Throughout a latest GLAMOUR editorial assembly, the workforce was reeling on the latest Gen Alpha ‘invasion’ of Sephora. “They’re shopping for Drunk Elephant tanning drops!” senior commerce author Georgia Trodd and I exclaimed in unison. Who has the model’s D-Bronzi Anti-Air pollution Sunshine Drops on their wishlist this winter? Tweens, apparently. It does not cease there, both, because the likes of niacinamide and polypeptides are prime skincare buzzwords for a median pre-adolescent, it appears.
Whereas the ten year-olds on the market are perfecting their multi-step skincare routine, there’s just as many millennials who’re embracing an virtually schoolgirl aesthetic. Living proof: 2024’s bow development. Did somebody say Freaky Friday?!
Gen Alpha is purchasing for cult-status skincare merchandise, while millennials and Gen-Z add outsized gingham scrunchies to their carts. After all, TikTok has given us a trending time period for this: the ‘teenage-twenty-something’. The hashtag #teenagegirlinher20s on TikTok has amassed, at current, 10.6m views, so there isn’t any doubt I am onto one thing.
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I listened to a latest episode of Tradition Vulture introduced by Sh*t You Ought to Care About’s Luce and Bel, by which they cowl popular culture, scorching takes and nicely, sh*t it’s best to care about. They mused over this girlhood theme. “Women are wanting to develop up, girls are wanting to develop down, what the fuck’s happening right here?” the hosts questioned.
We have been all 13 happening 30 as soon as. However after I was 10, I used to be overlaying myself in physique glitter from Claire’s Equipment, and skincare meant a assortment of Lip Smackers. My first fragrance got here in a Hollister bottle and as a teenager, my associates and I might make one another over with layers of Maybelline’s Dream Matte Mousse (all of us bear in mind basis lips, proper?). The generational improve from Claire’s to Sephora – and sticky lip gloss to niacinamide serum – looks like fairly a disparity.
With the rise in social media, I am positive there’s extra strain right this moment than ever on younger individuals to develop up quick. We solely had to cope with the boundaries of dial-up web. We had to ask if anybody wanted to use the telephone earlier than we spent an hour after college signing out and in of MSN in order to ‘pop-up’ when our crush was on-line. At present, teenagers have ‘prepare with me’ content material from their associates – and influencers at their fingertips 24/7. Millennials bear in mind a pared-back digital age. Maybe this opposing basis of web information is a contributor to our harking again.
2023 introduced with it a reclamation of girlhood that has spilled into 2024. Each outfit wants a bow. We’re watching Barbie while making bracelets – in all probability to swap at Taylor Swift live shows. Jellycat toys at the moment are dwelling decor. However these tropes will not be with out their points. We’ve additionally seen ‘Lady Math, ‘Lady Dinner’, and the latest ‘Lady Passion’ developments flood TikTok. While I personally err on the aspect of leisure with this content material, I additionally imagine girls shouldn’t really feel the necessity to justify their funds, their meals, or their hobbies. These concepts are sometimes born from preconceptions and gender stereotypes.
I hope Gen Alpha don’t develop up too quick – and to the identical impact, I hope millennials and Gen-Z don’t take these developments to a level of infantilising their femininity. Apart from, possibly this reclaimed girlhood is just one other expression of womanhood? #I’mjustagirl, however let it’s identified I’m additionally a lady.