It is exhausting keeping up with the ever changing trends. Fashion and beauty are now rotating every week thanks to social media platforms.

The Kardashian family has shaped how we perceive beauty in the past decade, from an hourglass figure, to lip injections. However, in the last couple of years as ‘90s and early 2000s fashion has returned, so has the thin figure. These unrealistic beauty standards can be both difficult – and dangerous – to achieve. Bodies are not trends, but why is there such a constant desire for the ideal body?

One of the Kardashians, Kim, has been well known for her voluptuous figure. Although she denies having a BBL, or a Brazilian Butt Lift, women have been inspired by her to go under the knife to alter their appearance. BBLs are expensive, averaging around $8,000 to $10,000. They are also the most dangerous cosmetic procedure, with a death rate around 1 in 2,300. The average person can’t afford a BBL, so they turn to crash diets to achieve the perfect body.

The Kardashians promote sketchy products to promote weight loss such as waist trainers, appetite suppressant lollipops, laxatives and diet pills. The diet industry has risen in the past decade, and it is now worth $3.8 billion in the US alone.
As more teens spend time on social media, they are constantly surrounded by fit models, diets and toxic body positivity. Teens who spend more time on social media are more prone to develop dissatisfaction in themselves, low confidence and even eating disorders.

Now, just like fashion trends, the ideal body is once again changing from “slim thick” to thin following one of the Kardashian’s sister’s weight loss. For the May 2022 Met Gala, Kim Kardashian shocked fans with her dramatic weight loss so she could fit in a $5 million dress that Marilyn Monroe once wore. Crop tops and low-rise jeans are now popular, and teens worry that they must have a certain body type to be deemed “fashionable.”

Disordered eating is normalized all over social media, distorting the view of what is healthy and what is not. According to Mentalhealth.org, four in 10 teens say that social media has made them worry about their body image. In addition, one in two teen girls have dieted to change their appearance. A worrying 9% of the population struggle with an eating disorder, affecting both men and women.

The Kardashians have been open about their body image struggles, which shows that even celebrities have fallen victim trying to keep pace with the standards that they have set themselves. In 2021, Khloe Kardashian went as far as trying to wipe an unflattering bikini photo from the internet.

Everyone has insecurities they can’t control, but they can control whether to embrace them or not. Bodies should never be trendy. Body positivity and neutrality has been on a rise, promoting different body types and accepting yourself for who you are. Beauty goes far beyond how you look physically.