Anya Taylor-Joy last night faced claims she was “normalising starvation” after posting a picture online of herself with her waist squeezed into a corset.
The British-Spanish actress, 27, wore the corset under a Maison Margiela gown for the New York premiere of science-fiction epic Dune: Part Two.
She posted a black and white picture of herself in the underwear to her 10.2million online followers.
Many of them pointed out that corsets – made popular in France in the 1500s by Catherine de Medici and remaining in use across Europe until the First World War – were associated with unnatural and unrealistic ideas of body shape.
One of her followers commented, “What a terrible, terrible thing to do to yourself or share with others, as an influencer.”
Another said, “You are going to kill people with this sort of beauty promotion. Please, please stop. That photo of your teeny, tiny, unrealistic waist is going to hurt children who don’t have the maturity to understand how unrealistic beauty standards are.”
A third person added, “Can we not normalise starvation? Thinness isn’t chic.”
However, other followers defended the actress, with one saying she had “the right to wear anything she likes.”
Ms Taylor-Joy was approached for comment.