Bold-colored bottoms, imperfect patterns and cinched blazers aren’t the only items trending on the runway this fashion season. Fashion producers reintroduced the 1990s heroin chic style, a trend gaining popularity on social media platforms, like Tik Tok that idolizes extremely thin bodies. Among the 219 shows in New York, London, Milan and Paris during the previous fashion season, only 17 brands included at least one plus-size model, which is less than in previous years, The Cut reported.
During the past 10 years, the Brazilian Butt Lift, a surgical operation that transfers fat from the hips and abdomen to the butt to make it look fuller, has been trending with many celebrities, like Kim Kardashian, surgically adopting the body type. Now, to achieve the heroin chic look, people are quickly losing weight with the diabetes drug Ozempic which has caused a shortage of the medication.
College students spend a minimum of one to two hours a day on social media, so when body types become social media trends, it enforces to students that their value is determined by their appearance. People perceive their bodies as objects made to please others, and the dehumanization can lead people to pursue extreme weight loss, BBC News reported. The return to forced skinniness is harmful to many women because it can cause eating disorders, like anorexia and bulimia, to develop, Insider reported.
Body types should not be trends because beauty standards can heavily impact self-esteem. People simply cannot change their bodies to fit fluctuating guidelines. Celebrities, social media influencers and users should be mindful of the weight loss methods they are sharing because it’s often harmful and further contributes to eating disorders and negative self-image.
Celebrities play a significant role in popularizing body trends. They have large platforms where they influence people on their appearance and how to obtain the “ideal” body.
Body trends are dangerous and perpetuate the stereotype that women need to conform to certain unachievable societal standards, said Ella Hauptman, a freshman communication studies major.
Obsession with weight loss negatively impacts mental health, most commonly affecting young women in their early 20s, according to a November 2019 study by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.
“I think a lot of times for women it’s just unachievable, it’s not your genetics, it’s not makeup and so you literally can’t achieve this body,” Hauptman said.
When celebrities aren’t transparent about their cosmetic procedures, consumers and viewers can be harmed, said Peyton Giordano, a freshman political science and criminal justice major.
“They kind of just had this false idea that they can just obtain it and you should too when in reality they have had a lot of help to get that way,” Giordano said.
In the 2010s, the Kardashian family made the BBL body shape a trend, and many women underwent the surgery to achieve a curvier look. However, Kim and Khloe Kardashian recently removed their BBLs in accordance with the heroin chic trend and have lost a lot of weight in recent months.
After tabloid media and social media users have speculated celebrities are using Ozempic to quickly lose weight, the method has gone viral, and many people who aren’t diabetic have started taking the drug with the sole intention of losing weight, Forbes reported.
Using Ozempic can be dangerous and cause serious side effects including kidney problems and changes in vision, according to the drug’s manufacturer. Although these side effects could apply to any user, there may be additional complications when using Ozempic exclusively to lose weight.
“These drugs were designed to help get blood glucose under control for individuals with either type 1 or 2 diabetes, but they definitely were not tested as a mechanism of losing body weight for individuals that are not significantly overweight,” said Ames Sutton Hickey, a psychology and neuroscience professor.
Society’s obsession with weight loss amid a heroin chic revival is not only promoting eating disorders and unattainable standards but contributing to an Ozempic shortage for people who need it to treat diabetes.
“We are a society that is heavily influenced by our media and trends are trends for a reason: everyone is following them, everyone wants to do them,” Giordano said.
People tend to idolize and imitate the actions of celebrities with big platforms even though they, as well as other social media users, share curated images of their bodies that may be surgically modified or photoshopped. It’s important to understand that social media posts aren’t always authentic, so people don’t feel the need to recreate them.
All bodies are beautiful and no one should feel they need to change their appearance to fit an unrealistic and objectifying body standard.
The pursuit of extreme weight loss amid the revival of heroin chic takes a toll on physical and mental health, reinforcing the idea that having the socially ideal body type is all that matters. Bodies are not objects that can be molded into the “perfect” shape, and they should never be trends.
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