Beauty/Social media/Influencer

Whereas the duckface pout was an honest act of attempting to show your best side to the camera, resplendent in filters and other cheats to help you show off your selfies to best effect, there is an irony in the 'ironic self-knowing' of the dissociative pout. Lo fi photography masquerades as candid shots to feel like a spontaneous moment captured, but they're just as staged as the ring-lit, filter-heavy pouting that has preceded them. Euphoria and Squid Games have taken light entertainment a darker route than before and this next new trend is precisely that, the next new trend. The look is still typified by big lips, that will need artificially maintaining if you aren't blessed naturally with a bee-sting pout. But instead of a smouldering eye or a quizzical smile, the look is now complemented with a wide-eyed, detached and sullen stare. With roots in the Casual Instagram trend that bucks against curation in an attempt to be 'more authentic', we have a marriage with a regurgitation of 90s grunge-chic. It's an attempt by individuals to break from the herd. This heavy-emphasis on mimicking the aesthetics and behaviours of influencers who are making lobotomy-chic the next hot thing is anything but a break from the herd though. We need to look up the dictionary definition of irony, sheeple!

The current generation have become the leaders in not looking ‘bothered’. It’s no longer deemed cool to look like you’re trying. Now, young people are making a considerable effort to get the 'right' picture while trying to make it look so effortless that they can't even be bothered to smile. This can be seen in certain make-up trends such as the ‘clean girl’ which is very fresh skin and that ‘no make-up, make-up’ look. This probably has several roots to popular culture including the likes of Billie Eilish who is massive on the platform and embodies that 'why try?' attitude. It could be seen as a contradiction in itself, trying to be the least bothered in order to receive the most engagement. But, if it works, it works - right?!" Hannah Turner, Influencer Account Manager, Disrupt