On social media, you may see "BM girls", who wear small skirts, tiny T-shirts and skinny jeans. The group is named after the Italian fashion brand Brandy Melville. It says its clothes are "one size fits all".
However, most clothes the brand provides for girls are in small sizes, according to British newspaper The Sun. The brand's idea of "one size fits all" has made many girls feel uncomfortable.
"For me, the problem was not the fact that I couldn't purchase your clothes. The root of my frustration is in the humiliation I felt when I realized that ... I just wasn't good enough for the Melville brand," young girl Andy Esmond wrote on the website Odyssey. "I got the message loud and clear: If you don't have an ideal body type, we would rather you not wear our clothing."
Esmond is one of many girls around the world who are dissatisfied with their body shapes. According to a 2018 survey conducted by Youth Select Committee in the UK, 8 in 10 teenage girls in the UK want to change their weight or body shape. Tn China, more than half of teenagers want to lose weight to make themselves look better, according to a 2018 survey by Southern Weekly.
But fashion trends like the Brandy Melville clothing line do nothing to ease the anxiety of negative body image. Instead, they feed it further, noted Coppell Student Media. In order to achieve such an "ideal" image, some girls develop eating disorders. Even worse, this trend may lead to low self-esteem, depression and hopelessness.
"The idealization of thinness can be a key factor in worsening the illness and preventing recovery, and fashion retailers should respect diversity in people's natural body shapes and sizes," Beat, the UK's leading eating disorder charity, told Fabulous Digital.
After all, beauty doesn't come in a box, or in one form. Just recognize that we are all different and that is something to be celebrated. In fact, accepting your true self can display a natural beauty that cannot be ignored.
