Fashion’s biggest night would not be complete without a reminder that unrealistic body image issues still burden even the most public figures. This year’s Met Gala theme, a continuation into American fashion, was coined “Gilded Glamour” with the promise of celebrities wearing tight corsets, bodices, and grandiose headwear reminiscent of the Gilded Age (a historical period from the 1870s to the early 1900s). Reality star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian closed out the night in Marilyn Monroe’s iconic “Happy Birthday Mister President” dress from 1962. And while her interpretation of the theme sparked excitement around how she pulled an archival piece at this level, her interview about fitting into the dress reinforced the worst parts of high fashion and diet culture.
“I had to lose 16 pounds to fit into it,” Kim told La La Anthony on the Met Gala carpet about how she spent the past three weeks. In an interview with Vogue, she described an extensive regimen of sauna suits, exercise, and food restriction: “I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict.”
We can argue that it’s not a celebrity or influencer’s job to display healthy habits, but then we’d be ignoring the vital part media consumption plays in our society. We’d be ignoring the power that Kim has to shape behavior and influence how people — especially younger people — feel about their bodies. One viral TikTok can convince an entire crop of viewers to sell out an item. It’s not a stretch to say one interview can inspire someone to restrict their eating, or set unrealistic body goals.
Clothes play such a fundamental role in how we view ourselves, and while a determined Kim successfully managed to fit in the dress, she shouldn’t be praised for fitting into clothes. Clothes should fit us. Navigating food habits as someone in the public eye is difficult, but there’s a stark difference between promoting healthy, sustainable long-term habits and promoting disordered eating and overexertion. Losing 16 pounds in three weeks — roughly over 5 pounds a week — is way above the recommended 1-2 pounds per week for people who are trying to lose weight.
As someone who is still in recovery from disordered eating and trying to build a healthy, intuitive relationship with food, this glamorized idea of starving for the “big night” isn’t something to boast about. I spent all of high school and college battling a binge eating disorder. I spent most of my teenage years scarcely eating in public, bingeing in private, purging when my guilt arose, and then excessively starving myself before big theatre performances and school dances. I used to think walking hungrily into an event with my fitted dress on fighting off a headache was my private badge of honor. I’d held out so I could look my leanest for an important night. My teenage self thought I was incredibly disciplined, when really I was harming my body in irrevocable ways — ways I’m still dealing with to this day.
I spent all my younger years fearful of important events because anytime they’d come around I’d convince myself to go on a health bender, only to be disappointed when I didn’t lose all the weight I’d wanted — thus taking away the joy from all my celebrations.
Kim isn’t the sole perpetrator behind this idea of forcing yourself to fit into clothes; it is an internalized ideal women (and people) of all ages have been conditioned to believe. Fashion in itself is fearful of fat bodies. A select few high-fashion designers create plus size clothes, and only pretty recently. Many still refuse to make clothes past the “standard” size. This all continues to push the narrative that only thin bodies can be glamorous.
Some might see this as Kim’s personal choice and that it shouldn’t be a big deal. But I’m a firm believer in change happening gradually. Small steps can make an impact, and missteps have their consequences, too. Every conversation projected to the world works to build a bigger picture. Kim chose to push her body to lose an extreme amount of weight, when she could’ve used the Marilyn Monroe dress as inspiration for a custom gown. Now, instead of applauding her, we can examine the ways we bend and contort and crush ourselves in order to fit. Simultaneously, we can focus on creating space to exist as we are.
No one is perfect. As humans it’s in our nature to be flawed. We can’t always see ourselves, the way we treat our bodies in ways we would hate to see our loved ones do to themselves, the way we make ourselves miserable. That’s why it’s vital to call out these unrealistic standards, to keep pushing back against people and media outlets and institutions who seek to shame our bodies. If not for us, then for the teenage girl carefully jotting down Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala dress regimen, preparing to go to prom and thinking she’ll only have a good time if she’s at her thinnest.
This content was originally published here.
