Whats up with the trend for naked female bodies in homewares?
Youve probably seen it on Instagram or in the background of a friends Zoom screen: the trend for nude, headless womens bodies in homewares. Naked bodies are often seen as taboo and yet, that hasnt stopped the fad for bare breasts and buttocks on candles, vases, mugs and more. Theres even a whole section of Etsy dedicated to Nude home decor. Although a relatively new trend in the world of homewares, celebrating female bodies is old news in antiquities. Just take the famous Venus of Willendorf: a small figurine dating between 28,000 and 25,000 BCE. Little is known about this ancient treasure  on display at Viennas Natural History Museum  but with her curvaceous form, she is thought to be a symbol of fertility. The Venus of Willendorf  While classical art has often focused on idealised bodies, the trend in homewares today tends to show the female form exactly as it is  and counsellor and Counselling Directory member Magdalena Stanek suggests it fits perfectly into the body positivity movement. From what Ive seen, they are not just presenting idealised human bodies, but rather normalising that weve all got flaws, she says. Its really nice to see normal human bodies that arent digitally altered images.  Constantly being bombarded with airbrushed and Photoshopped images of perfect bodies can have a huge impact on mental health, particularly that of young women. The Mental Health Foundations Body Image Report found one in five adults and 40% of teenagers surveyed said images on social media caused them to worry about their body image, and over a third of UK adults have felt anxious or depressed because of their body image. When we do see naked figures, its often in sexualised or purely aesthetic contexts  and these humble homewares could serve as a reminder that our bodies have other purposes, too. Our bodies are working for us day in and day out: lungs are working, heart is beating, explains Stanek. The counsellor suggests these naked figures in everyday settings can open up a dialogue around the body, creating gratitude  that it is a hard working organism that is constantly doing the hard job for us, she says. Our bodies are full of miracles  sometimes by diminishing that role as purely aesthetic, its really diminishing the full aspect of us as humans.  Seeing real bodies with big bellies and wonky breasts can be something of a balm. It sends quite an empowering message, muses Stanek. It helps break taboos around nudity, where the culture is [often] all about covering bodies, she says. Many of the artisans making these products do it on an individualised basis, where no two figures are the same. Not only is there diversity in body shape, but different skin tones tend to be represented too, which is hugely important. Stanek says: I had a client and she was saying its so nice to see someone in TV or in art that looks like you: someone with a similar skin colour or body shape. Its normalising.  However, this growing trend could also have its drawbacks. Stanek calls it potentially objectifying for women, particularly if figures are being treated as objects rather than representations of the real kind of human flesh. Big companies have started tapping into the trend, mass producing figures on an industrial scale. This means a sense of individuality can be lost, and theres a danger well start seeing more perfect body types  rather than vases showing the lumps and bumps of real women. For Stanek, the trend should be about normalising bodies as mainstream  its not for commercial [reasons]; its not for monetising it. It will potentially go in a different direction, because we live in a world that, when one thing is picked up, youve got hundreds of thousands of people creating the same thing. Then it loses the original idea and concept behind it.  If these figures start looking more like idealised body types, Stanek says that could definitely have a negative impact because itll bombard us with yet more images of what society thinks women should look like. Its also hard to miss one glaring fact: its almost entirely womens bodies featured, and very few male forms. I feel like men sometimes can struggle even more with their bodies, suggests Stanek  which is why there perhaps needs to be a similar movement in homewares celebrating the male form. There are drawbacks to the trend, but ultimately Stanek says: I feel more positives coming out of this than negatives.