“I never want the world to know everything about me.”
Billie Eilish is one of the hottest artists on the rise right now. It’s hard to believe that she’s ruling the world at only seventeen years old. Her career is on fire, with her debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ thriving at number one.
One of Eilish’s many notable characteristics is her fashion sense. Her unique style revolves around baggy, oversized clothing. There has been a fairly large focus on her clothing choices all over the media. Many people question her fashion motives… Is it a part of her public persona? Is she uncomfortable with her body image?
Fashion is a source that humans utilize to dress and express themselves, which is exactly what she is doing. As of recent, Eilish confirmed that she wears baggy clothing in order to deter the public from her body, therefore they cannot judge her for it. In a recent Calvin Klein ad, Eilish reveals that she doesn’t want the world to know everything about her. She adds, “Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick’, ‘she’s not slim-thick’, ‘she’s got a flat ass’, ‘she got a fat ass.’ Nobody can say any of that, because they don’t know.”
This campaign sparked a lot of conversation all over social media about the sexualization and objectification of women’s bodies. Many fans were in agreement with Eilish and rooted her on, understandably. A lot of people found themselves relating to her words in this campaign, leaving them feeling connected to her on a deeper level. As humans, we all deserve our decency.
Eilish further explained herself on this subject matter in a recent Vogue Australia interview. She jokingly stated that she likes to wear clothing 800 times bigger than herself, which a lot of us can relate to as well. She expressed, “It kind of gives nobody the opportunity to judge what your body looks like.” She added, “I want layers and layers and layers and I want to be mysterious. You don’t know what’s underneath and you don’t know what’s on top.” She continued to make a good point, stating that she doesn’t want to give anyone the excuse of judging her because as humans, that’s just what we do—whether we intend to or not.
Eilish said that she has gotten inspiration from another fashion queen, Rihanna, whose body image has also been in many headlines over the past couple of years. Rihanna is known to use fashion as a defense mechanism as well. Being a woman in the public eye is nothing near as easy as a lot of people might assume. The pressures from the media, audiences, and industry are indescribable and borderline inhumane. These women are constantly being judged, misinterpreted, and shamed for everyday struggles that a majority of humans go through—just in front of a larger audience.
Not long after she addressed the reasoning behind her fashion sense, Eilish’s point was quickly proven after a new photo of her began to circulate. This photo revealed more of her body than usual, therefore leading people to publicly comment on it—shocking, huh? There was a viral tweet going around calling her “thick,” because she happened to be wearing a tank top that exposes her bust. Fans respectably rushed to Eilish’s side, attempting to back her up and defend her honour.
Although Eilish’s intentions are to use fashion as a security blanket from the world’s judgement, she’s doing a damn good job at making it look cool.