Your beauty and worth cannot be defined by a simple number or garment. Graphic by Anna Gritzenbach.
ANNA GRITZENBACH | OPINION EDITOR | agritzenbach@butler.edu
The weather is getting warmer, the semester is winding down and stores are filling up with summer collections. But as swimsuits hit the racks, many people are hit with a familiar anxiety: the pressure to achieve a picture-perfect “bikini body.” After months of scrolling past fitness influencers and diet culture messaging, it’s easy to feel like your body isn’t quite ready for summer.
But here’s the truth: you already have the perfect bikini body. You just need two things — a body and a bikini.
The idea of the “bikini body” didn’t spawn out of thin air. It became popular in the 1960s by weight-loss ads and reinforced by fashion brands that pushed a specific, unattainable body. Not only does this phrase alienate people with different body types but those with darker complexions as well. Anyone who does not fit the mold of a “skinny white model” is automatically wrong. From magazines to fashion shows to social media, the message remains the same: your body is a problem that needs to be solved.
The fashion industry thrives on making consumers feel like they aren’t enough. Every season brings new trends that subtly — or not-so-subtly — suggest there’s something wrong with your current wardrobe, your body or both. The constant cycle of shifting styles, exclusive sizing and unrealistic advertisements all contribute to the culture in which consumers are to mold themselves to fit the clothes and not the other way around.
First-year environmental studies major Kaylee Walker finds that brands often don’t consider real-life people when they design clothes — just the mannequin they have in the factory.
“Instead of just having one outfit and then just changing the size because it won’t look good [on everyone], alter it so it will look good for everyone and make people feel confident about themselves — not just bleh,” Walker said.
Walker brings up a good point: it’s not just the sizes that are the issue, but the actual fit of the clothes. Clothes that are intended for individuals who don’t have a ton of curves won’t fit the same on individuals who do, despite changing the numeric size. The structure of the garment itself is often the issue. A body cannot be categorized by a mere number.
Brands continue to fail to offer clothing in a full range of sizes and fits. Alternatively, when they do offer a range of sizes, they only make them available online, which further alienates people who don’t fit the narrow body standard.
Nothing is more frustrating than being a size 6 in jeans in one store and a 12 in another. The utter lack of standardized sizing — especially for women’s clothes — makes shopping a discouraging and demoralizing experience. Inconsistent sizing across stores has a direct link to the customer’s body dissatisfaction and negative self-image.
Junior healthcare business major Holly Hamilton finds that dressing room despair is instilled at a young age, and it shouldn’t be.
“In middle school shopping … in certain stores — like American Eagle — I always would struggle with jeans sizes because their sizes were so inconsistent,” Hamilton said. “A lot of brands now that are targeting teenagers are focusing on a specific body type, which I don’t think is good for them at all.”
Fashion marketing reinforces unrealistic expectations for beauty and bodies — for all ages — with social media amplifying this even further. Filters, airbrushing and curated content all create a false sense of what a body is supposed to look like.
This pressure isn’t unique to women’s fashion. Men are also expected to conform to unrealistic ideals: ripped physiques, washboard abs and impossibly defined muscles.
First-year theatre major Zach Ross believes that clothes should adapt to the wearer, not the other way around.
“I thrift a lot, so a lot of my clothes that I personally buy for myself are too big anyways,” Ross said. “It’s about finding your own personalized style … because fashion is all about expression, and if it doesn’t fit your body, then I would try to do something to change [the garment]. I find a lot of clothes that don’t fit my body and I learned how to sew to make it so it does.”
If you don’t look or dress like people on your feed, it is incredibly easy to fall into the cycle of feeling lesser or not beautiful.
Despite some companies that are making an active effort to provide more inclusive sizing and showcase diverse bodies in their marketing, there’s still a long way to go. Universal sizing across companies, a wide variety of fits carried in-store and clothes made for curvier bodies should be the norm — not a marketing ploy.
The industry needs to recognize that clothes should be made for the bodies that wear them, not the other way around. People shouldn’t have to change their weight, proportions or self-esteem in order to fit into a piece of fabric.
Remember that your body is the vessel in which you get to experience life. It deserves care, nourishment and respect. Taking care of you and your body means honoring its needs — not forcing it into unrealistic expectations.
You don’t need to shrink, reshape or mold yourself to fit an external ideal — your body is already enough as it is.
So, as summer approaches and you go shopping for a new swimsuit, remember this: your body isn’t a problem. The industry is. And until that changes, wear whatever makes you feel beautiful — because you don’t need to earn the right to enjoy your own body.
