Forever 21: Let our knees be (knees)!
Discount fashion retailer Forever 21 is adding another item on the drop-down menu of “body parts to feel self-conscious about”: knee caps.
Are these the front or the back of her knees?
The web site featuring their skirt-purchasing options has more than 100 items in which the models’ kneecaps are completely airbrushed out, or are cleverly obscured so only a hint of curvature is detectable. The preposterousness of these photos is compounded by the fact that they list the model’s measurements, as a very ineffective and pernicious piece of sizing guidance.
As if our consumer culture doesn’t do a good enough job of providing us with an endless stream of warnings about how our organic bodies are inherently flawed, we now need to turn a curious eye to our knees to see how presentable they may appear.
Fashion for girls “too pretty to do math”
This David & Goliath "I'm too pretty to do math" t-shirt can only be found in womens' juniors sizes.
Statement t-shirts have taken a turn for the tragic now that David & Goliath has put one on the market that simply states, “I’m too pretty to do math.”
And thanks to Epbot for pointing out that the pastel pink message only comes scrawled on shirts in womens’ juniors sizes.
Oddly enough, this truly depressing slogan is apparently a “thing” now, because it was also featured on magnets being sold at Forever 21.
“Was” being the operative word, because the retailer apparently had enough sense to pull the product from its website (but, as The Frisky notes, it is likely still widely available in stores). Continue reading
The skinny on “skinny” products
Forever 21 gives you the skinny, in jean form, and otherwise.
The following post was written by 16-year-old About-Face supporter Haley:
I think I can speak for most girls my age when I say that my generation is an impressionable one. Knowing this, companies constantly bombard us with manipulative ads and products that make us feel worse about ourselves than we already do.
Take skinny jeans, for example. Those things have been around for years, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. My friends don’t wear any other type of jeans, and they’re certainly the only style I own. But I wish that wasn’t the case. Not only do skinny jeans sexualize girls of all ages to an extent that frightens me — I mean, really, some girls can’t even sit down in them, they’re so tight — but wearing pants with a name like that is just plain problematic.
Sure, tell me that the term “skinny” just refers to how snugly they fit, but the truth is that skinny jeans send some not-so-subtle messages to consumers: you must be extremely thin in order to wear them. And when a disturbing sentiment like that catapults into the media, our culture becomes more and more weighed down by false beauty ideals. As if we needed any more of that. Continue reading