Introducing Thigh Gap Jewellery, The Beauty Spoof Ridiculing Society's Negative Female Body Image

This is one beauty trend the world could do without.

The thigh gap - where if you stand with your feet together and your thighs don't touch - is widely agreed to be one of the most potentially damaging beauty trends that encourages extreme dieting and body image issues.

Despite being impossible for some people to 'achieve', while perfectly natural for others - it's all about the width of your hips compared to the length of your femoral head - the quest for a thigh gap is proof, once again, of society's one-size-fits-all attitude towards beauty.

That's why Singapore designer Soo Kyung Bae has taken the issue head-on, by designing a collection of spoof jewellery, called TGAP, to challenge the thigh gap trend.

TGAP

"Thigh gap represents one of the first few trends regarding body ideals the media has popularised," Bae told Dezeen. "It clearly demonstrates media's power on influencing one's perception of body image."

"The jewellery pieces take the thigh-gap trend to another level, the pieces are created in hopes of sparking questions," she added. "If we let the media to keep popularising such unrealistic body ideal, will this eventually become reality?"

The pieces are created from 18-karat gold-plated sterling silver, and are marketed on the TGAP website.

The website functions like a regular shopping site, until you go to pay for your goods. Once shoppers hit 'checkout' they'll be forwarded to another website, which explains the aims of Bae's project, using quotes and statistics.

TGAP

"There's an increased trend in which girls and women are engaging in extreme dieting in pursuit of a so-called thigh gap," reads a quote from Tania Heller, Medical Director of Washington Center for Eating Disorders and Adolescent Obesity in Bethesda.

"The bone structure defines whether you can have a thigh gap: the shape of the pelvic girdle and distance between the hipbones. Most women have narrow hips that even with little fat on their legs, there is no gap between their thighs," reads a quote Angela Guarda, Director of Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program.

At the foot of the project page are links to further information and support.

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