The Party Girl Trend has officially taken over, even in beauty

What suddenly happened to all the fitness routines we used to follow not without a certain agonism, the discount codes for 100% vegan sports outfits, the carousels of oatmeal breakfasts and celery smoothies? The That Girl Trend with 90 million views has been swept away at lightning speed by the return to pre-pandemic normality, where amidst last-minute engagements and pulse-pounding diaries, no one responds to the Sunday morning yoga + skincare call anymore, but prefers to lose themselves in their city's nightlife and sleep in until the next day. As with any trend, the peak phase always coincides with the dawning of a new trend resulting from changes in people's socio-cultural habits, and so it was with the transition to the Party Girl trend, which is just as popular on social platforms, where instead of 'aesthetic' feeds, the world of digital representation has been posted in favor of more real and true content. Suddenly the imperfect is cool: a series of underexposed and out-of-focus photos, close-ups on opalescent drinks, smudged eyeshadows, glitter and hyper-colored eye-gems have taken the reins of aesthetics to be communicated on social, to the detriment of the aspirational-flavored Cottagecore. Here, too, the world of Euphoria has something to do with it.

Rue (aka Zendaya) has not only reclaimed the appeal of goblin mode - legitimizing the right to 'suck', especially after a bender - but has also relaunched, along with her castmates, the Party Girl aesthetic. In this regard, trend forecaster Marie-Michèle Larivée states in an interview that "younger generations are now obsessed with an aesthetic that was in vogue before their future became uncertain and distressing". In a world now fed up with the obsession with personal well-being and perfection, we are witnessing an indie sleazification in the world of beauty and skincare as well: the desire for a more tolerant and magnanimous post-wellness beauty is taking the form of a more casual and sometimes less groomed, but also eccentric and whimsical aesthetic, taking inspiration from the grunge of the 90s and the wild parties of the 2000s, when the 'attitude was rebellious, unruly and decidedly less combed. 

This new 'vibe-shift' has the flavor of a nostalgic throwback to the days of posh parties, when the 'bad girls' of pop - we are of course talking about the circle of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera and the Olsen twins (before the minimalist switch) - were throwing all the latest fashion and beauty trends. Did Britney Spears' release have something to do with it? We're not sure, but we can easily guess: being without rules is cooler, it doesn't impose limits on you and, above all, it doesn't make you feel restricted in your daily choices, an activity definitely to be avoided after 2020-2021. The new Party Girl aesthetic is so irresistible that it is immediately embraced by today's most followed celebrities. It's impossible not to notice Miley Cyrus' Y2K-inspired hairstyle, Charlie XCX's braids and space buns, Hailey Bieber's black kajal (strictly shaded) and the several layers of lips plumper on her lips. Not to mention Bella Hadid's photo-dumps and Dua Lipa's blurred shots complete with metallic eyeshadow and embellished with a constellation of eye-gems.

In beauty, this trend is crowned by the entry into the beauty business of the queen of all party girls, Kesha, founder of the make-up brand @kesharosebeauty. The newly launched brand focuses on hyper-colored shimmer eyeshadows and invites the community to share their 'wildest look' on social media - hinting at a direct provocation to the natural make-up of the 'clean girl' - and thus diversifying itself from the recently launched Rhode and SKKN, which continue to promote routines to be followed religiously in order to be the best version of themselves. A strategy that will only appeal to the more adult segments of the population, as shown by market trends published by WGSN. Also following the Y2K trend is the new skincare brand of Emma Chamberlain - queen of YouTube with a following predominantly of Gen-Zers - who perfectly embodies the Party Girl trend, proving the point. In fact, @badhabit's skincare routine includes a series of neon-coloured creams designed not so much to erase bad make-up habits, but to take care of skin stressed by too many parties until the wee hours of the morning and excessive use of colored glitter. Like fashion, therefore, beauty is also able to represent the spirit of a particular historical moment. But after the That Girl Trend, after the Party Girl Trend, what's next? A tweet from the @ayobrobro account states: "The vibes are over. Trends gone. Everything and nothing is in vogue. Vibes are over. Whatever you're wearing is in fashion. From now on, you are free". In short, after the endless roundup of nomenclatures for trends launched by Tik Tok and related platforms, in the fashion and beauty spheres, it will be up to us to decide whether to keep up with the evolution, adopt an attitude of detachment, or remain faithful to the aesthetic that best represents us.