Why the Oscars Proved Ozempic Chic is The New Heroin Chic
A phalanx of wanly beautiful Ozempic wraiths hovered over this year's Oscars red carpet. All hollowed faces and bulging collar bones, they were a reminder that skinny is back, with all its ethereal and toxic baggage. Arcane beauty standards never went away, but now they're more boring than ever with plain-suited men and thin women in hyper-feminine sequins being heralded as the new taste pinnacles. What happened to Bjork’s 2001 Marjan Pejoski swan dress or to Billy Porter’s 2019 Dior tuxedo? Well, looking good is serious business now, and the days of red carpet fun have fallen flat. Looking as attractive as possible is the new priority, leaving artistic experimentation by the wayside.
Hollow cheekbones and skeletal ribs are a status symbol now, and exercise is for those who can't afford Harley Street thinness. Tucked into every red carpet handbag this year, the Ozempic syringe was the latest fashion accessory.
'When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder, "is Ozempic right for me?"' joked Jimmy Kimmel in his 2023 Oscars speech. It surely is, Jimmy. In 2025, you’d struggle to find a bigger red carpet trend. Hidden behind their chemically suppressed appetites, this year's cohort sported thinner arms, tauter faces and knobbly knees. Rumoured to be on Ozempic since her Wicked tour, Ariana Grande drowned in Schiaparelli couture, while Kylie Jenner slimmed into a cut out Miu Miu gown. Yes, everyone was beautiful. Yes, everyone was thin. But our idea of beauty is narrowing (literally).
In fact, weight loss drugs are not new to the Oscars. The 1960’s saw a free-for-all on diet pills. By 1970 5% of Americans were using prescription amphetamines to get themselves some emaciation. As the population physically shrank, the times were staunchly reflected on the red carpet. When Faye Dunaway won a 1968 Oscar for her role in Bonnie & Clyde she came dressed like a black swan with wafer thin legs. In the same year, a tiny Elizabeth Taylor wore a petite jacket and Bulgari jewels. Both women spoke later about mental health issues and addiction. Suppress the appetite in one place, and it tends to pop up elsewhere.
The diet pills of the past seem innocent compared to Ozempic’s injectable diet culture. Just use the needle, count to six, and you can be like the wraiths on the red carpet too. Don’t expect to be exactly yourself, though. In inserting the needle and suppressing your appetite, you’re one stop closer to changing your avatar. As Ozempic sculpts the celebrity body into a work of chemical art, it is no longer fashion that’s the spectacle, but the celebrity form. The Oscars body is like an ever-changing tabula rasa, but it’s never easy to disassociate the mind. There’s a phenomenon known as ‘Ozempic personality,’ which isn’t exactly fun-filled optimism when you factor in the rocketing rates of suicidal thoughts and general depression.
In times of geopolitical turmoil, there’s comfort to be found in tradition and if fashion's old tropes state thinness as 'good', and declare beauty to be men in suits and women in sparkly frocks, then so be it. With the rise of the miracle-syringe, the body positivity movement has shrivelled into mere propaganda. Skinny never left, and since Kim Kardashian’s BBL-size tear in Marilyn Monroe’s dress, 90’s heroine-chic has set its icy grip on the population. Except it's no longer heroine, it's Ozempic. International stardom is like modern enlightenment, and in desperation to achieve a celebrity body our hunger has turned on itself. First it was fillers in the face, now it's alien-like hypodermics in the body; who knew Hollywood was governed by such a post-humanist agenda?
