The beauty and the problem of glamorization illness Is the Succubus Chic aesthetic the new Heroin Chic?

Concepts of illness and beauty have long been intertwined in Western culture. From Elizabethan England to modern times, a thin but seemingly unbreakable thread links emaciated, suffering appearance, death and glamour, dictating aesthetic standards that are not only unattainable but potentially dangerous. A case in point? The characteristic chalk-white make-up with lead powder that Queen Elizabeth I applied to her face, neck and décolleté was used to hide the disfigurement caused by smallpox, but was also imitated by aristocratic women to create a pallor that symbolised their exalted status and contrasted with the tan of the lower classes who worked outdoors and in the elements.

"In the 18th and 19th centuries, it was thought that the exterior revealed your interior character. The more attractive you were, the better a person you were. Today’s wellness ideals are also not correlated to actual health because anyone who doesn’t fit into the beauty standard is seen as unhealthy." Day explains and reminds us that not much has changed in 2023. Past and present chase each other, offering us snapshots that tell of the same notion of unhealthy beauty, now inescapably linked to a physique that is far more than elongated. A person with more voluptuous curves may be healthy, but always conveys the opposite message, because that is how we have become accustomed to beauty standards. Extreme thinness and a haggard, almost sick look always win. Just ask Gabriette, who, although always beautiful, talented and interesting, only became really successful after she became so thin that she became a kind of copy of Angelina Jolie in a dark 90s version. And what about Amelia Grey, who is almost a clone of Gabriette? The only thing that has changed are the tools we use to fit in. Real illness is no longer an option. Suffering has to be mimicked, worn on the face and body, but no one wants the major and minor complications and disabilities that come with chronic illness, nor do they want to deal with the people who suffer from it. Hollow cheeks, pallor, pronounced cheekbones and thin waists are achieved through a distorted idea of wellness that consists of restrictive and often absurd diets, wild cosmetic surgery, gruelling fitness sessions and buying mountains of cosmetics. In short, in 2023, holding on to a beauty that matches that of a tuberculosis patient in Victorian England means having a bulging wallet. The next time we suffer from seeing ourselves distant and ugly in comparison to Amelia, Kylie or Angelina, we should think for a moment. It is the beauty industry in general that needs to be re-examined and completely re-thought. Knowing the references of succubus chic will not change things, but maybe it will make us enjoy the gothic look without reproducing what is sick about it.