The causes and effects of fashion


           Fashion is a factor that is spreading quickly among teenagers. It is nice to watch fashion shows and runways and get fashion ideas for our daily life style. However, the most common effects of fashion on teenagers now days are insecurities, eating disorders and most of all the idea of changing who they are. Those are some of the effects of the fashion runways displayed on social media.

            In 2015, we have access to almost every social media and it is easy to watch the growth of fashion. Watching run ways from top industries like Givenchy, Balmain, Versace, and Victoria's Secret etc. inspires young girls to become the same as the models on the shows. High quality fashion shows usually have models that are really tall and most of them are actually even underweight. There have been magazine covers of these models that have been photo shopped to make these models look extraordinary. Young teenagers, who watch these models while growing up, get the idea of how to be “perfect” like these models.

Photo taken by Cyrll Attlas

            Insecurity is something that has become quite popular between teens these days. Girls and boys at this age want to fit in the society and be better, but when they see someone better than themselves it causes insecurities in these teens. There will always be someone better than you or someone who can be really perfect on the outside yet have a really ugly personality. We need to teach our generation and the coming generations the importance of being healthy physically and emotionally and not try to compete with photo shopped models. The insecurity caused by the underweight and photo shopped pictures of models also cause teens to have eating disorders.

 www.flickr.com/photos/jo-hanna-albert/6987750802/lightbox/

            When a teen watches a Victoria’s Secret model on the run way, he/she gets the idea of being just perfect and likable like that model without knowing if the person is actually in a healthy weight. Losing extra weight from your body and being healthy is a good thing; however, it is not something that can be achieved in a week or two. When a teenager or in most cases even adults watch these perfect looking models, they get an idea of losing weight. However they just want to lose within a week or two and they pick the easy way of losing weight which is really low calorie diets. Low calorie diets are diets that cut down on the calories mostly around 700 to 800 calories a day. Going from a high or normal daily recommended calorie diet to such low calorie diets can cause major issues in the body. If a teenager cuts their daily calorie diet from 2000 calories a day to 700 calories, chances are that the teen might face major issues like gallstones. Gallstone is a common and major side effect of eating disorder along with short term effects like nausea, diarrhea, fatigue and weakness. Another side effect that these low calorie diets have is that they help you lose water from your body instead of fat which will come back doubled in size. Eating disorders can be really dangerous especially for teenagers. If teens stick to such low calorie diets, then they can face many problems in their adulthood.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/germani/6155820093
(picture has been cropped)

            Last but not least is teenagers changing who they are to be like these “perfect” models and spending thousands of dollars to change their looks. For example, now days many teenagers are being inspired by Kylie Jenner’s looks. Seeing Kylie Jenner model for big fashion companies like Balmain, teenagers pick interest into changing themselves to look like that model/celebrity. Mostly it starts by lip fillers, many teens and adults are seeing Kylie’s plump lips and as a result they are spending thousands of dollars to get lip fillers to achieve the exact looks of her. However, some of these teenagers change their image in order to fit in with the new trends of the society which causes them to change physically and emotionally.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/disneyabc/15838191216

Physical changes like lip fillers, face lifter, breast enhancer etc. is done to be in the competition of new fashion trends. Also emotional changes like stress and depression take place.

            Fashion trends is something that cannot be totally stopped or vanished from social media however, there are ways to make it suitable for everyone. If top fashion industries like Versace, Victoria’s Secret and Balmain etc. start using models of every size and shape, then insecurities and eating disorder problems can become in control. Also using real pictures of the models that have not been photo shopped should be used in order to let the audience see the real beauty and flaws of the model.