What do you think about women who strive for the 90s/00s "skinny b*tch" look?

[BeAlertRaven]

I'm asking because I'm one of those women myself. I think it's because I grew up in that era and watched a lot of MTV and shows like America's next top model etc. I also idolised skinny women in my teens. I feel like other women see me as vain and overly concerned with my appearance or assume I have an eating disorder (which I don't have btw).

Kylie has perfect proportions so looks longer than she is. I wouldn't put her in the same category, she looks healthy.

Kylie would be doing concerts that require stamina to keep moving for hours - often in heels.
I believe she’s petite as in short but she looked fit too - not sure if going to the gym was common back then but she looked like she could run up a few flights of stairs and be fine.

She’s 56

I am also naturally very slim. I am 54 and don’t think I look older than my age. Why would it be ageing to be slim if you have always been that way? My skin isn’t sagging. I have wrinkles and grey hair.

When you look at 00s photos of Lindsey, Nicole, Paris etc facially they still looked like young girls with rounded faces etc. Now the trend is to have a stronger, fuller body but much less facial fat with sculpted jaws & cheeks

Just looked it up and she's 52 lol. Hannah Waddingham is 50 and could be her daughter!

@TheOtherAgentJohnson I do agree that the emaciated look indeed looks awful in clothes - however I was simply thinking very slim in clothes , rather than outright emaciated.

I don't think that's what the OP is talking about. She means that raddled look that has caché in certain circles, and was briefly fashionable in the early 00s.

Why is skinny linked to bitch?

I was a teen in the 90s and absolutely loved fashion back then. Naomi was my absolute favourite, but I also loved Cindy, Claudia, Helena and Linda, so a bit before the cocaine chic look, but still very slim.

I still prefer to run on the slender side today, but I dont think I'm a bitch. I'd be disappointed if someone looked at me and decided that based on my weight.

So like Jodie Kidd (who seems like a lovely woman and not a bitch at all) or ratty Jordan in the early 00s?

I've no idea what the "bitch" part of it is, I hadn't heard that term until this thread—maybe starving yourself brings on rage, I don't know. I remember them being called lollipop ladies, because they got so thin that their heads looked like a balloon on a stick.

Not sure about Jodie Kidd and Jordan, but I remember Courtney Cox, Calista Flockhart, Portia de Rossi, Renee Zellweger, Paris Hilton, Teri Hatcher and Victoria Beckham being among the most high-profile in that era. It was all about bones sticking out—elbows, shoulders, spine, hips.

Wasn't the birch bit a compliment of sorts? And more of an American thing. Like OMG you are so skinny, bitch.

I thought it was meant to be jealousy from women who were also starving themselves but less effectively - that bitch is so skinny.

Yes that's what I meant by a compliment, you are a bitch because you are skinny.

I naturally have this figure. I have come to accept it is my figure and there's not much I can do about it, although I have joined a gym and managed to gain half a stone in muscle. It wouldn't cross my mind that someone had an eating disorder because I'm slim and I think sometimes people assume that of me, but if they looked unwell it might cross my mind. I don't think I would think they are vain either. I think some people just prioritise how they look more than others. I'm one of them, if people think I'm vain I don't really care. I like how I look and try to make the best of what I have.
I must admit and I hate to admit, but it's kind of nice to naturally have a figure that is 'fashionable' at the moment after kardashian curves being the desired figure and making me feel like I have the figure of a child!

Op said about striving for a skinny b1tch look - this is not the same as eating healthily and avoiding calorie laden foods and being active. Not the same at all and my post differentiates clearly between the two.

I wouldn’t think anything at all really. I don’t care much how other people look. I prefer slim but curvy myself but if someone wants to be super skinny, knock themselves out!

This.

What is the 'skinny bitch look'? My ex-boss called me that at a nightmare previous job, so that strikes a chord.

I always think of Nicole Richie and Paris Hilton in The Simple Life as the “skinny bitch” look not that I’d ever personally use that term!

Yeah, you don't get protruding hip bones by turning down a second piece of cake.

I don’t think people have to strive to be slim or put in huge amounts of time and effort, it’s more about avoiding things that cause them to gain excessive weight. If you’ve never put on too much weight in the first place, (which can be down to luck and circumstance) then apart from not eating everything you fancy, it is not a huge effort to maintain a normal weight

A skinny look normally means underweight...

i think it’s a fairly dangerous look to push for, especially if you’re in your 40/50’s (I’m guessing by what you’ve said so apologies if I’m way off). Bone density and muscle mass plummets when you’re past 40 and dieting to be skinny doesn’t support maintaining or building those things. It’s time to get strong not skinny.

It’s all about fitness and health in my circles (I’m 25). The skinny thing doesn’t particular appeal, I want to be and look strong. I like to think I’m doing this because it makes me feel better (love the gym) and not because I’m following a trend, but it’s probably a bit of both! I think it’s a more positive trend than either heroin chic or the BBL look, which, incidentally I have only rarely seen in the wild, but you still get your extremists eating enormous amounts of protein etc.

Bone density and muscle mass plummets when you’re past 40

Does it? I thought it was a steady decline from peak adulthood and then a sharper drop after menopause, which would be more like 50 than 40.

You actually start to lose 3-5% every 10 years from the age of 30, so yes, it’s a significant loss. Not something to be taken lightly if you want to maintain your health as you age.