Bella Hadid is Social Media’s Favorite Muse

Image Courtesy: Strike Magazine Tallahassee

Bella Hadid is a style and beauty icon in her own right. Recently, she has gained more and more notoriety online; the name Bella Hadid is synonymous with beauty and the “ideal” body.   

Trends influenced by Hadid are frequently circulating online. At the beginning of this year, people were highlighting their jaws after seeing a picture of Hadid with a stark, sharp jawline. Her slicked-back bun has been trending on the internet as a clean girl staple, and she brought back the prairie girl braids.  

Image Courtesy: Allure 

For the most part, trends inspired by Hadid are fun and fashionable; they are everyday people copying the style and beauty of a supermodel. Some trends have a darker background than how they may appear, promoting disordered eating and an unrealistic standard of beauty. One such trend is circling now. There is an audio snippet on TikTok of Hadid introducing herself that has over one hundred thousand videos. With that said, the majority of these videos consist of people sharing disordered eating habits, like skipping breakfast and saying that this makes them feel skinny like Hadid. They are posted to get views, but they also spread harmful narratives as we return to the “thin is in” societal standard.  

Of course, none of these trends are in any way Bella Hadid’s fault, but they do represent a lot of what is wrong with the contemporary beauty narrative. Bella has been open about struggling with an eating disorder in the past, yet we still create these trends and sounds that make a mockery of these struggles. These types of videos also just continue to push the narrative of having only one acceptable version of beauty. 

Bella Hadid is wealthy with access to plastic surgery, skincare, and diets that are not widely available to the public. She has her makeup done by professionals and is dressed by people whose only job is to make her style look good. The jawline we all tried to recreate at the beginning of this year was manufactured in a doctor’s office. There is even speculation that Hadid took photos of Carla Bruni to her surgeon to recapture the 90s supermodel’s classic beauty. While all these things may be necessary for Hadid to maintain her job as a model and cultural icon, they are not things that others can experience or obtain.  

Image Courtesy: Anabel Magazine

Hadid herself is always a topic of conversation online, and that likely will not change any time soon. She is chic, and cool, and gives off the air of not trying, a style that is extremely in right now. She brings us a lot of good beauty and fashion hacks, but it is also necessary to be cognizant of how she can represent harmful standards. Bella Hadid is the internet’s favorite muse, and certain implications come with that role.  

Strike Out, 

Writer: Lydia Coddington 

Editor: Addy Crosby 

Graphic Designer: Nina Boyd