Fashion Conscious
Words By Anna Mac
When I was younger, I remember a gym rat pal of mine asking me how did I get so bottom heavy.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“You’ve got such big thighs.”
Such big thighs. Any “big” part of your body during the 2010s was not what you wanted to hear, (thank you, size focused media) especially as a teenager going through adolescence. Being “bottom heavy” was not fashionable, attractive or desirable at the time. However, in the past two years, my teenage body couldn’t have been more on trend. That’s right, I was now THICC.
American Vogue’s January 2021 issue features Paloma Elsesser, an American - Swedish British born plus sized model, as one of their cover stars. At Versace SS21 fashion show, heads were turned and taboos were broken when three plus sized models - Jill Kortleve, Alva Claire and Precious Lee - walked the runway. A monumental moment for a fashion power house to display (at long last) a variety of bodies - both slim and plus sized, all as beautiful as each other, in garments made to size with love and care no matter what number the label says.
Body shapes and types have been a trend since way back when. Great lords and women who were overweight in the 14th century were deemed as important as being on the chubby side was a sign of wealth and societal significance. More recently, in the 90s heroin chic, as we all know, was the look; a look that was inspired by drug culture, being extremely thin and dark circles surrounding your eyes.
Over the past two decades, the body trend has changed. For the feminine body, curves are where it’s at - but the right kind of curves. For men, being “built”, thanks to the rise in gym goers, protein shakes and Instagram, is what’s hot right now. When you think about it, doesn’t it seem a little crazy that bodies can be a trend? I mean we all have one, different shapes and sizes, but isn’t that what we all have in common with one another? Bodies of all types should and need to be celebrated.
Did you know in Ancient Greece that having a small penis was desirable, thus being the reason that statues replicating bodies from this time tend to have smaller genitals? Or that pale skin was deemed as attractive as having a tan meant working outside and being a part of the working class? Another example is people in Asia using skin whitening products to make them look paler, mimicking the caucasians of the Western world. These common practices are mere examples of thousands to change to the way we look, or to fit in with what is sought after among popular culture, and are still happening everyday around the world.
Being plus sized has been shamed for many decades (wrongfully so, obviously), and fashion and the media are slowly starting to make their way into, let’s say it together, acceptance. Acceptance of the way each other look, respect for one another’s body types and lifestyles, for people of all shapes and sizes - shout out to Sinead Burke, the first and only little person to grace the cover of Vogue UK in September 2019 - race, ethnicity, sexuality and gender. Of course, we have an awfully long way to go, but the 20s have certainly marked a new beginning for body diversity and the eventual erasion of body trends. It is necessary for society to cater to all body types, and bring back the acceptance of figures that are no longer “in fashion” What happens to bodies that go out of fashion? Be thin, be plus-sized, be small or large, or be short or tall, bodies are what bring us together as people. Ditch the trend of the perfect body, whatever it may be on any given day, and thank our bodies for getting us through up until this point of life.
