From Kate Moss to the Kardashians, What Are the Issues With Beauty Standards?

    First off, I would like to start off this post with a trigger warning because I'm going to be discussing topics like body image, body dysmorphia, eating disorders and drug use. If you have had experiences with any of these topics, please consider not continuing with reading this article and reaching out to loved ones or community services. 

Heroin Chic, Kate Moss, the Kardashians and Drug Use 

    Overtime, women's bodies have been controlled by the standards of society. These standards include a variety of things from a more big picture look like the shape of their bodies, to the smaller elements that make up a woman like the colour of their hair or even the shape of their facial features. The scary aspect of this is that society is ever changing and with that means society's beauty standards of women are changing too. This has been seen throughout the years. Even if you haven't been aware of it, you most likely know about the beauty standard of the past few years for women having a flat stomach, a big butt and a slim waist. So, how have we gotten here and how will things continue to change? 

    To understand this topic, one must understand the history of society's expectations of women's beauty standards. In the 80's, it was found that society desired when women had the body type of an athlete, which included broad shoulders, toned arms and very tall. But, when the 90's turned, so did the beauty standards. The 90's introduced the qualities of 'heroin chic,' which included being very skinny, an androgynous look, pale skin and heavy, dark circles. 

 

   This style became popular in the mid-90's as a "Pushback against the supermodel look of the early 90's." The lifestyle of these models and upper-class members of society was deemed 'heroin chic' because heroin had become more accessible to those in the middle class and celebrities. The actual use of heroin changed as users began to snort it instead or inject it, which, for some reason, decreased the stigma amongst users. Because heroin was once seen as a dirty drug and was mostly used amongst the lower class, the change in the actual intake of the drug meant that those amongst the middle and higher class felt that by snorting the drug, it was less dirty and more acceptable. When I started writing this, I wasn't sure why this attitude change happened. But, after doing more digging, it could be due to the fact that the AIDS epidemic was surging as the look of heroin chic became more popular. This meant that more people had a fear of needles that were being used for drugs. All in all, people were still going to use the drug, just it in a different way. This could also be due to pop culture at the time as "Grunge reigned music, and rock band leaders died of overdose in large numbers. The cinema also got hooked - let's think Pulp Fiction or Trainspotting. Writers and artists, dancers and actors - together with them, workers and officials, policeman and military- all strata of American society were to some extent on hard drugs." 

    Although I'm only covering the top layer of drug use in the 90's, an amazing video that provides a bit more of a historic basis of this is Is 90's Thinness Coming Back? by the video-essay YouTuber, Mina Le.

    So, the term 'heroin chic' was made because the models who subscribed to that look actually looked as if they were using the drug. And a lot of them were. For example, a famous model who is known for this look is Kate Moss. Moss has been in the public eye for the past 25 years and she has been so popular in the public that her as a person is timeless. For example, most models or individuals in the public have their moment in a certain time period. Although Moss is most known for her popularity in the 90's as she is one of the faces of heroin chic, she is still very popular to this day. Even in 2011 "She was the third highest paid model in the world." In the 90's, when Kate was beginning to become more known to the public, she was involved in a photoshoot with the British photographer Corinne Day. The backlash that Day received from journalists is actually where the term heroin chic comes from. 

    Another photographer who promoted the ideas and values of the look of heroin chic was David Sorrenti. Sorrenti was a photographer in the 90's who worked with Kate Moss and his girlfriend, Jamie King (who struggled with drug use). 

    During the time that he was popular, many media and fashion producers saw a shift in their consumers as the youth were looking for a more realistic look. This is where the term dirty realism was born (and can be seen again in the 2019 hit drama series, Euphoria) as the grunge era took hold of the youth of the time. So, of course, fashion companies and their photographers wanted to grip onto that demographic and this new type of fashion was born. Sorrenti was a major contributor to this era in fashion as his photographs depicted women in states of almost sickness, which makes viewers uncomfortable to look at. Writer Jenna Ledford wrote about this in her work titled From Dirty Realism to Heroin Chic: How Fashion Becomes A Scapegoat for Cultural Anxieties. She wrote "Dirty realism made voyeurism uncomfortable by presenting its viewer with the bleakest aspects of reality: poverty, violence, self-destruction, and banality." Those who engaged in the style of dirty realism wanted to pave a new direction which didn't include the traditional way of modeling and photography. Instead of bright lights and more conventional looks and poses, dirty realism involved something darker. A main point that Mina Le made in her video that I thought was very interesting is that those who were creators of media and participated in the dirty realism era were not outwardly encouraging drug use. But, the way that their photos were taken and the states that their models were in alluded to viewers that the models were encouraging drug use. 

    This new type of fashion was being noticed by many consumers. Even Bill Clinton made a comment about this new emergence of fashion and life-style. He said "You do not need to glamourise addiction to sell clothes. The glorification of heroin is not creative, it's destructive. It's not beautiful; it's ugly. And this is not about art; it's about life and death. And glorifying death is not good for any society."

    But, even though the famous photographer David Sorrenti died in 1997 (and many recognized this time of the death of heroin chic), the body type that comes with heroin chic stayed in society's beauty standards well throughout the 2000s and even into the early 2010's. A key difference between the time of heroin chic in the 90's and the trends in the early 2000's is the type of clothes being worn. In the 90's, lots of looks involved baggier clothing and more street wear. But, when the 2000's rolled around, clothing was just less. It was more popular to wear skirts that were shorter, tighter and lower with a cropped and tight shirt (such a weird time for fashion, literally what is going on in these pictures). 

  

  In the past few years and even currently, the beauty standards that western society has praised is that of a 'slim thick' body type. This includes features like wide hips, a flat stomach, a big butt and overall being toned and fit. When I think about those who embody these features, I, amongst most of the general population, think about the Kardashians. Most of the members of the Kardashian have or had this body type, which has increased their popularity in the past few years. A New York Post article detailed the findings of a study, which determined that ""Slim-thick" imagery online causes more body dissatisfaction amongst young women." The other side of this is how even the Kardashians are subscribing (or even creating) to the idea of the ever-changing beauty standards. In the past few months, celebrities have been seen with their removed implants. For example, Kim Kardashian was on James Corden's Late Show and some of her fans pointed out that her bust looked smaller. Although she has lost a lot of weight recently, some wonder if she has removed any implants. In addition to Kim, it was rumored around summer of 2022 that Kylie Kardashian removed her butt implants. 

   

 I think that it's important to notice the fact that Kim and Khloe Kardashian have both looked thinner recently. Although I'm not pointing this out as a criticism, but rather as a red flag as people look up to them and their family and like to practice the same habits (and look the same) as they do. So, one might wonder how they do it. Although Kim has not outright said that she has taken this drug, many are convinced that she has used Ozempic for her weight loss. Ozempic is a drug that is used by diabetics to lower their blood sugar and to prevent heart attacks. A side effect of this drug is weight loss. This drug has been approved in Canada, and many companies are "Studying this drug for weight loss in people without diabetes." Although this drug has been approved for people with diabetes, it has not been approved for those using it without diabetes. The other aspect of using this drug is the side effects that users experience. The side effects include nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, vomiting and constipation. The other aspect of Ozempic is that one must continue to take it for the rest of their life to avoid gaining back the weight because its purpose is for long-term use. 

   

 An ethical aspect of using Ozempic strictly for weight loss (not for its actual purpose for those who have diabetes) is that it can create issues or prevent those who actually need it from accessing it. NBC News posted an article that detailed the story of an individual who has Type 2 diabetes and was using the drug for years, but had to switch medications due to lack of supply. This is due to it's new popularity with those who seek weight loss. The article details that "Without medication, people with Type 2 diabetes risk blood sugar spikes that can potentially lead to serious health problems, including heart disease, kidney disease, hearing loss and stroke." Some individuals whose pharmacies don't have access to the medication have had to go to other pharmacies or lower their dose or even fully switch medications, which is a lengthy and difficult process. Is it fair to allow access to those who are taking the drug purly for aesthetic purposes, even if those who depend on it for their health then don't have access to it? 

    With all of this comes a whole other issue; eating disorders. The Canadian Institute for Health Information recorded that "Throughout the pandemic, hospitalizations and visits to emergency departments due to eating disorders have surged among young women in Canada...Young women age 15 to 17 were twice as likely to be hospitalized for a mental health disorder as their male peers." I think that especially during the pandemic it was easy to focus on this aspect of ourselves as it's a way for people to feel more control over their surroundings. Bryn Austin ,whose a professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Harvard, detailed that "The amount of time that teens spend on social media - more than usual during the pandemic - can increase their risk of developing an eating disorder." As teens, and I believe the general public, continue to see images online from the Kardashians or influencers, they begin to compare themselves to these people and their confidence and overall well-being declines. I think especially as we're starting to see the shift from the 'slim thick' body type to the straight framed body type of the 2000s, disordered eating and eating disorders are becoming an increasing (it has always been prominent) health issue. 

    

An interesting element of time is that there are cycles. We have seen over and over again how trends come and go in different societies and their patterns. In general, trend cycles tend to last 20 years. I think combining this with the recent habits of celebrities means that the more early 2000's body type is slowly coming back. Also with this comes the fact that Mina Le pointed out in her video in which she talks about how less clothing brands are making plus size clothing and less plus sized models are being represented. Why are we going back to a time in which heroin use was romanticized and to the early 2000's in which only those who could maintain a small frame were admired? Why are only certain women's bodies being put on a pedestal in the first place? 

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    As I was writing this whole piece, I just kept asking myself: why? Why has all of this happened and why do we have all of these standards? I also want to mention that I haven't spoken about the body and beauty standards of men, but that's because I don't think it's my position to talk about them. All in all, my goal for this piece was to shine the light on how messed up all of this is. I think it's interesting to notice these trends to help prevent them from continuing. 

    Why change when your body type might be all the rage in 20 years?