For so long as there was social media, there were attractiveness influencers. And whilst many would possibly credit score YouTube attractiveness vloggers with pioneering the phenomenon, Myspace’s scene queens could also be the actual blueprint. That is proper, prior to Michelle Phan, Bethany Mota, and Kandee Johnson grew to become on their webcams to steer us via an instructional, scene queens had been inspiring Myspace fans by way of the 1000’s with avant-garde make-up and gravity-defying hair.
“I do not believe we would be the place we’re these days if we hadn’t had [scene queens],” Hanna Beth, an LA-based attractiveness and type influencer who used to be a central determine within the scene queen motion, tells POPSUGAR. “In some way, we created the influencer — and that wasn’t even a phrase but. We had been doing the whole thing that an influencer does, however [our style] used to be simply totally other.”
Many would possibly bring to mind the scene queen aesthetic as a relic of a bygone social media platform — joined by way of now-cringe-inducing display names, profile songs, and Tom himself. However it can be time to bust out the black nail polish, pick out up some Manic Panic at Sally’s, and tease your hair to the top heavens — as a result of scene queen attractiveness is ready to be for your Best eight for 2024.
The Anatomy of a Scene Queen Glance
Each and every scene queen had their very own signature taste, however there are some hallmarks that will probably be immediately recognizable to Myspace customers of the early aughts. One of the ubiquitous used to be using vibrant and saturated colours in make-up, which stood out against this to the darkish emo and goth types that had been additionally common on Myspace on the time.
When it got here to serving a colourful glance, one cosmetics emblem stood out from the pack: “MAC used to be the all-star make-up again within the day,” Hanna Beth says. I be mindful doing a hot-pink eye with thick black eyeliner and faux lashes, at all times. Then your lips had been at all times roughly nude since you’d use concealer as lipstick.”
Past a extremely pigmented attractiveness glance courtesy of MAC and nude lips courtesy of concealer, no scene queen glance used to be whole with out the trademark hair. Giant hair — frequently brightly coloured or adorned with animal-print-inspired clip-in extensions — used to be made conceivable via 3 key merchandise: hair spray, a teasing comb, and the most powerful cream bleach the scene queens may get their palms on.
“We had been all burning off our personal hair with 40-volume developer,” says Raquel Reed, a Las Vegas-based burlesque performer and previous scene queen. “We had been doing the glue-in extensions at the backside [of our head] from Sally’s and we idea we had been hairdressers. The entire entrance of our hair would simply burn off and the again of it could roughly keep like a mullet — so you’ll stay gluing the hair to that.”
Most of the most sensible scene queens on Myspace had been teenagers and younger adults right through the peak in their popularity, and posting footage on-line was an outlet to experiment with their taste in surprising tactics and connect to people past the instant group in their friends.
“It in reality used to be letting your creativity run wild,” Reed says. “I be mindful going to the thrift retailer and purchasing bowling sneakers, which I wore with my bright-blue hair. It almost definitely seemed ridiculous, however I might conflict the strangest issues in combination and simply make it paintings. It used to be in reality about doing what you idea used to be your factor.”
Uninhibited by way of the urge to slot in, many scene queens discovered taste inspiration in surprising puts, together with from musicians, artists, and cultural vanguards of each previous and provide. And in borrowing bits and items from eclectic puts, they cultivated a classy completely their very own.
“A large number of my inspiration got here from artists like Siouxsie Sioux and Robert Smith from The Remedy,” says Luna Lovebad, a Compton, CA-based musician who used to be referred to as Izzy Hilton right through her Myspace days. “I additionally be mindful David LaChapelle doing make-up campaigns for MAC that had been very outstanding right through that generation — all the colours had been tremendous interesting to me. Then so far as my hair is going, I used to be at all times into David Bowie and him in ‘Labyrinth’ used to be considered one of my greatest inspirations.”
The scene queen generation used to be very a lot a time of attractiveness experimentation — even supposing it did not at all times yield the most efficient effects (see: hair flat-ironed and bleached into oblivion). But the superbly imperfect essence used to be a part of what made this subculture so impactful on pop culture at huge. Love or hate it, scene queen attractiveness used to be definitely a memorable — dare we are saying iconic — second in time. And it used to be in reality just a topic of time prior to it got here again round.
Go back of the Scene Queen
The scene queen subculture fell out of style along Myspace, and by way of the tip of the 2010s, scene queens had in large part moved directly to different tendencies.
However like different tendencies of the early 2000s, scene queens are having a renaissance. TikTok creators, lots of whom had been little toddlers right through the Myspace days, have flocked to the scene queen aesthetic and are placing a contemporary spin at the trademark attractiveness seems.
The scene queens of TikTok create a time pill for teenage lifestyles right through the early to mid-2000s, guiding audiences via buying groceries journeys to Sizzling Subject and transporting us again to the previous with photographs of studded belts and Invader Zim products — all whilst a Napping With Sirens tune performs within the background. Others lip-sync to sped-up variations of songs from common scene bands of their poster-clad bedrooms, their generously implemented winged eyeliner and side-swept rainbow bangs an excellent new version of the now-nostalgic glance.
And regardless of the just about 20 years between those two eras of creators, it is transparent that each teams to find pleasure in exploring this aesthetic for a similar explanation why: it is a a laugh and artistic option to specific your individuality.
“Individuals are revisiting a wild generation that used to be in truth in reality particular to me,” Reed says. “It used to be loopy, it used to be bizarre, but in addition memorably and creatively an enormous a part of how I used to be and who I’m now.”