Appearing on Ellen to promote season two of Euphoria, Sydney Sweeney was primed to discuss on-screen nudity. She had brought her grandparents to the premiere, and, when asked of their reaction to Sydney’s copious topless scenes — the most of any actress on the show — she responded, “They said I have the best tits in Hollywood.”
Recently, it seems Sydney might have some competition. Last October, an episode of The Kardashians revealed Khloe Kardashian’s desire for implants. “I am really contemplating getting my boobs done — it is something I think about all the time,” she said, on record. Eagle-eyed Instagram accounts dedicated to augmentation transparency have spotted the apparent breast enlargement of Megan Fox, Nina Dobrev and Madison Beer. Then there’s Pamela Anderson — an actress-advocate open about her enhanced assets — who’s had somewhat of a renaissance with Pam & Tommy, and her own documentary, Pamela: A Love Story; she recently opened Boss’s SS23 show in Miami.
“My breasts have had a brilliant career,” Pam said at a film festival in 2014. “I’ve just tagged along for the ride.”
The comeback of big boobs feels novel for several reasons. Firstly, it comes in conjunction with a dramatic shift in beauty standards, says New York-based trend forecaster and on-air style expert, Kendall Becker. While the late 2010s seemed dedicated to large derrieres — heralded by the growing popularity of BBLs and numerous sonic odes to big butts — the continued rise of y2k styling and semaglutide injectables has seen a shift away from buxom beauty. A wane of fuller figures on spring runways early this year confirmed thin is back in, claims Kendall, echoing an era when “bigger breasts were favourable.”
“Pop culture is undoubtedly a driver of this shift,” Kendall says. “We’ve seen the Kardashians losing weight, influencers like Alix Earle opening up about augmentations, and when it comes to fashion, there have been [bodices] that draw attention to the chest for some time now — think back to 2020 when ‘Regency-core’ first become buzzy — especially the corset top.”
“The boob renaissance is upon us, and it’s kind of a double-edged sword,” adds Jen Hussein, a beauty writer at Allure. While larger breasts proliferating pop culture reinforces a more realistic shape for women than that of the 90s ‘heroin chic’ aesthetic or early 2010s pro-ana era on Tumblr, she says, it may also signal the triumphant return of the ‘bombshell’: a silhouette selected for and often credited to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show — which only last month announced it would be returning. The misconception is that the bombshell is the all-American girl: athletically – and therefore naturally – slim, with the genetic blessing of larger breasts: Sydney Sweeney, for example. It goes hand-in-hand with “filler fatigue,” as celebrities opt for ‘au naturel,’ or at least, appear to.
“Currently, there’s a noticeable shift in celebrities removing their filler, [re-doing] their implants and going for the ‘natural’ — the curves celebs relied on to gain popularity are now ‘magically’ disappearing,” Jen continues. “Yes, in a perfect world, a celebrity embracing their natural body shape is great, but what women in Hollywood aren’t admitting to is that their bodies are still being manipulated.”
“The desired volume for breast augmentation has become more natural in appearance, as the key trend towards a thinner overall appearance has become more popular,” says Dr. Natoli, a board-certified plastic surgeon at New York Plastic Surgical Group. “This is really highlighted with the popularity of weight loss medications like Ozempic, Contrave and Saxenda. These have been popularized by many influencers as of late.”
When she was 13 years old, Lia Mugavero grew 36DD breasts seemingly overnight. She was 5’3 and 115 pounds, and, deciding they felt disproportionate to the rest of her body, had a breast reduction soon after graduation. What came next was a two-decades-long journey that culminated in two additional breast augmentations. After unintentional weight loss, she opted for saline implants landing at a 34D. After some discomfort, Lia swapped them out for silicone in 2020.
“I had felt like a piece of my femininity was missing when I lost what I had post-reduction,” she says. “I also experienced this weird, sort of depression immediately after all three surgeries. It was a very strange post-op feeling… a subconscious mourning of your old self. It’s strange and not something I was prepared for.”
Breast augmentation with implants continues to be the second most popular plastic surgery procedure, with the annual audit by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS) indicating a 67% increase from last year. At the Creo Clinic in London, Plastic Surgeon and Senior Medical Director Dr. Omar Tillo says there has been a significant increase in both the number of requests for breast augmentation with fat transfer, and removal of breast implants and replacement using their own fat tissue. Then there’s rapid recovery, wherein the surgeon relies on a series of new techniques often used in sports medicine to help injured athletes bounce back faster (think: boob job on Friday, back to work Monday). This means that post-augmentation there is no need for special bras, bandages or prescribed pain medication, and you could be recovered in under a week. There is no cut-and-dry candidate for augmentation, but Dr. Tillo says implants are generally requested by young women aged around 18 or older.
“[Mostly, it’s these patients] who are dissatisfied with the small size, shape or symmetry of their breasts,” he says. “The majority of patients request a modest enlargement that keeps the final breast size in proportionate harmony with the rest of their body.”
Across the pond, Dr. Natoli has come to the same conclusions. While size might have been everything in the early aughts, the surgeon says that today there is a lot more to a great pair of breasts. As the natural aesthetic dominates, lifts are among the more requested procedures. Another technique gaining in popularity is placing small implants over the muscle and supplementing with fat transfer at the same time to achieve a natural breast shape.
“In the last five years as Brazilian Butt Lift surgery has really become more commonplace, we’ve noticed a trend towards fuller for voluptuous figures and desire for more breast enhancement in general,” he says. “However, in more recent trends, we’ve seen a turn towards a more natural, slimmer silhouette following the trends seen in influencers.”
“Ozempic parties are the new tupperware parties,” echoes Jen Hussein, “and [we’re also inundated with the effects] of body-slimming procedures like EmSculpt and liposuction. It kind of seems like mainstream media is backpedaling to the 90s. It’s practically unpredictable to know what will happen next, but Hollywood’s and fashion’s love affair with unrealistic beauty standards doesn’t seem to be going anywhere for a while.”
What concerns Dr. Nicola Brown, Associate Professor in Female Health at St Mary’s University, co-author of How do girls’ magazines talk about breasts? is just how quickly cultural authorities are able to establish — or, in this case, reestablish — a body ideal.
“The norms presented in the media become the standards by which women judge their bodies,” she says. “When it comes to breasts, many forms of traditional and social media convey the message that there is a [perfect] breast size and shape to aspire to, and that not achieving this will be problematic.”
Though this time, Jen says, there’s pushback. With the body positivity movement still in our rearview mirror, size-diverse content and influencers have somewhat armed us in the battle against harmful messaging. Still, Dr. Brown says, it’s difficult to swerve the overarching idea instilled by media and marketing alike: that physical attractiveness (whatever that looks like) is one of women’s most important “assets,” something that we should be perpetually improving.
“Exposure to such messages and media representations can contribute to psychological distress, body image concerns and low self-esteem. The bottom line is that all bodies are beautiful, trends or not, and women’s bodies are not something that need to be ‘fixed’.”
She has a point. “Loving your body is a long journey and surgery is not going to magically fix whatever you might think is wrong with you,” Lia adds.
No one person can possibly align with every form of beauty, especially in an era when the needle is moving faster than ever before. Five years from now, our concept of beauty may be dramatically different — and we’ll laugh at what we used to wear, or worry about. Boobs may be back according to your feed, but for many of us, they never left.