From The Huffington Post:
In case you missed it, “fat” is experiencing a resurgence in the beauty world as evidenced by recent photos of Kate Moss where she sports some extra weight in the form of actual breasts and hips - the latter only if caught in the right light. Of course everyone cried pregnancy first but Moss has denied all fertility rumors, instead saying she’s just getting “fat.”
Fashionistas are declaring Moss’ unapologetic weight gain a coup for the healthy-girl crowd by stamping out skinny minnies everywhere. Of course anyone who has picked up a magazine, watched TV or surfed the Internet lately realizes how ludicrous that sounds. Almost as ludicrous as calling Kate Moss “fat.”
The Times adds that since Moss is such a trendsetter, her 10 pounds mean renewed acceptability of older but “curvier” models like Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford. Not famous women may have to just hope for the trickle down effect.
”[…]that wearying daily analysis of jutting celebrity pelvises and matchstick arms. Crazy as it seems, only a few months ago, Madonna’s sinewy calves or Victoria Beckham’s angular collarbones seemed like bona-fide dinner-party conversation-starters. Now that we have some actual problems, debating some neurotic x-ray’s eating habits seems pointless, to say nothing of panicking about our own bodies. Clearly we had too little to worry about if “Is it gluten-free?” or “Should I eat carbs after 6pm?” were troubling questions. Who cares? Malnourished women aren’t interesting any more. They’re depressing. And the six-pack, once evidence of having luxurious amounts of time and money to devote to self-sculpture, now looks like a feeble attempt at control in an uncertain world. Even worse, it implies a desperately high level of self-involvement. Fat people, meanwhile, look better every day. Why? Because they look carefree. So heave a sigh of relief and let your gut out. Kate Moss might be “fat”, but it turns out she’s bang on trend, as ever. “
It’s redundant to say that celebrity, and by extension, fashion, play a large role in the general consciousness of body image. I do firmly believe that the public as consumers drive that power of celebrity more than they realize or care to admit. If you break it down to the most basic and crass elements, here it is: if consumers simply stopped buying a particular product or size altogether, retailers would eventually stop carrying it, and designers would in turn stop producing it (much in the way that if the public stopped seeing a certain celebrity’s movies or buying their magazines, that celebrity would almost certainly cease to exist as such).
It will be very interesting to see how the recession plays into ideas on body image, since I’ve always thought that what constitutes an attractive figure is more about displaying wealth than anything else. Back in the day, being fat made you attractive because it meant that you were able to afford to eat in a habitual and lavish manner. More recently, being thin made an individual attractive because it meant that they could afford to be on some crazy fad diet, have a personal trainer, and get frequent cosmetic surgery.
As obvious affluence is becoming gauche in the current economic climate, how will that affect what we deem to be attractive?
