We’ve Been Given The “OK” To Love Our Bodies
Why we can finally begin to celebrate body inclusivity in the fashion industry and why we shouldn’t need to.
Think back to 2015--all of the hottest brands and your favorite stores: Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Forever 21, American Eagle, Abercrombie, etc. All of these companies had their advertisements plastered on every surface you could see. The faces of these companies were gorgeous, skinny, perfect models. So what’s the problem with this picture?
All of these brands were glorifying this “ideal” body type, telling young girls that, in order to be beautiful, they needed to look like the women in these ads. If you can remember, in 2018, Victoria’s Secret was put on blast about the intensive and neglectful dieting and exercise the chosen models must undergo in order to walk in the annual fashion show. The chief marketing officer was even forced to make an apology after saying that they did not want to spoil the fantasy of the show by hiring any sort of diversity within the models’ sizes, ethnicities, and gender. He questioned those intentions, asking if they would only be hiring them if it was the right thing to do, or if it would just please their conscience. Therein lies the problem. We don’t want diversity because it is “the right thing to do,” we want it because it is real.
The fashion and media industry has always glorified the “ideal” body type, although these have continued changing over a long span of years. I feel that for once, we are finally able to take a breath and be ourselves, no matter what our bodies look like. We are seeing companies being represented by so many different, beautiful women and the definition of beauty has taken so many different forms and faces. Powerful brands such as Target, Aerie, Old Navy, and even Abercrombie have begun representing a wide range of different sizes and skin colors, and one of the most influential brands in this category, Fenty x Savage, has made a huge splash with their extremely diverse fashion show.
Photo Credit: Aerie
So has this really made a difference? If the fashion industry has changed their standards, does that mean society will as well?
Want to know what I think? I think we shouldn’t look to these places to get recognition in the first place. Who’s to tell us that one person is more beautiful only because they look different? I think the real problem here is that we are taught from such a young age that there is some kind of pedestal on which we stand that ranks us by our features. There is no normal anymore, it’s only beautiful and not beautiful. We must start normalizing all body types. Why are we all trying to achieve this filtered version of beauty that we see everyday, when the average size of an American woman is 16-18? Why is that not the norm, even though it is the majority? My list of questions could go on and on, but for now I’ll just say this: all bodies are normal, all bodies are beautiful. When you think about it, our bodies are incredible in the fact that they are capable of so many amazing things.
We need to stop putting an emphasis on the idea that people are beautiful because they are skinny. What makes someone beautiful? They are beautiful because of what is underneath the skin. Because of the way they treat others, the way they give, the way they smile and laugh, or even the way they open a door for somebody. That’s what truly makes a person, and we should strive to possess those attributes---kindness, compassion, ambition.
My point comes down to this: every single person in the world is so different. We have all gone through different experiences and met different people and explored so many places. Celebrate that. Be joyous in the fact that you are so incredibly unique and special and amazing, you can’t be copied or replaced, because there is no one else like you. So try to stop putting so much of your precious time and emotion into trying to look like someone else.