If you exist anywhere on the internet, chances are pretty high that you’ve heard of E-Girls. And E-Boys. And E-Bois. E-Peoples.
They’re marked by their style that’s reminiscent of the greasy grunge style of the Nirvana 90s and a little dash of emo from the 2000s in there alongside skater style a couple pastels and piercings. Gen-Z is screaming because the aesthetic seems to be something that applies to our postmodern, quirky, internet-based-youth humor of memes and screens.
How do I explain this in one sentence, well, let me see…?
It’s as if the internet of 2000-2010 was personified and had a day-job as an Instagram/Tik-Tok/Twitch influencer and a night-shift surfing memes.
Yep, that’s it.
There’s something wonderfully pastiche about a style that takes on a little bit of everything with that casual Gen Z irreverence that makes my generation unique. We grew up with the internet where we had a lot of power at our fingertips, transported to pop culture around the globe or music and movies from the past century. We were time travelers and globetrotters without even having to leave that one sedentary position at a computer, sharing information faster than any prior generation beforehand.
Plus, the style’s just plain fun. Who hasn’t wanted to mess around with makeup and hair? There’s a reason those filters that change your appearance are so popular: we’re curious. Even if we don’t carry that filter over to real life (look at the rise of cosmetic surgery), we like to switch things up once in a while. Who doesn’t?
As e-boi favorite Billie Eilish sang in Come Out and Play:
“You’ll never know until you try it”.