Pink is everywhere right now. All over TikTok, Twitter, on the streets, and in subway cars, women wearing bows in their hair are everywhere. In 2024 the rise of the “coquette” aesthetic has been made clearer every day by its push to the forefront of different social media platforms. My Pinterest page is filled with “long hair hairstyles”, “girly winter outfits”, and accessories that I have never thought of wearing (among a mess of other things, thank you Pinterest!). Now, this year (and the end of last) the girly girl revival is in full swing. Female identifying fashionistas are tapping back into the art of femininity, and femininity in every form. If you’ve only ever seen yourself as a girly-ish girl like me, now is the time to let yourself try out the girlier things you thought weren’t for you. Try putting some curls in your hair, randomly do a full face, or find ways to feel girly with minimal effort. Throughout my journey of self-discovery and exploration in what fashion makes me feel the most me, I’ve learned a few things. As a queer woman and a tall queer woman at that (this is not a complaint I love being tall and gay), I always thought there were “girly” things I wasn’t allowed to do. Even if I felt I could do them, whenever I tried I always felt silly. Wearing a full face of makeup felt wrong, wearing heels made me stick out too much, and I couldn’t keep fake nails on for longer than a week. I felt like I would always be stuck in my copy-paste outfit of jeans and a sweater every day - and to be fair, I still am - and I could never try something new. Then something switched. Pink was everywhere. On my feeds, in the stores I step in, and on the streets I walk every day. More and more feminine fashion has crept up around me. The quiet side of this feminine fashion has crept up along with the cycle of trends changing. Once low-rise jeans were back, all bets were off. With the superstar powers we have within our pop culture industries, all sorts of femininity are being shown off at an amplified level. When I think of modern expressions of feminity a slew of powerful women come to mind, Zendaya, Renee Rapp, Rachel Zegler, Laufey, Bebadoobee, and more. Along with their uniquely distinct aesthetics, all of these women have a powerful and feminine presence in every space they are in. To me, they all have something in common, the subtlety of their femininity. I do not think any of these women are subtly beautiful in any way, they are all loudly gorgeous, but none of them are constantly seen in a full face of makeup with their hair always done. From these women we are more likely to see a softer face, just chapstick and mascara, jeans and a sweatshirt on stage, all the way to bows in their hair and putting on a full-length gown for a red carpet. Subtle ways to express femininity that I have gotten from them as well as the women I see on my social media feeds are widespread across different aesthetics and comfort levels. I use chapstick as a “full face”, and more casual clothing, but still have my nails done and my jewelry always on. The power of accessories is truly limitless, I wear my jewelry literally every day and feel like a layer of me is missing without it. This newfound appreciation of my own girly girl revival has helped me open my eyes and appreciate the more vibrant expressions of girlhood present around me. Once I started accepting and recognizing my displays of femininity as beautiful, I started to appreciate the femininity around me. And so, for that, I am endlessly grateful for the girly girl revival, and you should be too.
Written by Lucy Anderson
Photography by Mark Bluemle
Creative Director: Cam Lyken
Talent: Amele Brown, Sein Esation