Am I the only person who thinks Victoria Beckham looked better in her early Spice Girl days...

[isittoolatetosay]

...before all the weight loss, then she has since?

I don't get why she's so celebrated as a style icon for being skinny. She was lovely and had beautiful facial features in her early fame days

I think she looks gorgeous in both pics 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't actually eat a of lot cake either. You're missing the point It's not about "stuffing" anyone's face with cake or even the actual cake per se. It's about being able to take pleasure in celebrating normal events in a normal way. A small birthday cake can be enjoyed aesthetically and for the pleasure rather than saying, "Oh, veggie cake for me please."

I watched the documentary and I think she looks incredible now. Her hair is lovely and I prefer her make up now; she really suits those softer brown tones, whereas the heavy black eyeliner she used to wear was very harsh and ageing.

As for David's affair, I have no sympathy for his self-pitying tears but I was surprised that he all but admitted it, finally. Obviously he didn't come out and say it but the way he ended that segment of the interview with "but at the end of the day, it's our private life" and a pointed look (to me, at least) heavily implied "yes, I did it but I'm not saying anything else".

Agree. Despite the body positivity movement - which can be a bit extreme, which I think is offputting for a lot of people - there's still a lot of pressure on successful women to be thin. In fact, there's research suggesting the two are intrinsically linked, and if you're fat, it reduces your earning capacity by 30% (only applies to women - not men, obvs!). And it's not just about being thin now, there's pressure on women to look like they're not ageing at all, which is a whole massive industry now.

We should be able to talk about this without accusations of misogyny being bandied around.

@Tighginn Whaaaat???

It won't ever die as people have been interested in celebrity since time im. For example, in thirties and forties, young girls would collect pictures of Princess Elizabeth. In today's world sadly reality stars and so called Influencers are seen as celebrities by many.

Mirabai & youboozeyoulose

The very fact that you think that not eating yourself into oblivion is an eating disorder or a stupid comment shows how far society has swallowed the Body Positive message.

Eating less to feel a little hungry after a meal extends your life and has the added benefit of anti ageing
And before anyone thinks anti ageing is solely about how someone looks, this is about how your body feels as it ages.

I can tell you, as someone who is the wrong side of 60 that ageing is physically painful. Anything you can do to stave off the pain is worth it.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/ageing-slows-feeling-hungry-perception-b2337507.html

Also there is a difference between having a restricted diet where all the vitamins and minerals your body needs are covered to one where you just eat very little.

It won't ever die as people have been interested in celebrity since time im. For example, in thirties and forties, young girls would collect pictures of Princess Elizabeth. In today's world sadly reality stars and so called Influencers are seen as celebrities by many.

The 13th century equivalent of the Daily Mail undoubtedly had a sidebar commenting on Eleanor of Aquitaine 'flaunting her curves' in the latest tapestry...

The reason people discuss her looks is because that is all she brings to the world. Her whole public persona is based around what she she wears- she was posh spice, known mostly for her designer fashions, now having her own fashion label, modelling, her own make-up brand, you-tubing about her beauty routine etc. etc.

If that is your industry and your chosen career then it's there to be analysed, criticised or praised as people see fit.

Nobody is on here discussing the looks and fashion choices of Mary Beard or Angela Merkel are they because they haven't made their lives about their looks like Victoria!

Because of course it’s either under-eating or over-eating there is no middle ground.

Ironically I’m slim myself but not of the mindset that uses scientific studies on flies to justify Orthorexia. And don’t patronise me about pain - I’ve had an AI illness for a long time.

Being too thin can cause many painful physical problems as pp's have pointed out. VB is obviously seriously underweight. She mostly hides it nowadays by wearing baggy, shapeless clothes much of the time. Irl she is probably absolutely tiny and fragile. At her age and weight there are big risks of injury due to osteoporosis and other health related issues that can be caused by being underweight for years. It's good to be a healthy weight at any age but it's really not healthy to be underweight as an older woman.

@yalta that new study ‘suggests’ it doesn’t say definitively that being hungry is linked to ageing more slowly.

There are studies however that show that older people who are a bit heavier - not obese but with some weight on - actually fair better in old age than thin ones.
Anecdotally I have seen that in my family. Mostly as the bone thin ones eschewed food for smoking as they had done all their life to maintain societally approved thinness.

Those on here advocating restrictive eating and referring to anyone eating cake as ‘stuffing’ themselves and saying with certainty that being fat is a one way ticket to cancer and diabetes etc are as problematic as those critical of thinness. Every discussion on weight comes down to the same lazy insults - if you don’t enjoy food fine, but your language projects your own issues around it loud and clear and undermines any health claims.

Disordered eating, be that over or under eating is not good for anyone. The amount people need to eat to be healthy varies from person to person based on factors that can’t be assessed by a cursory glance or blanket judgement.

And holding thinness up as a barometer of health is just delusional - thin people get cancer and diabetes every day. Thin people who stay that way through under-eating also develop things like osteoporosis at a higher rate.

Let alone people who smoke or use off label drugs to maintain a weight their body is not meant to be. People using ozempic to suppress their appetite and buying it off unlicensed sellers online are at risk of gastroperisis (sorry awful spelling!) amongst other things - a condition that costs a huge amount to treat on NHS. Yet they would be held up as healthy by some on here simply because they are thin.

I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life yet I am also the healthiest - backed up by a recent full body check.

To some on here I would be considered average size, to others obese : what actually matters is health and that can be achieved at many sizes despite the absolute certainty of some to the contrary.

The idea that her busy life prevents her putting on weight - what planet is that coming from? I know plenty of women working 3 minimum wage jobs then coming home to kids/housework/ caring for older relatives. Not one of them looks like Victoria Beckham. When will this equation of low weight with moral rectitude just fuck off?

I have a daughter with an ED and the extreme thinness of many women in the public eye is a massive driver of this, along with the misconception that excess weight=laziness and dirtiness. So yes, I judge this crappy aspect of our society and those who propagate it.

Not blaming VB though, working in fashion puts her in the most brutal arena for competitive thinness. Just hope she's protecting her dd from it.

Most people don't look better in their 20s, you're just equating youth and beauty.

Can we have some examples of extreme thinness in society? Genuinely, who are we talking about?

Who are these people who influence young girls who are unhealthily thin? I can't think of any women in pop culture in 2023 who fit this paradigm.

Ice spice, Maya Jama, Kylie Jenner etc are not extremely thin. Who else are we talking about?

Over40Overdating Are you trying to lump thin people who smoke and don’t look after their diet and probably don’t do any exercise etc with those that stick to a diet that covers all the vitamin and minerals etc they need, don’t smoke but do exercise and saying that they will all have problems later in life

I was trying to make the distinction between the people who are thin because they don’t eat or eat a diet just based on restricted calorie intake as opposed to those who have a restricted diet because it only includes foods that give them all the vitamins and minerals etc they need regardless of calories.

FWIW I don’t eat cake (I really don’t like it)

This is, similar to what used to be in magazines from celebs who were fairly new mothers. Asked how they have "snapped back into shape" the reply would be "Oh it keeps me slim running after a 1 year old"!! What utter rubbish. If that was the case all mothers would be thin. At least nowadays they mostly admit to punishing exercise routines not so much the restricted eating.

Younger generation - Anya Taylor-Joy, Zendaya, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Nicole Richie, the Olsen sisters, Lily Collins

Older - Kate Bosworth, Gwyneth Paltrow, Keira Knightley, Angelina Jolie, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kate Moss, Princess Kate, Amal Clooney, Davina McCall, Holly Willoughby etc

Kylie Jenner and the world of surgical alteration is whole other question.

Only a few of those listed are extremely thin! Most are just slim. Being young and slim is healthy and normal.

Holly Willoughby? She really isn't thin! She's a perfectly normal healthy weight!

Are any of these people emaciated?

Most are average weight are not even remotely 'thin'. Wouldn't look twice at any of them. A few are thin.

Thin people still exist in nature. Thin people existing is not responsible for anyone else's ED.

We can have every sympathy with those with EDs but blaming healthy/slim/attractive women for triggering it is nonsense.

EDs are based on a distorted sense of oneself, not because celebs are in good shape. I just see it as an excuse to gossip. Nobody here calling Victoria a stick, rail thin or gaunt is doing it because they care about anyone else's body image.

I’d say they’re all very thin, and many have gone through phases of looking too thin. Some may be slim naturally as I am. But the fact of it being natural doesn’t mean it doesn’t exert pressure on women who don’t have such small frames. I’m aware of this as I have a teenage DD.

HW was much curvier previously and has obviously felt pressure to slim down.

She looks good in both but like all of us nearing 50 bright sunlight and no makeup is how we really look.

I admire her discipline as I have none. I wish she would adopt me for a couple of years and keep me locked up and feed me what she eats and make me exercise. I’m saying this because I’ve been off work after my son went to University to get my weight down and I’ve put weight on! I don’t have the stress of work or looking after kids to use anymore. Everyone’s living their life mine just involves dodging photos, loads of wine and food. However, I’m starting again on November 1st 😂.

BTW a University degree isn’t everything it’s not like her kids could have gone to the local state schools they would have been media mobbed all the time.

One of my best friends had AN and I knew 3 other women who had it too. All of them commented at different times that they felt too large as per the cultural paradigm. None of them were objectively large at all.