Recent fashion and beauty trends have shifted from the body positivity movement toward more traditional beauty standards. This is epitomised in the return of skinniness as the physical ideal and lack of current emphasis on the body positivity movement in the face of traditional beauty standards. In the 2020s, we see this body type hand in hand with the increasing popularity of simple and minimalistic fashion trends.

Conservative and home-centred trends like ‘Clean Girl’ and ‘Quiet Luxury’ have flooded mainstream fashion. These trends offer an image of a rural lifestyle, traditional values and wealth, creating an idealised version of the past and the illusion of opting out of the complexity of current society. This is accompanied by brands shifting their marketing strategies and selling variations of the same monochromatic basics to align with this trend. Pretty Little Thing’s recent rebrand is just one example of this. The brand has reoriented their focus from mostly bold coloured, tight-fitting, ‘club fashion’ to more modest and Clean Girl-esque pieces with a focus on ‘elevated neutrals’, which are largely similar to what other brands are currently selling. One scroll through their website also shows models with a very singular look being presented, with a distinct lack of size inclusivity.

Wanting to look smaller to accommodate this trend is not the individual's fault, but it does impact personal style. It could be said that any body-trend impacts personal style as they conform to society’s ‘desired look’. However, the desire to appear smaller imposes certain ‘rules’ in the way we dress, which restrict and limit the shapes and styles of clothing we explore. When the need to appear smaller surpasses the need to express oneself, personal style and individuality are suffocated. Clothes become tools to make our bodies look a certain way rather than as modes of self-expression.

The cycle of fashion and body trends can feel limiting, but personal style does not have to be dictated by the desire to look smaller.

The desire to be smaller can take a back seat if a conscious effort is made to make getting dressed about something other than the way your body looks. Dressing can be an act of creativity, an opportunity to play with shapes, textures and colours in a way that feels exciting and authentic. Content creators such as Mac Rose - a personal stylist on various social media platforms - advocate for dressing for your body type in a body-neutral way. By considering volume and harmony through shapes, colours and textures instead of using minimisation to look smaller, personal style does not need to be suffocating. Looking for fashion inspiration in unconventional places, such as art, architecture, historical fashion, and subcultures, can also help make getting dressed more fun. By shifting the focus from minimising the body to celebrating individuality, fashion can become a form of self-expression rather than restriction.