The shrinking frames of top stars, including Demi Moore, Selena Gomez and Ariana Grande at the Screen Actors Guild Awards this week signal a return to an era where women’s bodies were endlessly scrutinised against an unrealistic ideal.
As much as we might like to think we’ve moved beyond the “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” mantra made famous by Kate Moss, and the era of Heat magazine’s ring of shame, drawn over pictures of celebrities deemed to be too thin or too fat, in truth, nothing much has shifted.
Having worked in the fashion industry for two decades, watching the fluctuating attitudes towards women’s bodies, I’m concerned we have reverted to an unhealthy period that I’d hoped we had left behind for good.
Both men and women were thinner — although we know it is women who bear the brunt of scrutiny and judgment over their bodies.
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo, Dreamgirls actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, and child model-turned-actress Brooke Shields, are among those who appear to have slimmed.
