heroin-chic is so back!

the death of duck lips and the birth of the "dead face" and "ssri-eyes"

kylie jenner has created a billion-dollar makeup line off of one facial feature: unnaturally plump lips. with the duck lips pose, her lip kits, and the “kylie jenner lip challenge,” the duck face was once a defining moment for young girls within the 12-19 age bracket.

like all trends, this pose eventually died out, many people crediting it to jenner getting her lip fillers dissolved in 2018. but this trend faced a ton of mockery before that — in 2015 the “kylie jenner lip challenge” had teens all around the world suctioning their lips and laughing at the results.

it doesn’t shock me that the duck lips became a mockery so fast. of course, it was bound to meet its demise at some point. and all of the other trends that were popular in 2016 slowly faded out too: the slim-thick figure, orange-tinted makeup, overlining lips, etc.

literally

a viral tweet alleged that there was a “smear campaign done against duck lips.” personally, i think that the internet is having a field day with the term “smear campaign.” this isn’t the first time that a trend that was popular amongst young girls became a form of ridicule.

i think that the world just truly loves mocking the interests of young girls, whether it realizes it or not. (i mean, how often were you made fun of for your justin bieber phase while grown men screamed and cried over a sports player? just saying).

so, what’s in style now?

when i open instagram, i’m blown away with the same selfie twenty times: eyes half open, lips pursed shut, tongue pushed to the roof of the mouth in an attempt to slim the face, topped off with an emotionless expression.

comments: “this is superior to every other look,” “its giving tired model in the best way <3” and “i think this is what the bad place feels like.” (true)

upon further research, i’ve learned that this is actually called a variety of things: “fish gape,” “ssri-eyes,” “dead face,” “the allergy look,” “the hangover,” “dissociative pout,” and, my favorite, “lobotomy chic.” the sicker you look, the better.

this is gen z’s direct response to the “trying too hard” and “pick-me” allegations. this pose is a deliberate attempt to look emotionless and bored, perhaps as a response to the perfect, happy curated image that many people present on social media.

though this has happened before. in the 90’s, “heroin-chic” was the trending style: emaciated features, stringy hair, dark circles, and pale skin. many supermodels were the originators of this trend; quite literally heroin addicts themselves, causing young girls to fawn and strive for their malnourished look. too cold, too tired, too ill to strike a pose.

kate moss, who gave us the “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” quote

society has gone through so many “body positivity” moments since the 90s, only to find itself back to square one. i never thought i’d see a time when looking anemic and sickly was what the “it-girls” were doing. people are even using makeup to give themselves under-eye bags!!!! maybe this is due to the rise of ozempic. debatably better than heroin but still keeping its users frail and unable to eat.

since i’m unable to not look into everything in the broader social context, i’m left with the idea that to keep women sick is to keep them controlled.

a sick woman is a profitable one. this isn’t an innocent trend; it’s a form of control. all of these women are monitoring their appearance, openly spending money on these looks in pursuit of perfecting their “dead face heroin-chic look.”

kylie jenner’s lip kit collection becoming a billion-dollar enterprise just reinforces that the beauty, wellness, and weight loss industry can rake billions of dollars off of these malnourished, sick women, debating on whatever facial feature or body type the kardashians have currently morphed into. after all, a woman consumed by body image and perfection is too preoccupied to challenge the beauty standard.

while i’m glad that the 2016 “baddie culture” has died out, women referring to their ideal looks as dead, sick, or lobotomized shows that we still have so much progress to make.

i’m not above this at all. i was practically programmed to chase after the unattainable beauty standards. at times, the “dead-face” seems appealing. i think it represents how a lot of women feel inside. the more that i look around, the more the 2020s seem to be about restriction — being too detached and dissociated to feel anything.

the culture hasn’t really changed at all. we’re just striving for a new mask, whether it’s through enhancement or erasure.

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who wrote this?

this piece was written by morgan, a professional overthinker who you can find on sincerely, morgan for personal essays, pop culture commentary, and the occasional list!