Janis McKenzie Shane
A Brief Background Introduction My Story Our Story
A Brief Background
Throughout history, different cultures have idealized a variety of beauty and
body standards. In the paleolithic period big, round beautiful bodies were worshipped. They were fertile and healthy. Those bodies grew life that brought humans to where we are now. Ancient Egyptians idealized a slender figure and symmetrical faces while during that same time, and just across the mediterranean, Ancient Greece preferred a more full figured, plump woman. Mens’ bodies were more idolized than women's and therefore held to higher scrutiny. The Renaissance fancied woman with soft, plush bodies. At the turn of the century, there began to be a specific body type that was “fashionable” to have about every decade or so. During the beginning of the century the popular shape was very much a holdover from the Victorian era, which was a full bosomed and curved woman. The twenties brought the straight, boyish body of the flappers while the thirties and forties preferred a slender form, but still placed an emphasis on the hips. The classic hourglass figure was favored in the fifties and in the sixties it was back to a boyish, waif like body. During the seventies and eighties a lean, athletic body was considered the ideal and that notion has carried through until the present day.
Different body ideals throughout history prove that it is societal pressures
that result in woman thinking that they should look a certain way. The concept of conforming to a size standard is nothing new. With all of these different “ideals” and “norms,” all bodies should be celebrated. There are no two figure that are the same and therefore they should be treated as such. The “ideal” does not actually exist; only the real.
Introduction
My name is Janis McKenzie Shane and I love
my body. Why is it that fashion is used as a mechanism to make people feel bad about their bodies, and not used as a way to celebrate bodies and make people feel good? There’s no reason why it can’t be used for the latter; I am proof that it can be. I feel celebrated, I feel good, and I can pinpoint what I love about my body. I love my legs. They carry and push me to where I need to be. I love my hips, waist and the way they curve. I love my arms. My arms always surprise me by how much they can hold and move. I love my face. When I look in the mirror, I see an even distribution of my parents staring back: my dad’s cheeks, my mom’s nose, and this makes me happy. I did not always love my body and it did not always make me happy. I did not always love fashion either, but the journey of falling in love with fashion is what lead me to loving myself.
My Story
It was a strapless pink floral dress that did it. It hugged my waist
and flared at my hips. The hem fell right at my knees. I felt beautiful wearing it. I had never felt that way about myself in clothing before. On top of feeling beautiful in the dress, I felt unashamed to feel beautiful as myself. The mere fact that I remember this one dress and this one moment in my life represents a clear connection between body positivity and fashion. There is no reason why they can’t go hand-inhand. Leading up to this one moment was, what felt like, an endless journey of insecurities, tension, and loss.
Throughout middle school and the
beginning of high school, I had a group of friends. The group included three girls (myself included) and two boys. Even though I could call them my friends, I never felt as though I truly fit in with them; though I desperately tried to. We all wore Converse, drew on gobs of eyeliner, and guzzled Monster energy drinks. I wanted my friends to think that I was cool, edgy, and skinny like they were. We would hang out almost every weekend, have sleepovers, stay up all night, and eat doritos. Sometimes we would sneak out and walk around the neighborhood in the dark.
The dynamic began to change once we got to high school. My friends
began to exclude me from the weekend fun. We spoke less in the hallways and at our lockers. Eventually I did not sit with them at lunch. By the middle of freshman year, my days became a routine of keeping to myself and sitting alone.
So here I was; after this weird, dramatic shift with my adolescent
relationships. I was fifteen years old, and I was the stereotypical sad girl with no friends. I felt bad. I felt every bit and piece of not feeling good enough for anyone -- this included feeling bad about the way I looked and the way I thought people saw me. I was convinced people saw me as fat and ugly because I believed this about myself in the first place. Where were all these thoughts coming from?
I hid my body behind chunky sweaters, men’s oversized flannel
shirts, skinny jeans, and sneakers. This was not a fashion statement of confidence and carefree style; this was a militant uniform of concealment and self-hatred. My clothing did not reveal any sort of shape, but more importantly, my clothing did not indicate that I had any sort of personality. I was constantly uncomfortable. I went from trying to fit into a box that I did not belong in, to wanting to hide in any box that I could find. I have this theory now: if one does not have a traumatic high school experience then one will not have built enough character to be an adult.
In my english class, there were two boys
who sat on either side of me. There names were Dan and Jim. I had known them my whole life but had never before paid them much attention. Occasionally we would chat, but nothing personal. One day in February that changed. Dan asked me if I was okay. The only person who had asked me that in the longest time had been my mother. I told him that I was not okay. He smiled at me and said that I would be. From that day on the three of us began to joke around and talk more in depth. We found that we had a lot in common.
As warm spring winds melted the winter
away, I began to thaw as well. On the weekends, I would go to the movies or do homework with my new friends. At school, I still ate lunch by myself, but that was because it no longer felt lonely. I became comfortable with myself. It turned into my time to sit and be quiet for a little rather than a time to listen to the deafening silence. I stopped dressing in lumpy sweaters.
On a day in April, my mother and I went shopping.
We were at American Eagle. I was browsing around when I came across a floral, strapless, fit and flare dress. At the time, I was not one for dresses, but I thought that I would give it a shot. I tried it on. I had never felt that way about myself in clothing before. On top of feeling beautiful in the dress, I felt unashamed to feel beautiful as myself.
I was so inspired. I wanted to learn everything that there was
about clothing and fashion. I spent the summer reading Vogue and biographies on Coco Chanel. By the time my Sophomore year of High School came to be I knew that I had found my passion.
The rest of High School was a revolving door of trying out
new styles. I loved dressing for myself. As long as I liked the way that it looked and how I felt while wearing it, then I simply did not care what my peers thought. I mixed patterns and prints, and never wanted to wear the same thing twice. Even my hair was ever changing; from brown, to red, to blonde, and even pink. I found my outlet for self expression and self love but also, what I wanted to pursue.
Our Story
There were moments when I let insecurities get the best of me, and
there still are. “If only I looked like her,” or “why can’t I just be thinner.” I work to push those negative thoughts away with trying new outfits. I stand in the mirror and tell myself why it looks good until I smile. Other times I do this without the outfit. Why is it that as women we always have to be striving to have a body other than our own? Why can’t we love ourselves for who we are?
The answer is that we can, and we should. We just have to work
together. I believe that the fashion industry can be the catalyst that will promote global body positivity. It is an industry that is completely based on appearances, so why can’t those appearances be positive and inclusive? Fashion needs to be used as a tool, not a weapon. Clothing complements the form. It can elongate, emphasize, enhance. Different aspects can reflect parts of the personality. It is wearable art, no matter if one wears jeans and a t-shirt or a couture gown. Everybody has the right to feel comfortable and beautiful in what they wear. The difference in cultural and body ideals throughout history proves that the “perfect” shape does not exist. We need to stop letting society dictate these false aspirations and start letting society embrace us for who we are. Only two percent of women across the globe would consider themselves beautiful. That statistic is unacceptable.
The fashion industry is a business just like
any other, and its bottom line is to make money. Waify, thin models were the standard sizes used in fashion shows because smaller sizes do not require as much fabric as larger sizes and therefore brings down the cost of sample garments. Even if the fashion industry did not want to make changes of body perception for moral, positive reasons, they should make changes for economic ones. The average size of the US woman is a sixteen, a size that is drastically underserved within the marketplace. In 2016, the US plus sized women's apparel was a 20.4 billion dollar industry. The US woman's apparel industry as a whole in 2016 was worth 120.3 billion dollars. The plus sized sector only made up about sixteen percent of the total. With almost half of the woman in the US falling into the plus sized category, why would greater emphasis not be placed on that industry? There is a huge economic opportunity that fashion retailers are missing.
I want other women to use clothing to see themselves in a different
light. We need to start being the change that we want to see reflected into the future. Size is just a number on a label that can be cut out.
Sources http://www.scienceofpeople.com/2016/05/ideal-body-types-throughout-history/ http://www.thelist.com/44261/womens-perfect-body-typeschanged-throughout-history/ https://unstats.un.org/unsd/gender/chapter4/chapter4.html https://www.forbes.com/sites/didemtali/2016/09/30/the-average-woman-size/#3bb59d062791 http://www.refinery29.uk/2017/04/147207/sustainable-fashion-plus-size https://0-www.statista.com.library.scad.edu/statistics/676775/ us-women-plus-size-apparel-market-sales-versus-total-clothing-market-sales/ https://0-www.statista.com.library.scad.edu/statistics/585686/ sales-of-the-us-women-s-plus-size-apparel-market/ http://www.shape.com/celebrities/videos/iskra-lawrence-tedtalk-will-change-way-you-look-your-body https://tedxinnovations.ted.com/2016/08/26/eight-tedx-talksthat-are-always-in-fashion/