How Unrealistic Beauty Ideals Plagued the True Meaning of Fashion
Fashion has always been an important tool to express ourselves and on most occasions, to communicate a certain statement or trait, or even a status that we want the world to be aware of. In all, fashion is one of the most popular methods of expressive communication. Although most people do not realize it, by choosing a certain style in each of their garments, a message is sent to those who perceive them.
Expressing ourselves through fashion is definitely a great blessing, but it is also a responsibility that all of us need to handle with great care. What do I mean by responsibility? Well, although fashion can be a very common and stylish method of expression when abused, it could cause severe damages to mental health.
Can we say that this is all due to society's unrealistic beauty ideals represented as ‘fashion’? In most cases yes. While true fashion itself is mostly about expressing yourself as you are without needing to change anything about yourself to fit in, society has made fashion seem so exclusive to people with certain heights and body sizes which has led a lot of teenagers and early adults to become submerged in this idea that in order to be fashionable, they have to look a certain way and weight a certain amount.
This wrong ideal can make fashion be darkened by a negative shadow, which has been this way for some years. When the most known cases of anorexia and bulimia, along with other eating disorders were made known, people would immediately look to fashion shows, runways, advertisements, etc. as the root of these problems which in most cases did turn out to be the reason why teenager and early adults were getting such a negative perception of themselves and wanted to do anything that they could to fit into this unrealistic idea of beauty presented.
Lots of cases have resulted in death due to eating disorders but a lot of deaths have also been caused by wrong-gone cosmetic and plastic surgeries. But is fashion itself the one to blame for all these negative impacts on our youth and society in general? Of course not, the ones to blame are the unrealistic expectations imposed in our society about how people should look. The distorted ideals of beauty that have set a standard in our society are the ones to blame for the damage caused.
On the bright side, it seems that our society has evolved from this irrational thinking and has begun to appreciate people and looks that are more beautifully realistic. Nowadays, fashion has become more inclusive as we as a society have moved away from the ‘ideal beauty’. We have opened a more broad and welcoming side of fashion so that everyone can be aware of what true fashion is: to express yourself truly, be unique in this world, and never change who you are just to fit into society’s unrealistic ideals.
However, the damage of the past done to our society based on unrealistic beauty standards cannot be changed. These ideals plagued the fashion world greatly, many people have viewed fashion as the reason why many lives have been lost, many teens have developed disorders, and why many women and men have excluded themselves for not looking a certain way or weighing a certain amount. While these terrible situations cannot become undone, as a Fashion Studies major I want to let people know that fashion is not to blame, since true fashion can be anything that a person wants it to be, no matter who or how they are.
I also have felt a sense of assurance now that I have witnessed how the fashion industry is representing and portraying the naturally beautiful body, with all its components. It doesn't matter how tall or short someone is, how much their weight, their skin conditions, health conditions, and many other factors that before excluded people from savoring true fashion delight, because now as our society progresses, we are beginning to appreciate the different and beautifully unique characteristics that each one of us has. With this evolution in our society, we are closer to reaching the true meaning of fashion: to be unique, stylish, while staying true to ourselves.
