Do you remember the scene kids of the 90s? Well, they’re back, in the form of e-girls and e-boys. Fashion, after all, doesn’t ever come out of nowhere. E-girls are just the next incarnation of the scene and emo lifestyles!
Are you feeling confused about what all of this means? Let’s go through the fashion cycle and how we got here.
What is an E-Girl or E-Boy?
An e-girl (or an e- boy) is basically a meshing of a bunch of different aesthetics that tend to be popular on the internet. These include some of the following:
- Hip-hop
- Anime and Manga
- Goth
- Skater culture
- Raving
- Harajuku
- Emo
Picture oversized teeshirts and bike shorts, spiked chokers, and rounded sunglasses. Those are just a few of the many aesthetics included in the lifestyle. You can look at some great examples of e-girl jewelry at www.badassjewelry.com. A related style to the e-girl lifestyle is the VSCO girl, based on the popular photo editing application VSCO.
Beyond the style choices, it may be surprising to hear that the e-girl subculture is actually based somewhat on gaming culture. This may make a little more sense when you find out that “e-girl” is an abbreviated version of “electronic girl”. The term actually started off as an insult, but was reappropriated to be a loud and proud symbol of women gamers and has evolved into a completely distinct subculture of its very own.
E-girls also take a ton of influence from video game culture in their style choices, particularly when it comes to Japanese animation. Their Tiktok videos also often borrow themes from the video games, or from television shows.
Of course, e-girls and e-boys were popularized by the popular app TikTok. But that wasn’t the first time this particular form of being has come up. E-girl subculture, particularly in terms of style, is heavily based on the previous 90s and early 2000s styles, particularly when it comes to visual comparisons.
What’s the Difference Between E-Girls and Scene Kids?
The e-girl, obviously, isn’t a truly new form of being. Like e-girls and e-boys, scene kids came up around the same time and attached to a form of technology — in this case, a little platform called MySpace. A different similar style that arose around the same time as emo, which was more closely linked to music. If you went to Warped Tour, you were probably either a scene kid or an emo kid.
Eventually, the scene kid and emo kid lifestyle jumped over to Tumblr, where they were mostly dormant until TikTok broke out on the scene.
There are some other differences between e-girls and scene kids. Some people believe that the style of e-girls and e-boys is more aesthetically pleasing to the eye than the style of scene kids. Scene kids were more in line with Avril Lavigne, Cute Is What We Aim For, Taking Back Sunday, The Starting Line, and Fallout Boy.
Scene kids were really closely affiliated with the common mall store Hot Topic, while E-girls aren’t really linked to any particular store! And of course, when scene kids were in their prime we didn’t really have Instagram or Snapchat filters, which e-girls have basically perfected the use of into an art form.
In terms of scene fashion and e-girl fashion differences, scene kids wore their pants tight, low, and skinny, while e-girls wear pants that usually fit or are oversized. E-girls generally take a lighter version of the scene aesthetic, with girlier touches and less dramatic haircuts or makeup.
Ultimately, scene kids and emo kids were much more linked to various musical stylings, and really just used MySpace as a platform to talk to each other, share music with one another, and meet more people like them.
E-girls and e-boys, on the other hand, are more intrinsically linked to Tiktok as a way to gain a following and get attention. Basically, the relationship between scene kids and e-girls is more fashion-based than anything else!
How Are E-Girls and Scene Kids Similar?
E-girls and scene kids do share some heavy similarities in terms of style choices. Both favor heavy black eyeliner and other dark makeup, facial piercings, and BDSM and goth-inspired jewelry. They wear fishnet stockings, sometimes with rips in them, and band shirts from the most popular “you’ve never heard of them” bands of the month.
Both subcultures love dyed hair, although scene kids tended to favor more extreme haircuts and perfectly straight, completely flat-ironed hair. Both subcultures love pigtail life! Both subcultures like angsty themed music, although scene kids go for angrier and faster-paced music while e-girls go for slower and sadder music.
Basically, like any new iteration of a trend, e-girls have kept somethings they like about the scene kid lifestyle and changed or evolved others. Changing technology has also played a role. Now that everyone has a smartphone, e-girls don’t have to be content with low-resolution photos or messaging their friends only when they’re home from school. It’s a 24/7 lifestyle now, not just an afterschool gig!
E-Girls and E-Boys Aren’t the End of the Fashion Cycle
What once was a scene kid is now an e-girl, but that won’t be the end of the fashion cycle. The e-girl trend might die out at some point, but eventually, this trend is certain to come up once again. We’ll have to wait and see what social technology platform it comes up with next time!
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