didn't take long to confirm it. The first suspicions started to be noticed with certain pieces seen on the runways. Remember the tiny Miu Miu skirt that went viral in the blink of an eye and that we saw worn by Nicole Kidman, Zendaya, Hailey Bieber, Bella Hadid, or Emily Ratajkowski? It is an elaborate design to draw attention to the legs and the belly. As S Moda magazine pointed out in a text about the topic: "There is no need for legs and belly to look specific, but it is remarkable that for many celebrities, models and experts in the field, this has become a desirable garment to frame their toned and slim bodies." According to data from the Tag Walk platform for the spring/summer 2023 season, 90 brands included models in sizes larger than 36 compared to the 62 that did so last season. Still, the general feeling after the months of runway shows is that almost extreme thinness has taken over the runways again, especially considering that, according to data from the same platform, 92% of the brands that showed miniskirts and 62% very low-waisted pants. The Y2K aesthetic, which references the early 2000s, has set the industry back several steps in terms of body diversity. Note that precisely twenty years ago the world was living with its eyes on style icons like Misha Barton, Nicole Ritchie, or the Olsen sisters, who at the time were struggling with eating disorders. It's not that the Y2K style is designed for very thin women, it's that Fashion prefers to reveal itself in these bodies, and prefers to ignore the body diversity movement that, at a cost, has gained a presence in the medium. In other words, ignore reality. "The fact that more brands include models of different sizes in their runway shows does not make the runways more diverse: mainly because- those models are usually two, Paloma Elsesser and Jill Kortleve, who have become ubiquitous, but whose fame is already the only criteria by which they are now chosen to parade," S Moda further reads. "'Sometimes I'm the only one with my body type in a runway show and they have to design the model specifically for my size, but I know that many girls will finally feel represented and that in the medium term they will make clothes in our size. But it stresses me because it is inconsistent to be sometimes surrounded by younger, thinner models,'" said Elsesser in an interview with the Spanish publication. The data provided by another study, this time conducted by the British edition of Glamour, about what happened in the last show season says it all: in New York, only 49 out of 4,400 models who participated had sizes larger than 36; in London, 45 out of 4,000; in Milan, 15 out of 2,400, and in Paris, 33 out of 3,200, 20 of which were on the show of Belgian designer Ester Manas. At the Dolce & Gabbana show, there were different sizes, but expectations were focused on the Italian Maison's collaboration with Kim Kardashian, who walked up the catwalk visibly thinner, validating all suspicions.The problem with thinness is when it is not natural. Because society (and sometimes Fashion too), has never understood that there are people who are thin by nature. "What people don't understand is that calling someone too thin is the same as calling someone too fat; it's not a nice feeling," commented Kendall Jenner, the "naturally thin" sister of the Kardashian clan. Healthy thinness is possible, but it implies that it be treated with health above all else. And that is not what the world is selling. Recently news came out that a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes was also used to lose weight. Nicknamed Semaglutide, this "is being used to lose weight because, despite not having been researched for that purpose, it was found that can delay the emptying of the stomach, reducing appetite and increasing and prolonging the feeling of satiety," reads the Público. In Portugal, a package costs about 120 euros but, as the drug is subsidized by 90% for diabetes, it ends up costing just over 12 euros with a prescription and is being abundantly prescribed off-label (with a purpose other than that for which it was studied), causing the expenditure of the National Health Service (NHS) and causing shortages in pharmacies, even for diabetics. Strange way to lose weight. In the end, all this back and forth of thinness versus fatness versus thinness again that has been dictating the rules shows us that there is not a genuine health concern. The trends come and go, and there is only one goal attached to them: to sell. To sell more and more, regardless of whether it is beneficial or not.

 

Translated from the original on The 20th anniversary issue, published November 2022.Full story and credits in the print version.

Pureza Fleming By Pureza Fleming

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