Fashions Pretty Privilege Problem
A reframing of the fashion it girl
At the time of writing this newsletter the term pretty privilege has over 340 million related videos on TikTok and the #prettyprivilege hashtag has over 304 million associated videos, a figure which has probably gone up by now. The only way you wouldn't have come across this term is if you’d been living under a rock for the last decade or so, and if you’ve been privy to the click-baity depths of social media then at some point or another you’ll have stumbled across this latest trending term which is taking the internet by storm and ruffling a few feathers along the way.
To cut a long story short, pretty privilege is a term the internet coined to describe the leg up in life certain people get when they’re perceived as conforming to societal beauty standards. You know, symmetrical faces, big eyes, plump lips, long, straight hair and curves in all the right places (but not too much). Oh, and you better have abs that can cut like knives and a flat stomach too. Basically, pretty privilege is a homogenous beauty standard that rules out anyone whose not thin, white, young and able-bodied. It’s exactly as crappy as it sounds.
We live in a shallow and superficial world with this beauty bias deeply entrenched into the foundations of our daily lives, there's no escaping that fact. And while pretty privilege has been making the rounds online in recent months it isn't a new concept and anyone who sits outside of its restrictive parameters knows this. The closer you look, the more you’ll become aware of it and it's a sad truth to have to come to terms with. Pretty privilege is something that's been around in fashion since the dawn of time, and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Fashions biggest taboo
Pretty privileged people sit at the top of society’s social ranks. They’re thought to be smarter, more successful, more likeable, healthier, and easier to be around. And this opens the doors to a world of opportunities for them with their supposed pretty privilege just making life a whole lot easier. But pretty privileged people aren’t necessarily aware of their privilege whether they’ve experienced it first-hand or not, they often don’t think they have it because they’ve never known life without it. To which a problem arises: how do you talk about it if you can't even be sure that it's there to begin with?
I get it. Anyone on the receiving end of pretty privilege benefits probably doesn’t want the associated perks taken away from them, maybe that's why they’re so reluctant to own up to it or even talk about it. But rewarding physical attractiveness and placing it above everything else is harmful to say the least. And in fashion, the models that grace magazine covers, editorial spreads, shiny billboards and brand campaigns are typically treated as superior human beings because of their looks and their looks alone. I mean, their looks are why they get chosen for such jobs in the first place.
So when fashion advertising and marketing uphold the pretty privilege agenda using it as a strategy to sell whatever it is they’re trying to push, it's a crying shame for all those involved. Whether that's the people creating the images, the people behind the scenes who you don’t usually see, or the likes of you and me who bear witness to this rigid standard of beauty in the content we consume. And it feels irresponsible at a time when an underlying theme in fashion is the lack of diversity. If your face isn’t perfectly symmetrical, if your hips are a little too wide, and if your skin is a shade too dark you can often struggle to see yourself represented in fashion media. So where do we go from here?
A new era of fashion it girls
Before the world succumbed to times of digital darkness, aka before we all became glued to our phones and mindless scrolling, there was an era of female socialites and heroines who had that certain je nais se quois we couldn’t quite look away from. We as a society have always been obsessed with it girls. Everyone wants to know her, everyone wants to be her, and even being in her mere presence can make you stand that little bit taller, and feel that little bit more important. And yes, your typical it girls have generally been blessed (or burdened depending on what way you look at it) with pretty privilege.
But a new era of new fashion it girls may be our fighting chance at rewriting the rule book and challenging a society that places such importance on physical appearance and attractiveness. The likes of Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, Emily Ratajkowski, Kaia Gerber and Emma Chamberlain have had their time in the sun, with their Eurocentric features and pretty privilege catapulting them beyond their girl status to household names adored worldwide. But even they are not immune to crippling insecurities that target the conventionally attractive, with their outward appearances arguably wielding a little too much power which can in the end turn sour. It’s time to do things differently.
Welcome the likes of Janet Mock, an American writer, television host, director, producer and transgender rights activist whos been one of the few new-age it girls to shine a light on pretty privilege. Yes, she sits FROW and is invited to exclusive fashion parties and events, but she’s also bringing something else to the table by speaking out about an issue that has deep ramifications in the fashion industry. And Julia Fox and Zaya Wade are also adding nuance to the conversation by disrupting industry norms through the way they engage and entertain the fashion masses. By letting people in instead of shutting them out, and steering the landscape to be more open and inclusive, these new fashion it girls have that extra flair that turns pretty privilege on its head and welcomes something fresh and new.
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