Bodies: the ultimate trendsetters. Emily Dodds, Heathside

Perpetually, we find ourselves, witnesses, to the shifts that occur within our culture. Seldom are we the ones who actually participate in creating the movements that dictate so much of our lives. It has been nearly two months since fashion month ended and since then tremors of change have been felt across the globe.

Over recent years the fashion community has introduced initiatives that allow the representation of all bodies to be seen when displaying the next batch of clothes. These bodies are symbols of who truly can wear the garments of these world-renowned fashion houses and beyond. Inevitably the styles exhibited leak into the mass market and find themselves in circulation among us. Among us, those silhouettes are hung, and just like that, any hand can take it from its hanger. As our society has gradually progressed into one of acceptance, mass-market retailers have been the flag bearers of easy access inclusivity; however, they are not the source of inspiration, they simply take what they are given by the gods of the fashion industry and industrialise it.

Notably, in 2022 there has been a significant reversion back to pre the “BBL era” possibly aided by the rise of y2k culture giving note to the low-rise look where many including myself feel the pressure to wear jeans in a certain type of way. Now given the fact that there is existing pressure surrounding our bodies already, especially when they can “permit” us to radiate an explicit sort of energy to our peers, the almost exclusively ‘skinny’s sashaying down the runaways’ catalyses a new tempestuous body movement.

Perhaps the worst of all, is we live in a supposedly liberated society. We have permitted our culture to take this toxic turn for the worse. Not I nor I suppose anyone can truly condone it in the media “class” as per se but when it appears in high fashion many have contradicting opinions. So now I pose the question: why should one of Gen Z’s primary sources of influence condemn individuality? Three words: creation of exclusivity. It evokes a desire within the young to hope to one day buy into the business and become part of the cycle. A cycle that creates insecurity and installs unconscious self-hatred in order to ensure we, the vulnerable, just keep coming back for more. How is this so perfectly executed? Well, they harness the one thing that we all definitely share: our bodies.

Physicality is intrinsic to dividing us, since the very beginnings of civilization we have competed for this “perfect” body, its definition altering as the ages also did. Whilst these standards evolved and ran with the times society has kept itself at its heels ensuring the general population conformed to this almost anonymous well of custom. Even since I have been born it is general consensus that the archetypal body has changed numerous times- it could even be said at least once a year for 16 years. 

Therefore, there is this constant ambition that my body will be accepted into what culture deems as correct. I could not even begin to explain where this form of yearning was born but what I can say for certain is that we, young people, cannot allow ourselves to be bystanders to this lack of representation for longer. It will only tear away at us little by little until nothing remains but the shells of a generation who could have forced their individuality into the ever-growing narrative. Ensuring each convention is broken down and the moulds no longer exist; so we never must live in a world where we are not seen.