Jameela Jamil is The Good Place
If I could name drop any celebrity as my fantasy friend that I may have briefly met years ago, and with whom I have absolutely no relationship now, it would be 32-year-old Jameela Jamil.
Even more impressive than her trajectory of T4 presenter to Ted Danson co-star (if you’re not watching The Good Place on Netflix you’re a forking idiot) is her current campaign against the crass-ness of women only considering their worth in terms of appearance.
Her @I_weigh Instagram is encouraging women to measure themselves by their actual successes rather than an ability to contour their faces into angular oblivion.
What started as a reaction against absurd celebrity fan accounts that post pictures of famous women listing their physical weight has become a
force of vehement positivity, with women sharing images of themselves alongside a list of who they are and what they’ve achieved, instead of focusing on their reflection in a phone filter.
There is a worrying epidemic among young women of considering appearance above all else. If women aren’t talking and showing off about how thin or good looking they are, then they’re staking a claim on their imagined flaws before anyone else can point them out. This oppressive demand for physical perfection has surely reached breaking point.
We must not constantly reduce other women to their appearance – and yes, I appreciate the perceived irony of this sentiment appearing on a fashion page, but perhaps that’s why it’s important for it to be stated here.
Enjoy what you wear, love it, obsess over it, allow it to give you confidence, but don’t be defined by it. We are so much more than our outfits.
The best look will always be the one that allows you to totally forget about it and just get on with your life.