To the Editor:

Fashion trends come and go and they cycle back every couple of years. Most recently we have started to cycle into early y2k fashion.

Characterized by tiny tight crop tops and extremely low low rise skinny jeans. While I was not alive at the beginning and wasn’t aware of the world till the end of this phase of fashion which was around 1995-2009.

The fashion was bright and fun, very different from the more conservative fashion trends of decades before. The only problematic aspect of this era is the constant scrutinization around women’ s bodies. Heroin Chic was on the rise starting in the 90’s. Popularized by the model Kate Moss who was so thin every bone in her body was visible and is famously known by saying her mantra “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

The look was inspired by heroin addicts. What could go wrong? It was characterized by being deathly thin to the point of emaciated , pale skin that showed veins, accompanied by dark under eye circles. If these attributes sound familiar it is because you have been seeing them pop up on red carpets this awards season.

If you haven’t looked at the actresses on the red carpet I have just described all of them by stating the heroin chic aesthetic. Some of you may be reading and trying to figure out why I am writing about something that celebrities are doing. How does this affect you? In truth? It might not.

It is, however, harming young girls and boys. Celebrities are trend setters, if your child looks up to a certain actress, say, Arianna Grande they will see her severely emaciated and malnourished all the while showing off this body in the most revealing and tight clothes possible. When you look at most female celebrities, you will see carved faces with hollow cheeks and temporal wasting, when looking at their torsos you will see deep hollows above and below their collar bones and their breast bones with their ribs branching out visibly .

These women are dying in front of our eyes. Heroin chic before caused two generations, millennials and gen z to grow up with disordered thoughts around food all too often leading to the development of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. The kids currently seeing their role models wasting away will lead into early development of eating disorders as well trigger others with these disorders into relapsing.

Anorexia is the deadliest mental illness and leads to long term physiological symptoms for the rest of the person’s life. We need to remember that all bodies are beautiful. Not everyone is built to be 105lbs or less. While celebrities aren’t actively promoting this lifestyle verbally, they are promoting it with how they look and ignore the criticism. I understand not commenting on people’s bodies but at some point it is dangerous not to do so.

We have reached that point. So many people have died and will continue to die due to these eating disorders. We need to speak up and teach the younger generations that they do not need to starve or force themselves to throw up to be seen as beautiful. If you know someone or are going through this please seek support and get help before it is too late.

Colleen Keller