Exposing the Standard: The Harmful Ideals in Fast Fashion Advertising
As part of my research for Her Body, Her Image, I created a mood board using imagery from fast fashion brands such as PrettyLittleThing, SHEIN, H&M, Zara, Calvin Klein, and others. These images represent what is constantly being pushed in the media toward young women aged 16–25. They highlight a narrow, highly curated and often sexualised beauty standard — one that consistently idealises slim, able-bodied, Eurocentric features, flat stomachs, and hyper-feminine poses.
This visual curation is not accidental. It’s the product of a commercial strategy that relies on making women feel “less than” so they continue to buy more. The repetition of these body ideals across ads reinforces a homogenised version of beauty, leaving little room for diverse, natural, or imperfect representations. And when brands do attempt to offer “diversity,” it’s often superficial — box-ticking rather than deeply inclusive or empowering.
A Moodboard of Media Pressure
Why I created these mood boards
Creating this mood board was a crucial part of my process. It allowed me to visually map out the landscape I’m critiquing and to contextualise the kinds of images young women are bombarded with daily. This is especially important for my campaign because it shows why change is needed — and who it's needed for. It’s not just about challenging unrealistic beauty ideals; it’s about exposing how damaging, repetitive, and manipulative these visuals are, and offering an alternative that celebrates authenticity, softness, vulnerability, and diversity in the female form.
This collection of imagery functions as a reference point for what my work is reacting against — both visually and ideologically. By making these comparisons clear, I’m able to more effectively position Her Body, Her Image as a counter-voice to fast fashion’s narrow ideals, and use it as a foundation to build my own language of visual resistance through art, zines, print, and fashion.
