R A W Body Image
What Would a Stylist Say?
An Influencer’s Insight
A look through the decades identifying change
Issue 1
EDITOR’S LETTER I would like to introduce you to our new publication; Raw. Raw is a feature, quarterly magazine with each issue targeting and talking about a different topic or subject that is being widely discussed within society today. This first issue brings to you; women’s body image as our feature topic. Body image is a hugely spoken about subject in the world and has been for many years, its drastic changes have seen such controversy in societies that we at RAW thought for our first issue that it would be a perfect start to feature this magazine. With talks of both a stylist and influencer within this first issue and taking a walk through the years from the 50s to today, this publication should get you talking and the images should give you a visual representation of the everchanging body image of a woman.
CONTENTS 7 What is body image?
8
the 50s
12 Swinging into the 60s
16
Sultrey 70s
20
What would a stylist say?
22
Let’s get physical in the 80s
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26 Minimalism is key in the 90s
30
An influencer’s insight
34
A new millenium is born: the 2000s
38
The Digital Decade: 2010s
42
So what do you think?
Magazine Title
A view of different body shapes
WHAT IS BO
B
ody image is the one thing all women can and will own up to having play on their mind daily – fact. Whether it is looking at themselves in the mirror, scrolling through a social media feed or just simply
passing a magazine stand or advertisement, body image is everywhere and scrutinized almost all day every day. Body image can be both positive and negative and yes there are so many women out there today embracing their bodies and feeling confident,
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ODY IMAGE
B
ut on the other end of the spectrum, is a huge percentage of women that lack this body confidence and feel embarrassed or shy or afraid of their figures. What we need to target together, as women, in this
day and age is the fight against body discrimination and the ability to all feel confident in our own skin.
Magazine Title
THE 50S T H E D EC AD E H O L LYWOOD GLAMOUR WAS BORN.
M
arilyn Monroe, hourglass figures and pin-up girls. These are the images that first come to mind when asked of the ideal woman’s body image during the 1950s. The decade where Dior’s cone bra.
Playboy magazine graced the world with its first ever editorial issue in 1953. Women in the 1950s were encouraged to be curvy, not being used as a euphemism for being fat, but just the complete opposite of what women would want to be nowadays. The 50s were full of advertisements promoting weight gain, as being skinny wasn’t seen as a very popular opinion. Fast forward to today and you couldn’t begin to imagine the average woman to walk into Superdrug and ask for weight gaining tablets could you?
1950s Barbie
V
oluptuous curves and hips galore, were the features of a woman’s body that society would look to in the 50s, with sweetheart necklines of snug-fitting sweaters to enhance the look of bosoms. It was the likes
of characters such as Jessica Rabbit that would encourage such an hourglass figure to be so idolised for women, and it wasn’t until 1959 that the Barbie Doll was first introduced into the world. The doll that every woman wanted to look like, yes really, grown women would have killed for a body like Barbie’s. Is it not ridiculous to think that grown women would want to look like a miniature, plastic doll?
The wonders of a corset
ďťż
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“Being a sex symbol is a heavy load to carry, especially when one is tired, hurt and bewildered.” - Marylin Monroe
T
Corsets oday, absolutely. In the 50s however, not
became
undergarment
a
woman’s
necessity
for
best
friend,
every
the
woman’s
so much. Barbie’s luscious, long blonde hair that
wardrobe. Pulling them up, supporting them in and
reached right down to her bum and curves that
plumping them out in all the right places to achieve
fitted perfectly into her miniature outfits. Idealising
that desirable physique men of the 50s wanted to
women’s body image over a doll really is a tad far,
see on their women. But it wasn’t their bodies that
wouldn’t you agree? Pin-up girls, quite literally
were sculped to perfection, women’s hair spent
actresses and models photographs being ‘pinned-
hours being held up in rollers to have an end result
up’ by the male population to fantasise over, with
of perfect, shoulder length curls like those of the
retouches being made to their legs to look longer,
women of the decade; Marilyn Monroe and Grace
their waists to look a bit curvier, and their bosoms
Kelly.
plumped to perfection.
Magazine Title
SWINGING IN THE 60S THINK MONOCHROME AND MINISKIRTS
S
lenderness and sex objects. The 60s
The 60s saw the birth of go-go boots, Mary
was the decade that saw British model
Quant’s mini-skirt and petite shift dresses
Twiggy take over the role of the
complete with a pixie cut, well that was if
idealistic women’s body image; gentle features,
you were embracing the look of the modelling
petite figure and a soft, porcelain-like face
industry. Over in the world of acting, it was a
with jet black winged eyeline and spider legs
different story. With the likes of Jane Fonda and
for eyelashes. The ‘supermodel’ of the moment,
Sophia Loren where they held onto the idea of the
whose slender figure rubbed off on women all the
‘perfect hourglass’ figure from the 50s.
way across the pond in the U.S.A who stopped taking their weight gain medication from the 50s, to try and shed the pounds and fulfil the look of being ‘underweight’.
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NTO
Twiggy in the 60s
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“Her face should be her capital … even for a photo model who is usually flat as a board, Twiggy is too skinny. ” - Bert Stern
T
hroughout the 60s, this slenderness of women’s bodies was becoming a selling point for advertisers. Big beer companies, cigarette manufacturers and even Playboy began to choose women with a more slender, petite figure
in a ploy to make their products more appealing to men by sexualising them. Does society ever change?
Coincidentally, this was the decade that saw the birth of Weight Watchers in 1963, as well as the birth of, well, birth control for women!
However with this desire to become slender and slim came consequences and the 60s saw a huge rise in hospitalisations for anorexia nervosa, for women wanting to keep up with this idea of a slender figure, but is it really worth risking their health? A large majority of women in the 60s definitely seemed to think so.
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1960s cigarette advert
Magazine Title
FLOWER POWER AND WOMEN EMPOWERMEN
A hichhiker in the 1970s
D NT
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S U LT RY 70S A
h the 70s, the decade of non-stop partying, ABBA on repeat and spandex jumpsuits for days. With the hippie movement beginning towards the end of the 60s, the 70s
saw even more flower power than ever before. Slim-figures were in; dressed up in flared trousers and knot-tied tops if you were a disco diva of the 70s. If you opted for more of a hippie vibe; it was long maxi dresses and bell bottoms.
Unlike the 60s, where the ideal was to be skinny, petite and tomboyish, women of the 70s were still thought to have to keep up and maintain a slim figure, with bosoms that aren’t too outrageous and hips that are curved ever so slightly. And although women were still being sexualised in advertisements and society, this was the decade woman began to take a stand. The decade women began to take control of how they were perceived and began to become independent... hallelujah!
Magazine Title
“It takes a great deal of courage and independence to decide to design your own image instead of the one that society rewards, but it gets easier as you go along.” - Germaine Greer
T
his was a decade where women embraced
women for men and portray them as objects, and not
their slim figures and dressed themselves
only this but they were actually telling women that
more sexually, to feel more empowered
pear shaped figures are a no go. One advertisement
and more feminine within themselves. Whether they
of a pear had the tagline ‘This is no shape for a
were rocking sequins, shiny materials and platforms
girl’, that women should have the perfect hourglass
in Studio 54 with Bianca Jagger, or opted for the
figure, but not too much boob or too much bum and
beach bronzed look of the Charlie’s Angels. The 70s
with a use of exercise pills being advertised. How
let women embrace their figure and they showed
society thought women were meant to keep up
society that they shouldn’t be objectified to how
with this continuous scrutiny of their bodies in the
their bodies should physically look.
media is beyond me. Luckily the 70s saw women empowerment soar and their body confidence rise
Advertising in the 70s was still trying to sexualise
simultaneously.
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Exercise pills advertisement in the 70s
Magazine Title
Victoria Watson

Victoria Watson
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W H AT WO U L D A S T Y L I S T S AY. . . VICOTIRA WATSON’S INSIGHT ON HOW TO STYLE FOR YOUR BODY SHAPE AND IMAGE. I know what a lot of you are thinking, only people with
Victoria continued to say, ‘When dressing yourself, it
stylists are the ones who can afford to spend thousands
is all about dressing for your shape. You want to be
in one shopping spree, wrong. A stylist is someone who
and feel the most comfortable in your clothing and this
is willing to help you feel like you in your own skin and
is where you will begin to ooze self-confidence.’ and
the clothes that you wear. You do not need to splash
clothing size, but that does not mean what suits you will
out to feel fabulous and that is why we spoke to stylist
suit that other person, right?
and wardrobe consultant Victoria Watson, talking to her
Victoria continued to say, ‘When dressing yourself, it is
about different body shapes and sizes she works with on
all about dressing for your shape. You want to be and
a daily basis.
feel the most comfortable in your clothing and this is
‘Each and every woman is different. Different shape,
where you will begin to ooze self-confidence.’
different size, different features,’ Victoria began by
Victoria has her own social media platform where
saying to us, and she couldn’t be more right! There is
she keeps her followers and clients up-to-date with
not two women in the entirety of this world that has the
new ventures and upcoming events as well as styling
exact same figure. Yes, you may well be the same height
tips and outfit choices over on Instagram at @
and clothing size, but that does not mean what suits you
victoriawatsonstyle.
will suit that other person, right?
Magazine Title
LET’S GET PHYSICAL I THE 80S
FITNESS FANATICS AND THE BIRTH OF THE SUPERMODELS
S
pandex and supermodels. The 80s saw a love for fitness soar through society; with the likes of
L
inda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford were amongst the elite who were blessed with never-
Jane Fonda bringing out her own fitness videos and
ending legs, toned stomachs and faces that every magazine
Olivia newton John’s song ‘Physical’ being played on
wanted to grace their cover. Slim figures continued to
every radio staion and television out there. Women
be idolised in the 1980s by women and society and with
desired to have this fit, athletic, toned body type
supermodels bringing height and toned stomachs to the
throughout the 80s, and it was also, of course, the
table, it was another fantasised body image that women
decade that birthed the supermodels.
again had to try and live up to.
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Heather Locklear sporting spandex
Magazine Title
A
thletic is the word that springs to mind when you think of a woman’s body in the 80s, woulnd’t you agree? Not big
and muscly like what you would expect of a man, an athletic woman of the 80s was tall, slim and toned, with very slender legs and arms and a stomach that looked like it could have been drawn on.
Although it wasn’t just the supermodels of the moment who were sporting this, well, sporty physique in the 80s oh no, celebrities and stars of the decade were also really getting into their fitness. Jane Fonda was among those who took fitness and fashion to the next level; spandex leggings and bright leg warmers were seen all over the television especially in music videos in this decade, with high-leg leotards and colourful sweatbands accompanying the look.
80s Supermodels
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Olivia Newton-John
E
ven though having a fit figure is what women would seemingly want, in the 80s women were criticised if they weren’t a specific weight and needed to look fit without being too muscular.
Height was a big thing of the 80s, with people wanting to be as tall as the supermodels of the decade, and with this desire to be slim and toned, came another rise in eating disorders such as anorexia, with society pushing women to have this slender but toned, not too muscular but tall physique.
Magazine Title
MINIMALISM IS KEY IN THE 90S T
he decade of the ‘waif’. The decade Calvin Klein underwear
advertisements were plastered across every billboard in America and
every magazine in the world. The decade grunge, cargo pants, crop tops and slip dresses were taking over the fashion industry. ‘Heroin Chic’ was the figure of whom a young Kate Moss would be described as: skin and bones. This is the image that society were praising throughout the 90s, for women to look pale and underweight and, to put it bluntly, very unhealthy. Gone were the aspiring toned, tall physiques of the supermodels in the 80s and in were the gaunt, skinny frames of the 90s. Heroin itself even saw a rise in use throughout society after being glorified in the media by
were sporting a much smaller physique than those of the recent decade, and anorexia nervosa was even associated with the highest rate of mortality in the 1990 amongst all mental orders.
Kate Moss shot by Corrine Day
celebrities in both the music and fashion industries. Stars around the world
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HEROIN CHIC, CALVIN KLEIN AND BAYWATCH
Magazine Title
Pamela Anderson, Baywatch
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B
ut it was not all about this ‘waif’
Television and media have and always will have
figure; some people out there still
an effect on women’s body image and in the 90s,
fantasised about women’s features,
women who were deemed as ‘fat’ on the tv, were
in particular their breasts and that is where
being portrayed as those who were greedy and
Baywatch will spring to many minds. The 90s saw
unacceptable to a relationship with a man. We all
Pamela Anderson running across the seafront in
remember ‘fat Monica’ from Friends don’t we?
nothing but the smallest red swimming costume
The 90s saw obesity rise more than ever before,
the producers could find for her to wear. With her
so if women weren’t skinny to the extreme, then
long, blonde hair, slim stomach and rather large
they must have been obese according to what
bosoms, she was a sex symbol of the 90s.
society were perceiving their body images to be.
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AN INFLUENCER’S INSIGHT WE SAT DOWN WITH SOPHIE SELLORS TO TALK SOCIAL MEDIA, PLUS-SIZE MODELS AND PHOTOSHOPPING In a time when we as women are confused by the
constantly grief-stricken with comments such as ‘You
different images we’re bombarded with, how is it for
are too skinny, you are too this and too that.’
those influencers who work in social media? Sophie
In more recent times, there has become a lot of
Sellors, 21, is an Arbonne District Manager, and finds
contradiction within the media to what people are
herself having to navigate tricky waters. She says,
wanting to see. When we spoke to Sophie about her
‘Todays body image in today’s society is probably very
thoughts on body image in society today she explained
different to what we’re normally used to.’
how there has become a change in stigma, ‘We are
There are numerous ways in which people are perceiving
normally used to the skinny catwalk girls having to be
the look of influencers nowadays and there is a lot of
perfect with no bum, like some sort of up-and-down
pressure put on these women to look a certain way
physique.’ The influencer then goes on to explain how
for their followers. If it is a fitness blog they must ne
there is a more curvier look about the models that are
toned and muscular with zero body fat or if they are a
being chosen for editorials and fashion campaigns. I
fashion influencer they must be a size 6 with perfectly
would agree that there has been a change in the choosing
proportioned boobs and a bum. Sophie speaks of how
of models with a much more broader variety of models
she is one of many who suffers to put on weight and is
of all shapes and sizes.
Sophi
Sophie Sellors
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“I’ve been in situations before where I have been told I am liteally an up-and-down figure”
ie Sellors
Magazine Title
As women of today, it’s safe to say we can all agree that we put an immense amount pressure on ourselves daily to fulfil this idealistic body image, whatever you believe that to be. However, with the magical tools of both social media and programmes such as photoshop, you really can achieve these ‘body goals’. It is no secret that almost everyone on Instagram is partial to a cheeky filter on their pictures, but is it becoming a bit too much? Are these edits going a little too far when programmes such as Photoshop are being used to edit more than just the colour of these pictures? With some girls going to the extreme lengths of editing their physical appearances by making their waist thinner and their bum bigger.
Sophie Sellors When asked about this particular area of social media Sophie’s response was this, ‘I think it is very difficult for women nowadays to maintain a specific body image because what image is actually real nowadays?’ You will always have people who are going to critique and fixate over these sorts of things and a lot of people will admit that this is the big issue with social media platforms. Who are we to say that this person has made their legs thinner or woman has enhanced her boobs from a B to a DD? We are just women who all have our own insecurities and are trying to live up to a standard that might not even
Sophie Sellors
really exists.
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One standard that does exist though is that of, you guessed it, men. Even in today’s society women are trying to reach this body goal of the male perception and Sophie had something to say about that, ‘This specific body type of being a perfect hourglass figure, so the great breasts, a tiny, tiny waist, huge hum and huge legs. That isn’t normal, that is a very abnormal figure.’ Has time even changed? Asking Sophie about the stigma for women in decades past she began to talk to us about the 1950s and the Marylin Monroe, hourglass figure of that era that women looked at and thought that is what was needed to get the attention of men. She says, ‘ I’m seeing a lot of girls now who want to be more voluptuous, want to be more curvy, want to be more filled out in certain areas.’
The difference with women in the 50s and women now is that we care, as much as we want to try and not to, it is inevitable. We all have feelings, we all have insecurities, Sophie put it as, ‘We are so obsessed with getting that perfect curvy figure, without having that one dimple here and that one there.’ But the big issue with today is that of social media and how cruel people can be behind a screen. You have heard it directly from an influencer herself that even they feel the pressures of this obsessive body image realm of the online world. I think it is time for a change and, as Sophie said, I think we are beginning to finally see one happen. Magazine Title
Giselle Bündchen
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THE BIRTH OF A NEW MILLENIUM: THE 2000S
SPRAY TANS AND DEFINED ABS
T
he
noughties
were
the
decade
of
tank
tops, low-waisted jeans and some rather
questionable
outfit
choices.
Anyone
G
one was ‘heroin chic’ from the 90s; the pale complexion and gaunt expressionless face.
remember
In were spray tans, flat stomachs and visible hip
Britney and Justin’s double denim look at the AMA’s
bones. It is no secret that the 00s were obsessed
in 2001? Tragic. But aside from these fashion faux
with this glowing slim-figure with teen pop
pas, the 2000s saw a new breed of supermodels take
sensations like Britney Spears exampling this exact
over; with Gisele Bundchen leading the way with
body type, it was no wonder every young girl and
washboard abs and a spray tan to die for.
women wanted to try and get themselves this way as well.
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Mean Girls cast
N
ow the media, we all have a love/hate relationship with the media, but in the 2000s in particular, they were pretty
vicious and straight talking. If a star did not have a tiny, toned stomach, they were branded ‘fat’ by the media whether it be in a magazine or online. But if they were ‘too skinny’, they were branded anorexic or having an eating disorder? So for women in the 2000s, you needed to be slim, but without being too slim, with defined abs and hip bones but not too bony that you could be classed as looking ill, near enough impossible wouldn’t you agree?
“Is butter a
a carb?”
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With social media only just beginning towards the end of this decade you would think to believe that body shaming and ‘thinspiration’ were only something that has developed in recent years, but how wrong you can be. Think Mean Girls circa 2003, Regina George the popular girl in school with the infamous line ‘is butter a carb? I wanna lose 3 pounds’. It is these stereotypical roles of teenage girls wanting to lose weight and be skinny that then plant the seeds into the brains of society of wanting to lose weight and be skinny. No one wants to be the ‘fat friend’ from that movie or that TV series, do they?
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T H E D I G I TA DECADE: 201
KARDASHIANS O R V I C TO RI A’ S SECRET?
O
ur current decade, wow. I think this could be the most controversial yet, would you agree? The Kardashians have taken over with enhanced lips, bigger bottoms and tiny waistlines. But then the Victoria’s Secret models squad have bodies to die for.
Until you look at fast fashion brands who are beginning to include ‘plus size’ models to their advertisements. So what is it that makes a woman have the perfect body image today? The answer – there isn’t one. You’re scrolling through social media on an hourly, maybe even minutely basis and you are coming across hundreds of thousands of pictures, posts, accounts of these influencers and celebrities and we do think to ourselves, ‘how can I look like that?’ Then you dig a little deeper, search a little more and you will come across fitness accounts, healthy recipe pages, and even some people who have created an online profile to purely post pictures of these incredibly good looking women, a kick to the self-esteem.
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CREDITS: INSTAGRAM: @victoriassecret - Victoria’s Secret model Magazine Title
I
f you look like a Victoria’s Secret model, you can be seen as too skinny. If you
opt for the more muscular, fitness obsessed figure, you’re classed as too manly. If you are ‘plus size’, you can basically be prepared to be called fat. It is the media, social media, even society that is outing this hugely The pefect ‘booty’ unnecessary pressure on women and young girls to have to stick to rules and regulations of how they should look to be accepted. Nowadays you simply have to click onto a social media platform or flick through a magazine to see some form of fitness routine or diet plan or promotion for weight loss products.
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In more recent years, a comeback of the fad diet has been creeping up on us all including weight loss tablets, shakes to suppress your diet and even tummy teas that claim to shed the pounds and keep your tummy toned. But what women want nowadays is a quick fix to lose pounds quickly and honestly, unhealthily.
Celebrities can afford the best of the best when it comes to personal training and nutritionists, but for us mere, average women we have to stick to ourselves and these videos we see CREDITS: INSTAGRAM: @nutribuddy
and try to follow and the diet plans
- Nutribuddy products
that have been made up by someone on the internet we have never met or even know what they look like.
Magazine Title
So what do we think?
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So it’s official, we as a society are losing it. If we take
We see the Hadid sisters and Kendall Jenner rocking the
a step back and actually look at the bigger picture, the
ultra-slim, legs for days look of the modelling world
world, and think to ourselves; why do women need to
but then you have Ashley Graham who’s oozing body
look like that in the western part of the world and like
confidence as a plus size model that gets people thinking
that in the East? Why do women of Spain want to look
‘should we be more like Ashely?’, ‘Do I want to be as
different to those in Russia? Because every man, woman
skinny as Gigi or Bella?’. The question we all need to
and child has expectations to live up to, that’s why!
start thinking about is what makes YOU feel like YOU.
Is it being athletic and toned, do you prefer a little
Us, you, them, me, we need to begin to change this
cushioning for your tummy, would you rather bulk up
perception of fat being too fat and skinny being too
at the gym and be more muscular. It is up to you ladies,
skinny. The word skinny could have a completely
your body image is up to you. We all need to stop being so
different meaning to two different women, as could
judgemental on each other and start being a little more
curvy, and hourglass blah, blah, blah. Is no one else tired
open-minded on this subject. The trolls of social media
of this topic of conversation? We would think with the
should start to think about the affects their comments
numerous shapes and sizes and perceptions and debates
can have, the media ned to begin to consider the feelings
of all this that someone would say enough is enough.
of the people they are talking about.
Every woman out there, listen to the one person who’s opinion really matters – yours.
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R A W