In recent years, we have seen a dynamic shift in the fashion industry. By promoting a
space of beauty through self-love and body-neutrality, artists such as Beyoncé celebrate the
Black LGBTQ+ community with her album “Renaissance.” Rhianna proves that it is possible to
make clothing and makeup suitable for a wide array of people. Many artists have been able to
break barriers around the secluded space of fashion for thin white women, and open up the
discussion around the reality that Black Women and the Black LGTBQ+ community have
always been the backbone of our fashion trends.
The fashion and music industry are infamously known for two key discriminatory beliefs
that have been starting to come to the surface and crumble in recent years: fatphobia and racism.
Tik Toker, Jordan Williams (@jordan_rio_) speaks to these issues very specifically in one of her
videos, “Fashion is inheritably inclusive because every single person on this Earth has to wear
clothes…”. In her video she discusses a grievance with another TikTok over the differences with
the Victoria Secret runway shows in the past compared to today. Only four years ago in 2019, did
Victoria Secret welcome their first “plus-sized model” to join their team and collaborate with
them.
Despite fashion holding an undertone of femininity, we must remember that it’s easier for
men to achieve high positions of power, welcoming the propaganda around how women should
look. By implementing these body standards around weight and size, men are able to further
control and regulate women’s bodies, directly translated from a monolithic ideal of beauty.
Here are size listings from American Eagle, the top listed company when you search
“jeans” on Google. You can see here that women’s jeans sizes are listed from 0-18, with
descriptors such as short, regular, and long. To categorize the size of jeans, these adjectives
prescribe the notion of wanting our bodies to fit into a specific box. Instead, we should
acknowledge the numerical values of size that are more relevant, to make sure an article of
clothing will fit you as described in the men’s jeans. Also, take note of the difference in cost
between men and women’s jeans, which is also questionable.
I would like to draw attention to and argue the idea that the majority of “plus-sized”
models Victoria Secret have hired should not even be considered plus-sized. The terms petite,
normal, average, plus-sized, and extra-small through extra-large are unnecessary. They have been
implemented in our language to associate psychological feelings towards our clothing,
distracting us from an overarching picture of the perpetual degradation of women. In both
women and men’s clothing at times, this language introduces an agenda of skinny and small
being the ideal. Looking at the ways in which our patriarchy is set up, this should make absolute
sense. As Bell Hooks writes in her book, All About Love, “In the Mars-and-Venus-gendered
universe, men want power and women want emotional attachment and connection. On this planet
nobody really has the opportunity to know love since it is power and not love that is the order of
the day. The privilege of power is at the heart of patriarchal thinking.” This quote best explains
where this core belief of skinny and small as the standard in a white-patriarchal society comes
from. Hooks further discusses the power men want to have over women, and within that, that is
also inclusive of physical power imbalances. This society has created a space that has placed
importance on brands and sizes in order to cultivate a specific persona or aesthetic, and while
they have been successful under the rules of capitalism, where exactly has it left the mental
health of our world?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2019/10/08/victorias-secret-featured-its-first-plus
-sized-model/3906291002/
https://www.tiktok.com/@jordan_rio_/video/7285029522041294110
https://www.ae.com/us/en/p/ae/online-only/bottoms/ae-airflex-original-straight-jean/0111_6626_
488?menu=cat4840004
https://www.ae.com/us/en/p/women/curvy-jeans/curvy-straight-leg-jeans/ae-strigid-curvy-superhigh-
waisted-baggy-straight-embellished-jean/4436_4736_905?menu=cat4840004
https://www.amazon.com/All-About-Love-New-Visions/dp/0060959479
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