Cassey Ho is the woman behind the Instragram account Blogilates, where she shares her fitness adventure with over 1 million followers around the world.
Less than a week ago she embarked on a project to Photoshop her body into the “ideal” form in six different historical eras and has already earned 165,000 likes.
Proud of her own body, her project was meant to show just how unattainable beauty standards can be, especially when it’s the shape and not the size of the body that happens to be “in style.”
Here’s Cassie with her new husband of about a year, clearly happy with the shape she’s in.
She’s a fitness buff and the founder of Pop Pilates, an equipment-free and dance-heavy workout routine inspired by Pilates, PIIT28, a Pilates-inspired intense interval training workout that can be completed in 28 minutes and 40 seconds, and the POPFLEX activewear company.
Cassie’s project began with the current era, where the Kardashian-esque shape of a small waist and full bottom are coveted by women around the world.
As Cassey says:
“Big butts, wide hips, tiny waists, and full lips are in! There is a huge surge in plastic surgery for butt implants thanks to Instagram models posting ‘belfies’ [butt selfies]… Betwen 2012-2014, butt injections rise by 58%.”
This is a far cry from the previous decade when Victoria’s Secret models were the ideal type.
“Big boobs, flat stomachs, and thigh gaps are in. In 2010, breast augmentation is the highest performed cosmetic surgery in the United States.”
Perhaps we can alter our breasts and butts, but long legs are something you’re either born with or not.
And while height wasn’t necessarily part of the package in the 1990s, the runway was still the place to look for thinspiration.
Of this era, Cassey notes:
“THIN IS IN. Having angular bone structure, looking emaciated, and super skinny is what’s dominating the runways and the magazine covers. There’s even a name for it: ‘Heroin chic.'”
We then head back tot he 1950’s when the hourglass was less Cardi B. and more Elizabeth Taylor.
While it may look more attainable, we know that many women achieved this look through the use of uncomfortable and often dangerously tight corsets. Even the thin aren’t necessarily shaped this way.
But even Elizabeth Taylor’s curves are pretty tough to achieve if you think about her tiny waist:
“Elizabeth Taylor’s 36-21-36 measurements are the ideal. Marilyn Monroe’s soft volumptousness is lusted after. Women are advertised weight gaining pills to fill themselves out. Playboy Magazine and Barbie are created in this era.”
It’s hard to imagine that gaining weight was in, in light of our current obsession with weight loss, but it’s easier to understand once we see the “ideal” figure of the 1920s.
“Appearing boyish, androgynous, and youthful, with minimal breasts and a straight figure is in! Unlike the “Gibson Girl” of the Victorian Era, women are choosing to hide their curves, and are doing so by binding their chests with strips of cloth to create that staight figure suitable for the flapper dress.”
And what’s a “Gibson Girl,” you ask? A reasonably curvy (but still tiny-waisted) idealized drawing of women created by
Cassey’s final Photoshop feat is creating the Botticelli babe of the Renaissance era.
“Looking full with a rounded stomach, large hips, and an ample busom is in. Being well-fed is a sign of wealth and status. Only the poor are thin.”
It’s pretty remarkable how ideals have changed over time, especially when women’s bodies can only be exercised and bound into so many shapes.
It’s a shame to think that women have been marketed pills and surgeries for over 100 years in order to change their natural bodies.
And in case you were wondering what Cassey actually looks like compared to all these photos, she’s clearly the “ideal” of the fit girl, but she’s certainly earned that shape with all of her hard work.
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