Why do we let supermodels tell us how to dress?

Have you ever wondered how canonical beauty, respecting the classical standards of Western society, affects the way we see others and ourselves, including how we dress? Through a series of videos on TikTok, supermodel Taylor Hill's sister Logan light-heartedly and never too rhetorically explores the relationship between status, body and fashion, crystallising it in the characters idolised on social media for their perfect style.

Her series "Is it a fit or is it just ___" goes like this. Logan, a 28-year-old fashion and beauty influencer, picks a photo of a famous and admired girl (at the moment she's done it with Bella and Gigi Hadid, with Sophia Richie, Kendall Jenner and with her sister Taylor) wearing a look that's neither ugly nor beautiful, just maybe a little eccentric or unflattering to some people, and tries to replicate it on himself with similar (but never exact, after all, it's often luxury brands) clothes, wondering if it's good in absolute terms - and therefore can look good on a 'normal' person - or if we like it and it only works because we see it on a canonically attractive famous person. He expresses his opinion and the debate rages on in the comments.


A simple format, but always impressive, because underneath its apparent superficiality and underneath the fact that it is taken as a game by its protagonist, it gives us some food for thought, from the most obvious to the less obvious. At first glance, one might think that it makes sense to give more importance to the taste of these girls who work in the fashion industry and therefore spot trends better, earlier and faster than us mere mortals. Is it so hard to assume that someone like Bella Hadid, who is a model and hangs out with photographers, stylists, designers and people in the industry in general, has more specific and refined tastes than those of us who have to dress to go to work, to the doctor or to traffic? That makes perfect sense. They are authoritative figures who not only interpret fashion with their publications, but also anticipate it by pointing out micro-trends and tendencies.


But then other factors come into play. First and foremost is the body. It's no coincidence that these girls are also always thin and white and considered beautiful. This has been debated for a long time. On social media, in addition to Logan Hill, there have already been a number of series where the question has been asked: "Is it the beautiful look or is the person wearing these clothes just thin?" As observers, we have to learn to ask ourselves this question, because the tendency to see everything a thin person does as aesthetically 'right' or to more easily 'forgive' style breaches is forced upon us by decades-old beauty standards, there is no doubt about that, but it is also a self-feeding phenomenon, a kind of domino effect by which we only bring fame to the stylish people. For this reason, it is also important that characters with other bodies or in a minority position expose themselves and express all their disguise creativity without being ridiculed. The eye gets used to what is highlighted and words and speeches follow suit.

Finally, it is worth talking about status. Often models and model-influencers are so famous and admired because they offer a lifestyle that is unattainable for a normal girl their age. Whether they have achieved this through their beauty, their skill, their family or all these things combined, it does not matter. Their followers look up to them from below and long to be like them, to eat and dress like them, to become like them. As can be easily guessed, this pursuit of ambition carries some risks. For example, imitating body types that are not our own can lead to very serious health problems. Related to the issue of ecology and environmental sustainability are the excessive shopping and consumption that we feel almost compelled to do in our drive to imitate.


There is no single antidote to this problem that does not come from thinking about these mechanisms, about our relationship to fame and norms. Ideally, we should become aware of these mechanisms and dismantle them 'from within'. Certain groups of users have already achieved this. Just think of the phenomenon of anti-influencing. We are on the right track, but there is still a lot to do!