BBL fashion has taken the world by storm this year over social media platforms like Tiktok and Twitter. A term coined on social media platforms perfectly describes the fashion trend that caters to a body type achieved by one of the most painful and dangerous plastic surgeries, the Brazilian Butt Lift. Popularized by some of the most prominent celebrities like Kim Kardashian, Saweetie, Nicki Minaj, – and many more, the BBL consists of the widening of the hips, flattening the stomach, and enlarging the breasts and buttocks to achieve an “hourglass figure.”
Mesh, bodycon, and cutouts are three of the primary components of BBL fashion. Fashion companies like Boohoo, Pretty Little Thing, and Fashion Nova are most known for their contribution to BBL fashion. BBL fashion features little pieces of fabric sewn together with a gaping hole in the center and sides to make a dress to show off the very pronounced figure. However, BBL fashion doesn’t just stop at dresses. Many swimwear companies also cater to BBL fashion, making it impossible to find anything that doesn’t have huge gaps and holes.
Since BBLs have become fashionable and famous, it has prompted the celebration of curvier bodies. However, the parts that are being celebrated are provoking insecurities within people that may be curvier but not in the BBL way. It is terrible because it perpetuates almost unattainable beauty standards, but it also contributes to the problem of the production of fast fashion.
Fast fashion is the overproduction of trendy and cheap clothing. It takes ideas and samples from celebrity looks, and catwalk looks. The consensus is to get the newest trends and styles out on the market as fast as possible so that consumers can grab them when they are still popular. However, after the height of their popularity is over, consumers then discard them, making them one of the most prominent polluters in the world. Since BBL culture is starting to trend down, BBL catering fashion items are beginning to be produced and discarded at alarming rates. Because of the fall of the BBL and BBL fashion, clothing companies are starting to make pieces that cater to all body types, prompting a new body inclusivity movement that is ridding the fashion world of the perpetuation of unattainable body and beauty standards.
