“I never loved aerobics,” says Cher, right before she launches into a step class involving swoops, kicks, jumps and a heart-rate check-in. The year is 1991. Cher is resplendent in sheer black tights, a black leotard with what looks like a painfully narrow crotch and a black tutu. On her feet are sneakers topped by scrunched-down black leg warmers. Cher’s exercise video constitutes just one in a wave of celebrity fitness videos, kick-started by Jane Fonda’s iconic 1982 VHS, Jane Fonda’s Workout. These videos are the banner product to emerge from a peculiar but perfect storm that hit in the final few decades of the last millennium: new interest in the details of celebrities’ lives and bodies, a surge of interest in cardiovascular activity and—that old chestnut—social pressure for women to look a certain way. In the videos, This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-six Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 19 Going Incognito We all secretly wonder what mischief we’d make if invisible: When our identity is hidden, everything seems possible. Arts & Culture Issue 19 The Best Policy Sometimes we talk to each other without feeling heard. Honesty—a most intimate interaction—can be just as thrilling as its more devious inverse. Arts & Culture Issue 19 A Sense of Suspense With unhinged imaginations and mountains of cliff-hangers, the filmmakers behind the sci-fi podcast Limetown have all the makings of a scary story. Arts & Culture Issue 19 Like Clockwork In this new column about time, we learn how slipping off our watches makes us feel like deadline-damning renegades. Fashion Issue 19 The Heat of the Moment Wide eyes, tense muscles, goose-bumped skin and sweat-dotted brows. Arts & Culture Music Issue 19 On a Grander Scale Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna now may live on the opposite side of the globe, but she’s determined to evolve while staying true to her roots.
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