Kim Kardashian's Met Gala corset: designed for drama but a step too far?

The theme of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's spring costume exhibition is "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion" – but at the Met Gala on Monday, Kim Kardashian reawoke a debate about "unrealistic beauty standards" with her "incredibly tight" corset, said Grazia.

Attending the star-studded fashion event in New York on Monday, the reality TV star wore an outfit designed by John Galliano that left the magazine asking, "where exactly are her organs?" 

In a behind-the-scenes Vogue video, Kardashian explained just how uncomfortable it was to "vacuum-pack her lungs" into her outfit, said The Cut. "I'll feel so snatched, I won't even be able to communicate to you how snatched I feel," she said, adding that breathing in the corset was "an art form".

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'Outrage baiting' at the Met 

The founder of shapewear brand Skims "always makes a splash with her Met Gala looks", said Vogue. This year's combination of a "dramatically cinched waist" and a baggy grey cardigan clutched around her shoulders recalled the "extreme proportions" seen at Galliano's spring show in Paris, which "set the internet ablaze" in January.

Actually, that's the point, said Glamour. Over the past few Met Galas, Kardashian has "made a name for herself" for "outrage baiting": showing that she can "contort her body to fit into dresses that most mere mortals cannot". She "all but ensures weeks of online discourse". 

The Kardashian "bread and butter" is causing scandal and gossip, often at the expense of "making women feel bad about the way they look". It seems she is "less focused on fashion" than on the "all-consuming need to ensure that we all talk (and talk and talk) about her seemingly non-human body".

In a "debacle" in 2022, Kardashian wore Marilyn Monroe's "Happy Birthday Mr President" dress by Jean Louis. Fashion lovers and historians were "outraged", especially after the dress was rumoured to have been damaged.

If this year's outfit made you angry, "that was probably the goal", agreed Glamour. And this isn't the first time Kardashian has been accused of "promoting unhealthy beauty standards", said The Cut. She gushed about the "crash diet" that allowed her to fit into Monroe's dress. And before the 2019 gala, Kardashian took "corset breathing lessons" to wear a Thierry Mugler outfit. "I have never felt pain like that in my life," she later said.

Fashion 'should never come at the cost of well-being'

Every year Kardashian's waist "seems to shrink further", said Rebecca Shepherd, senior anatomy lecturer at the University of Bristol, in an article published on The Conversation. 

She has long championed "waist training" (wearing compression girdles for long periods to "train" the body into an hourglass shape). But this year's look involved a "controversial" practice: tight lacing, or extreme corset cinching. Medical professionals have been concerned about it since at least 1793; a tiny waist can come "at a terrible price" to the anatomy. 

A tightly laced corset "compresses the lower rib cage", restricting the lungs and diaphragm, which can cause dizziness, fatigue or fainting. 

Tight lacing also "increases pressure inside the abdomen", which can compress the vein that carries blood back to the heart. Over time, this can increase the heart rate and blood pressure, because the heart has to work harder. Compressing the abdomen can "displace the stomach, intestines and liver", leading to "slowed or disrupted digestion". This can cause acid reflux or "chronic constipation".

Corsets can even lead to "musculoskeletal changes", because they restrict the natural movement of the torso and hips – which could explain why Kardashian seemed to have "difficulty walking" on the red carpet. Over time, this can lead to "weakened back muscles", posture issues and chronic back pain. 

Although occasional wear is unlikely to cause severe consequences, frequent tight lacing can lead to "a host of medical issues – and potentially even death". Ultimately, said Shepherd, fashion and style "should never come at the cost of well-being".