Nothing Tastes Better Than Skinny, Except Food
Cover Image via British Vogue.
The one certainty about fashion is that we’ve seen it all before—and we will see it again. Style choices, runway looks, iconic moments, and fleeting trends all feed into fashion’s perpetual cycle. The fashion cycle is this looping rotation of silhouettes and aesthetics from past decades and eras that shape the present style in question. Typically, there is a twenty-year mark of a trend, fad, or style recurring in some way or another. So when our mothers insisted that their favorite “dated” purse or blouse would eventually come back in style, they were 100% right.
Right now, we find ourselves in a mixed revival of Y2K and 2010s fashion. And yes, your math is correct; it has not been twenty-or-so years since then. But in today’s fast-paced world of social media and fast fashion, overconsumption has sped up the cycle, moving trends to resurface far sooner than one would expect. We are witnessing the return of low-rise jeans, tiny teeshirts, ruffles, large accessories, belts, high boots, and the ever-so-popular sequin. The rise of Y2K style did not just emerge from thin air –it was born as a reaction to the turn of the century and the thrill of a “new” world.
As Vogue writers Boutayna Chokrane and Christina Perez describe, “...—it echoes the influence of the burgeoning digital age in the zeitgeist. It was the turn of the millennium, and the future was on everyone’s mind. The tech advances were rolling out quick…” These fashions of boldness and sexiness drew inspiration from the strong female characters of pop culture, embodying the independence and fierceness so many continue to aspire to. As iconic as Carrie Bradshaw’s tiny tops and cargo pants are, or as memorable as J. Lo’s cut-out Versace gown, we’re forgetting one part that makes these looks iconic—their chiseled abs and poking rib cages.
Alongside the revival of low-rise jeans, the troubling “cocaine skinny” or “cocaine chic” aesthetic has also appeared to be back on the runway. And while we don’t want to admit it, within the past few seasons, public body image in fashion has swung dramatically from one pendulum to the next. During the 2010s, diversity and inclusivity made visible strides across the fashion industry—from models to mannequins—making a moment where change felt not only possible but demanded. Then the pandemic hit and threw the fashion world, and the rest of the world, off balance. In its wake, an obsession with health and wellness surged, and major brands quickly seized the moment, reinstating the narrative from before: “skinny is in”. Enter the now-infamous Ozempic era—once celebrities embraced it, the fashion world followed suit. This ideal of “skinny” is now thrown around casually, as if it is the newest trend—a material necessary to purchase to, quite literally, “fit in”.
The other day, while reading a board of notes under a sign that said “Make someone happy today”. One note caught my eye: “Stay skinny! Remember, it’s all a mindset, girls”. Later that evening, while I was scrolling on TikTok, I saw multiple videos of “what I eat in a day” or “if you see a speck of dust…”. I realized that this unhealthy obsession has become normalized. Perhaps it has been for a long time, but now it is packaged as something aspirational or “cool” to conform to.
This rise of “skinny” extends beyond fashion. Cigarettes are being accessorized, along with the so-called European lifestyle of drinking on an empty stomach, and $50 pilates class after a breakfast of green juice. For some reason, society continues to cling to the idea that “nothing tastes better than skinny,” as if thinness were the ultimate symbol of a woman’s strength and sex appeal.
New Zealand musician Lorde even admits on the remix “Girl, so confusing” by Charlie XCX, “‘Cause for the last couple years, I've been at war with my body. I tried to starve myself thinner, and then I gained all the weight back. I was trapped in the hatred”. A verse that went viral in the summer of 2024 really emphasizes where many young women stand right now, feeling trapped in a cycle of self-disapproval fueled by industry-imposed standards.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a victim of these rules and feel like I have fallen victim to these standards myself. I feel like I have my life together if I go on a three-day juice cleanse. It’s the same rush as getting a tan: you can’t quite explain why you feel hotter, but for some reason you do. Yet at the end of the day, I know that I am stronger when I eat breakfast, and I feel more comfortable in regular rise jeans. Don’t worry, I love low-rise jeans; they are sexy and hot. But I can’t help but wonder if I like them because they truly suit me and my favorite pair of heels, or because the coolest girl on my Instagram feed is wearing them.
Labeling skinny as a “mindset” reimagines what it is: a toxic marketing strategy that rewires us into believing this is the latest, greatest trend. We aren’t supposed to listen to the men who write the ad. Being thin may be an ideal shape for one person, and maybe not for another.
Maybe being skinny is “hot”, maybe it’s not—but maybe, just maybe, we should listen to our own bodies and follow our own hearts.
