the rise of the "pillow face"

How will beauty standards change in the foreseeable future?

We have been hearing about the “pillow face” for quite sometime, especially after pictures of Kylie Jenner at an event surfaced online. What does this mean for us as a society? Well, firstly we can briefly mention that the beauty standards are changing faster than fast fashion, before we were all on a “love your body” kick that has suddenly changed to shaming people for not being on ozempic.

Cosmetic surgery has rose more in the last 5 years than ever, it is very hard to tell people apart nowadays. When I watch a reality show such as Love Island or Too Hot to Handle the beauty in all of the women specifically, are the same. No one stands out. There is no such thing as timeless beauty.

I have been working on a theory for quite some time, that the new beauty standard will be the “pillow face”. This theory I would say is backed up considering beauty is often associated with wealth. Wealthy people are often the people that can afford such cosmetics.

From the Stone Age to the Renaissance the beauty standard was being overweight. Well-fed people were associated with wealth and prosperity. That means people of that time could afford food and afford to over eat. Making the curvaceous look, THE beauty standard.

Over time we have seen that clearly the beauty standards change. Such as in the 80s and 90s, not having a bigger bottom was attractive. Those who couldn’t achieve that look naturally, could afford to take classes to actually shrink their behind. In Sex and the City, Carrie mentions multiple times that her butt looked “too big” as a sign of a bad thing. Often in media we can see, how often beauty standards change for women.

With the rise of the Kardashians, having a bigger bottom was now the beauty standard. Everyone all of the sudden wanted to go bigger. Women are constantly chasing the beauty standard and somehow it is always maintained out of reach. Not even the Kardashians can seem to keep up.

Although my theory that the “pillow face”will become the face of beauty, right now Kylie Jenner is suffering backlash online for failing the beauty standard that she herself has set. We have all these young influencer whose identity and age seem to be a mystery as you cannot tell from the plastic face which generation they belong to. Every day younger people are getting cosmetic surgery. Unfortunately, it is almost like a drug. Changing yourself until you no longer recognize the person you see in the mirror. Overtime, the more fillers you use the less they will hold up. Creating a puffier and more mature look.

This I believe will turn into either of these two ideas; older beauty will begin to feel more appreciated or filler beauty will be prioritized. Unfortunately, I believe the second option will be our result. Especially considering surgeons will profit off of you for the sake of society and the downfall of you. As long as someone is making money, your needs as a human will never be prioritized.

With the amount of younger people undergoing cosmetic surgeries are constantly rising, that means the rate of the “pillow face” will as well go up, at some point all of your favorite people will look like Kylie Jenner and that will become the new standard that we look up to. The “pillow face” will once again be an unachievable for lower and middle class people, as we couldn’t afford the cosmetic surgery when it was the beauty standard. The cycle begins once again.