Clothes are meant to serve you, not define you
“Clothes are meant to serve you, not define you” is a statement Brittani Lancaster, a social media influencer with over one million followers across her platforms, advocates for. She inspires her viewers to accept that bodily weight gain and loss is normal, and that it may come with needing different sizes of clothing, whether this be smaller or larger than one’s “typical” size.
Social media is one of the biggest determinants of body image. This often coincides with body dysmorphia, strict dieting, and over-exercising for the purpose of having a desirable body size. This culture has resulted in an overwhelming amount of individuals focused on fitting into a certain size of clothing. The idea that a smaller size is always more desirable, always prettier, and always healthier is a long-standing ideology tracing back to the 19th century.
Some individuals turn towards “goal-weight clothes,” which is a piece of clothing that serves to motivate people to shrink themselves from their current clothing size to their desired size. Whether it’s to squeeze into a pair of denim skinny jeans or a small crop top—this desire often leads to extreme, and potentially dangerous, body-altering behaviors.
Mackenzie Newcomb, a fashion blogger, holds onto jeans that no longer fit. Newcomb feels that giving up these jeans would mean giving up on being a size six again, she said in an interview with Bustle. This practice further emphasizes how society encourages individuals to disregard their physical and mental well-being for the sole purpose of looking “good.”
Being able to buy standard-size clothing is often considered cultural validation that one’s body is finally good enough to embody the thin ideal of desirability. However for most people, especially women, weight fluctuates.
Additionally, clothing size, more often than not, is arbitrary. A survey of 955 people found that only about 1% of people perfectly fit into base-size measurements, which are measurements of the general size chart brands use to create their clothing.
A size zero could easily find themselves wearing a size two or four, and a size 12 could fit into a size eight or 10 as well. Clothing size is dependent on the brand and its manufacturer. Each of these factors are unique to the company. This means that sizing and numbers are often inaccurate, and simply a materialistic acquisition.
However, Adriana Blanc, a 23-year-old wellness content creator, took her weight gain during quarantine as an opportunity to completely detach her sense of self-worth from her jeans size while encouraging thousands of others to do the same.
Like Adriana, I believe that clothes are made to conform to your shape, and not the other way around. Clothing is a mere decoration—it can serve to help one become more confident, culturally significant, or to be functional.
The power of good clothes is a power we all need on our side. In the end, trends are temporary and we are only given one body. Wear clothes that make you feel confident.
