Decolonizing Eurocentric Fashion Trends

Lola Anaya

These days everyone loves to claim an aesthetic to match their lifestyle choices and personality. We have all seen light and dark academia looks, cottagecore, fairycore, and any other -core you can think of plagued across the Instagram explore page. There are also trends stemming from European culture, such as the French Girl.

You are probably wondering, what exactly characterizes the French Girl aesthetic? If you google “French girl style” images of streetwear and simplistic looks including button down shirts, sweaters, or tees paired with jeans (an example pictured right). It is basic, to say the least. Not to shame people who wear jeans and shirts, I know that is my go-to look on a day to day basis, combining comfort with casual, but there is nothing uniquely “French” about it.

I find that these styles have nothing to do with being French at all, but instead glorify having a very particular image: tall, white, young, feminine, and skinny. These are the people we worship as style icons when in reality they are sporting a look anyone can pull off, even a college student like me, stuck at home, as someone who is certainly not branding themselves online as stylish in any sense. If you go on to Vogue’s website, they have a range of articles about French styles; in fact Vogue was started in 1892 to promote socially elite groups in New York City and featured Eurocentric lifestyles then too, as a high-class ideal for wealthy Americans to indulge in.

This begs the question of why European lifestyles are glamorized so much in our society. I would answer simply because of racism and increased tourism in European countries as more Americans could afford to travel and were seduced by the high-class life promised in a foreign land by various articles and ads (pre-covid, of course). If you google “ghetto girl style”, you get essentially the same shirt and jeans combination, but on a completely different demographic of women. Black, Latinx, and Asian women in jeans and various tops seem to be the most common result, aside from the occasional perpetuation of stereotypes about styles associated with women of color, dubbed the "hot cheeto girl" aesthetic (pictured below).

I think I make a fair guess when I say I do not think any people, particularly white cis/het girls, would make a mockery of the French girl aesthetic, or any European style.

“French girl” influencers like Jeanne Damas (@jeannedamas on Instagram) are idolized with 1.4 million followers and are given a platform to express their style without the worry of being judged or brought down for her appearance. This is not meant to alienate white influencers, but it is instead intended to acknowledge their privilege and status as idealized people with regards to new trends.

Even trends like cottagecore had solely white people associated with the ethereal, nature scene it gives off to viewers. Only as recently as a month or two ago did I notice more black and other marginalized people being represented and gaining a following. An article from September 18 of this year on Glamour Magazine’s website is told from the black girl’s perspective on the cottagecore trend. Shanna Shipin writes, “On its surface, cottagecore would seem to be a largely cis white trend when you think of its standard imagery: from Pride and Prejudice to Little Women, delicate white heroines are at the center of these feminist period pieces.” It enforces the white savior complex and the idea that white women are the standards of beauty and making change, which is both untrue and racist. Representation is a vital part of any trend in the twenty-first century and it was truly lacking in a lot of popular media, especially in quarantine where people, myself included, have felt trapped and uncertain of who they were with all this time to spend in their own minds.

Keeping up with trends or changing your style to fit an aesthetic you like is a valid lifestyle choice, it only becomes problematic when you put down less represented groups to idealize Eurocentric ideals and white people for having a certain appeal. Trends should be intersectional and, as cliche as this may sound, a celebration of our common interests, not a way to deepen the stratification of socioeconomic statuses and racial conflict.

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Cited Sources:

YouTube, and Nora Laaouina. “Hot Cheeto Ghetto girls ♤tik tok♤.” YouTube, 12 January 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44JEWjed1lY.

Vogue Magazine. “French Girl Style.” Vogue Magazine, https://www.vogue.com/tag/misc/french-girl-style. Accessed November 2020.

Kilroy, Kit. “Let's Talk About 'French Girl Style' in 2018.” WHO WHAT WHERE, 23 January 2018, https://www.whowhatwear.com/french-girl-style-2018/slide6. Accessed 2020.

Britannica. “Vogue: American Magazine.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Vogue-American-magazine. Accessed 2020.

Shipin, Shanna. “5 Black Women on Embracing Cottagecore as an Act of Rebellion.” Glamour Magazine, 18 September 2020, https://www.glamour.com/story/black-women-on-cottagecore. Accessed 2020.