There’s been a recent surge in early 2000s and late 90s fashion within Gen-Z trends. Low-rise jeans, belly button piercings, sports jerseys, Ugg boots, and fitted baby tees have filled our Pinterest boards throughout the past year. However, these trends often go hand in hand with a thin, unattainable body type, which was detrimental to the mental health of Gen X and millennials in their coming-of-age years. With the bubble pop craze of the early 2000s, and the heroin chic trend of the late 90s, stars like Cristina Aguilera and Britney Spears were often seen sporting these trends along with a usually indispensable accessory for the time: a flat stomach.
One size fits all and Ozempic
Y2k Trends like low-rise jeans and the popularization of brands that are “one size fits all” like Brandy Melville have created a massive overshadowing of the success of the body positivity movement of the early 2010s.
Although many argue that Brandy Melville caters to smaller girls who can’t find their size in most stores, their refusal to acknowledge sizes on clothes is detrimental to teen girls’ mental health. Nevertheless, the brand has been gaining more and more popularity every year.
Zheran Liu writes in a case study that “Brandy Melville only produces one size and only girls who are thin enough can wear it. This makes other girls feel that their bodies are not recognized. […] Nevertheless, wearing Brandy Melville has become a hint to prove one’s “good figure,” and their marketing strategy also cleverly utilizes consumers’ vanity to achieve the purpose of marketing itself. So even though there are a lot of critical comments, Brandy Melville is still gaining popularity from the public.”
Moreover, emerging diet trends such as taking Ozempic, an appetite-reducing drug for rapid weight loss, have also overshadowed the body positivity movement we saw in past years. Even celebrities that once rocked a curvacious body type have been seen rapidly losing weight.
Brat Summer — Toxic heroin chic & indie sleaze imagery
In addition, recent pop culture moments such as Charli XCX’s Brat that borrow from 90s and y2k trends have also welcomed images of Heroin Chic and Indie Sleaze imagery.
While the singer’s album aesthetic highlights the life of a party girl who in Charli’s words “.. just like that girl who is a little messy and likes to party and maybe says some dumb things sometimes […] A little bit volatile. Like, does dumb things,” the album with its imagery of smudged eyeliner, cigarettes, and exposed stomachs is reminiscent of past trends that were detrimental to young women’s mental health.
The Indie Sleaze aesthetic derives partially from early 2010s TV shows such as Skins, which have been criticized for being a launching pad for anorexia.
Roisin Lanagan writes in Babe magazine about portrayed characters “For any teenage girl who had an unhealthy relationship with food, the tips and tricks Skins included in Cassie’s episodes were like hitting the jackpot [….] Girls who wanted to learn were able to learn, easily, how to gesticulate and cut up your food and move it around and chatter constantly so nobody would notice you weren’t actually eating anything.”
We have definitely “seen this film before”
We have definitely not forgotten about the toxic trends prominent 20 years ago. “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” is a phrase coined by supermodel Kate Moss in a 2009 WWD Magazine interview which encapsulates body image trends in the early 2000s.
Moss was seen as a cover girl of the Heroin Chic fashion trend, popularized by photographer David Sorrenti. Sorrenti often photographed models with pale skin, extremely thin bodies, stringy hair, and other traits associated with drug abuse.
This toxic trend trickled down until the 2000s, and studies suggest there was a constant increase in cases of Bulimia Nervosa in the 1990s until the new millennium.
Popular media such as Bridget Jones Dates or Mean Girls portrayed women of average size to be “fat” and emphasized weight.
Where to go now?
The backsliding of the body positivity movement is definitely something to worry about. However, if we are aware of these toxic trends that perhaps our moms or older sisters once fell into, we can be less susceptible to falling victim to it.
So, wear those cute McBling low-rise jeans, your juicy tracksuit, and ugg mini classics. However, forget about the number on the scale and focus on your clothing fitting YOUR body, not the other way around.
If you or someone you know has an eating disorder and needs help, call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline at 1-800-931-2237, text 741741, or chat online with a Helpline volunteer here.
If you or someone you know is seeking help for mental health concerns, visit the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) website, or call 1-800-950-NAMI(6264). For confidential treatment referrals, visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website, or call the National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP(4357). In an emergency, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK(8255) or call 911.