She’s a creative director by day, a DJ by night, and her bangs are way shorter than your bangs. The new cool girl uniform is here and… it’s specific. Every decade had its official cool girl, whether it was the grungy, overslept model look of the 90s or the curvy Instagram influencers of the 2010s, but today’s new era of “it” girl is hitting a little different. 

I’d like to describe her as an edgy alt-girl on hiatus. She has dyed black hair, her bangs are shorter than what her mom would approve of, and her brows are permanently overplucked. She has the foundations of someone who knows how to pull off a crazy eyeliner look. Someone who, in previous years, wouldn’t shy away from a bottle of neon Arctic Fox hair dye or wearing a chain on her belt. And yet today we can spot her in just a plain white tee and jeans. 

The internet has collectively dubbed her “performative girl”. Whatever that means. From the memes I’ve seen, it seems implied that this kind of girl would supposedly read feminist literature or prefer analog media over digital. Maybe she’s used the word “kafkaesque” before. Something lies between the semiotics of her thin brows and margiela tabis that is supposed to signal: I have taste, I support the arts, I read Joan Didion. 

Performative Girl wears plain tank tops – black or white, never color. Her jeans are low rise. The thick, black rimmed oval glasses she wears are fake. She got airpods for Christmas in high school when they first came out, but she’s since gone back to wired earbuds. They remind her of a simpler time.

Or at least that’s what people say. I’ve never met Performative Girl, except through internet memes and rumors. 

But as I researched what was supposed to be a topic on fashion and niche subcultures, I couldn’t help but notice the underlying misogynistic attitudes that were oozing from every corner. It almost seems as though the internet has collectively invented a fictional young woman who doesn’t exist, only to use her as a stand-in for criticizing the interests, habits, and choices of women who actually do.

For example, one trend has been a series of short form videos, describing how to dress like a so-called “performative girl”. In each video, a girl films herself putting on a basic outfit, a pair of glasses, and grabs a book, as instructed by the viral Instagram audio.

The word “performative” as used in these videos, is patronizing in and of itself. It makes me wonder whether the women participating in these videos are engaging in a kind of self-flagellation or if they’re simply putting on the costume of an imagined woman they’ve chosen to ridicule. But perhaps the answer is both. Women often learn to belittle themselves before anyone else has the chance, as though preempting criticism somehow cushions the blow. There can be a false sense of empowerment in “beating them to it” and reclaiming labels like vapid or superficial by embracing them before they’re weaponized. 

These kinds of belittling or infantilizing rituals that young women participate in have been especially evident recently with internet trends like “girl dinner” or “girl math”, perpetuating ideas like girls are bad with money, girls only eat teeny tiny meals, or, my favorite, girls be shopping. 

It just blows my mind that something as miniscule as young women wearing jeans and reading books has somehow become the target of online criticism. The joke relies on an underlying assumption that women are not genuine people, but calculating performers who exist only to project a carefully curated image of themselves. That they are inherently manipulative, shallow, or incapable of enjoying something without an ulterior motive. 

Anyways, I like a good pair of jeans, I like Sylvia Plath, and I’m seriously considering getting micro bangs right now. And it’s not performative because I’m a real life person with real interests and a real life – and so are you.

How do you think cool girls dress? Let us know in the comments below!