When TikTok became popular, everyone’s lives changed. As it coincided with lockdown there was a moment where everyone’s lives seemed to revolve around this app. The trends we were seeing on our screens were seeping into real life and now not a day goes by that we don’t make a choice influenced by it somehow. For me it drastically effected my fashion sense. TikTok seemed to evoke nostalgia and suddenly everyone wanted to return to the early 2000s. Y2K fashion began popping up everywhere and now low waisted jeans are in?
I stepped right on the Y2K train and love my low waisted flares, my graphic tank tops and silly little jumpers. It makes me feel confident and as someone who enjoys thrifting, it encourages me to buy things I actually like and not just what people around me are wearing. However, over time I moved away from TikTok to give me Fashion advice for two reasons. I was beginning to notice every week a new item was being pushed on me and what once was a fun niche was being corrupted by popularity. But more importantly, I wasn’t seeing anyone who looked like me. I am a UK size 12 and consuming videos of model thin girls wearing the same clothes as me wasn’t encouraging me to put them on in the morning.
It’s no one’s fault these girls are smaller than me, or they wear similar clothes. But it is a wider issue so many young people have adopted a fashion sense that has the requirement of skinniness. You begin to believe you need a flat stomach, so the low waist looks right, and smaller boobs, so the tank tops sit right. And you don’t see any evidence to convince you otherwise.
There is always pressure in us to look a certain way. But with this particular style which is so regularly mood-boarded and pinned on Pinterest, we are absolutely inundated with photos of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan at size 0 wearing what we are wearing now. No aesthetic should have a body type attached to it.
So, I’ve continued wearing my 2000s glam even just to go to the shops, because it’s what makes me feel good and I’m not going to let people tell me otherwise. Fashion is for everyone. We all experience clothing ourselves and we should learn from our past mistakes. It was these trends and these expectations that resulted in so many of these celebrities having eating disorders in the outfits we so desperately try to mimic.