opinion
Whether Heroin Chic or Slim Thick
Figure types must not be a trend
Bella Hadid
© Victor VIRGILE / Getty Images
The New York Post headlined “Heroin chic is back” and the negative response is huge. Why it’s so dangerous to sell different body types as a trend.
Actually, everything started so beautifully with the Y2K trend. Choker necklaces, colorful eyeshadow and wide pants – 2022 evoked pure nostalgia for many… Oh, the good old days!
Trends that were controversial at the time, such as the ultra-short Miu Miu skirt, made a comeback, but with a new, much more body-inclusive approach – and were rightly celebrated for it. But, as is so often the case, the high flight is followed by a deep fall. What started as a fashion revival with a modern update seems to be tipping over, and I’m not the only one who criticizes that.
Bodies are bodies and not a trend phenomenon
Hardly any other model in the 90s and early 2000s shaped the so-called “heroin chic” like Kate Moss, 48. Protruding collarbones and hip bones as well as dark circles under her eyes were her trademarks. Instead of worrying about the top model’s state of health, she was admired for her look all over the world.And that’s not all – on the catwalks of the fashion capitals, the fashion labels literally competed to see who sent the thinnest models down the catwalk.
Nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels!
said Kate Moss in 2009; characteristic of this era.
The anorexia even went so far that in France, for example, a law was passed in 2015 that should prohibit hiring models that are too thin. Similar laws exist in Spain and Israel. Although laws are powerful, they didn’t herald the end of heroin chic, but rather brought celebrity women like Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé, Rihanna or the Kardashians onto the catwalks who pushed other body types to the fore.
Kim and Khloé Kardashian are getting thinner and thinner
We could all breathe a sigh of relief when women were finally allowed to have a butt, breasts or some belly fat again. At the beginning of her career, Kim Kardashian, 42, was criticized or ridiculed for her supposed “pressed sausage” looks, later she was celebrated for it and turned her signature look into gold with her “Skims” brand. And Rihanna has also encouraged many women with her body-inclusive underwear label “Savage x Fenty”. Because fashion should not only be made for people with sizes S to L.
But what happens when even women who have campaigned for a more diverse body image can no longer escape the pressure of body optimization? Kim Kardashian has lost a staggering amount in the past year, including up to 15 pounds in three weeks to fit into a Marilyn Monroe dress. And she’s not the only Kardashian sister to lose her famous curves. Khloé has also dropped a few pounds. Comparing pictures of the Kardashians from 2017 with current pictures makes the body transformation all the more obvious.
Khloé and Kim Kardashian have obviously lost weight in the past few years.
©Getty Images
Slim Thick, Ab Crack, Thigh Gap – why body optimization is so dangerous
Instead of learning from past experiences and simply letting the body be the body, supposedly “healthier” body shapes initially simply replaced heroin chic. Suddenly everyone wanted to be Slim Thick like the Kardashians: ultra-slim waist but sexy curves. But an ideal of beauty is and remains an ideal. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Slim Thick, Thigh Gap or whatever the unrealistic body trends are called; they make people feel the urge to change. New social media trends such as “#thatgirl”, in which influencers stage a supposedly perfect life in a highly aesthetic way, in which they fanatically push sports, health and nutrition to the extreme, leave me with the pale aftertaste that a life is not desirable without a green smoothie, a daily workout and a vegan diet.
Unrealistic body images and external pressure
Even important movements such as the body positivity movement, which campaigns for the abolition of unrealistic and discriminatory ideals of beauty, place the body at the center with their self-description. In my opinion, not everyone has to love their body or find it beautiful, but should try to accept it as it is. However, if a certain body shape is declared to be particularly beautiful or desirable, people will despair again and again that they cannot conform to it, and this in turn can fuel mental illnesses such as eating disorders or dysmorphophobia.
Noisy Federal Center for Health Eating disorders are still the psychiatric disorders with the highest mortality rate among adolescents. According to statistics from the Federal Center, 65 people died in Germany in 2019 as a result of their eating disorders (including anorexia, bulimia or binge eating).
In Paris, the models were suspiciously thin again in 2022.
©Getty Images
We have to make a mark
I myself had an eating disorder when I was 19 to 20 years old and can say from experience how much social norms shape and put me under pressure – to this day. We saw it on the catwalk in Paris; thin models are preferred again and stars like Bella Hadid, the Kardashians or Julia Fox are getting thinner and thinner. And for that very reason, I think it’s all the more our duty to confront it and say: “Figure types should not be a trend, no matter what form.”
Sources used: bzga-essstoerungen.de, instagram.com/jameelajamil/, nypost.com