The fashion industry is one of the biggest in the world, and its rising influence is shown in its ever-increasing growth rate. However, fashion often comes with a high price that not only pertains to one’s bank account, but to one’s health.
Unbeknownst to many of their wearers, skinny jeans, one of the most popular fashion trends of today, can be detrimental to a person’s physical well-being. Squeezing into too-tight pants can result in a tingling sensation or numbness in the legs, caused by the compression of the femoral cuatneous nerve (the nerve running along your thigh) and serious nerve damage later on. The pressure can also affect the flow of blood through the veins and arteries in your legs, heightening chances of glaucoma and blood clots. In addition, the constraints the tight waistbands place on your body increases susceptibility to gastrointestinal damage, distention and heartburn. Men should also wear skinny jeans with caution; the possibility of producing progeny of their own could be compromised by the restricting denim.
Footwear is another crippling piece of one’s wardrobe. High heels are especially damaging; in addition to heightening your stature, they heighten the chances of outcomes ranging from bunions to nerve damage to stress fractures. The elevated heel places more weight on the balls of the feet, causing pain and unequal distribution.
Flip flops are nearly as bad as high heels, offering no arch support. The necessity of clenching one’s toes together to keep the flip flops on causes foot fatigue, sore calf muscles and signs of what could turn into long-term ankle and hip problems.
Accessories pose their own dangers, too. Earrings and other body piercings are vulnerable to bacterial infections and heavier ornaments can stretch the holes or even tear through the flesh. Even décor for the hair, such as hair extensions, can cause bald spots when worn too long or changed too frequently.
Looking back on the past fashion trends, we can see that history has had its share of hazardous styles, in many of which the women chose style and social acceptability over health. For example, foot binding was all the rage among Chinese ladies and by the 19th century, nearly all upper class women were tottering about on rotting stumps of flesh rather than allowing their feet to retain their natural forms.
Corsets throughout Europe also had devastating effects on the body, causing internal bleeding, rearrangement of vital organs and permanently altered ribcages.
These examples set by women in the past should be enough to convince today’s society that sometimes forgoing popular trends and taking the unfashionable route might be better than suffering in a stylish manner.
