Okay so I was at dinner party slash tacos and wine at my friend Jess’s place but we’re going with dinner party because it felt fancy enough that we used napkins…and I realised that something in the beauty world has completely changed. Walked into the room looking like a hot mess: perfectly messy hair that wasn’t actually messy at all, eyelinер smudged like she spent hours at a nightclub when really she just spent hours asleep (side note: probs was both) and a pair of worn in dad shorts that screamed “I didn’t even try” when really she definitely did. I asked her how she was rockin’ the mess so effortlessly and she shrugged saying “quit trying to look so damn perfect.” HELL TO THE YES BITCH.
Okay so like I’ve been seeing hints of this coming for a while now on my Instagram stories but I don’t think I truly realised that we had crossed over to the other side until that night. We are officially in the era of the feral girl. Clean girl summer is OVER and I hope it dies.
If you lived under a rock these past couple of years; congrats on your sheltered internet existence; clean girl was a lifestyle basically centred around looking as little like yourself as possible. High fixed ponytails (thanks to hours of actually fixing your hair), foundation that didn’t even look like foundation, neutral tones and basically any aesthetic that made you think “wow this girl could’ve woke up like this”…when really she got out of bed at like 3pm.
I bought into it big time last summer.
Hours at Sephora becoming a “golden girl” when really I just looked orange.
Cute little messy bun holders that made me look like I accidentally went swimming with my hair tied up. Pale washcloth lipstick.
Buying into the beige beige beige colour scheme. It was tiring, expensive and at the end of the day I still didn’t look like those girls doing tutorials on TikTok. My breaking point came when I was getting ready one morning to meet my boss at work in this super cute dress and crop top.
It was like 6: 30 in the morning and I had about 7 products on my face; 7. I was trying to pat down my foundation to make sure I looked dewy (as apposed to oily and trash) when I had an epiphany: what the actual fuck is wrong with me? I’m literally just going into H&M to work.
Fold some clothes, help some people find a size that suits their body. Nobody cares if my hair isn’t done or my skin isn’t matte. And that’s when I realised…
Meet Feral girl. She don’t care. She just threw on some fresh jeans and a dang bralette and called it a day.
She probably woke up like 20 minutes ago but hey, who’s checking? Feral girl embraced the chaos. She wore that messy mascara instead of trying to hide it.
She rocked that windswept ponytail instead of trying to pin it down. She wore the shirt she slept in last night because hello it looks damn good on you. She’s basically giving you “I don’t care what you think” while still looking fucking flawless.
You start to see little things pop up everywhere. Bella Hadid throwing on some oversized vintage shirts and cutoffs that she clearly slept in. Makeup artist chilin on TikTok teaching you how to make your eyeliner look like you cried cutaneously.
Even the girls who LIVE FOR ssending to Vogue before 9am are showing up blurred eyeshadow and looking like they just didn’t give a shit. I love everything about this because once again we are given a excuse to not look like every other b&*ch out there. Don’t get me wrong I loved clean girl as much as the next gal but there was something about always looking so…put together?
Gone were the days of watching Netflix in your sweats because now we had to airbrush our boob sweat too. Feral girl is about letting loose and not giving a fuck. “I feel like clean girl energy is eating salad and drinking your green juice and going to spin class.
Feral girl energy is eating Cheetos covered in sour cream & onion dry seasoning and going to sleep. Which one sounds more fun?” -Bella Hadid Side note: ya girl bought into this hard. Messy bitchy browns instead of naked beige eyeshadow?
Yes please. Accepting the fact that my hair looks like this 80% of the time and embracing my natural curl pattern? You know it.
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But here’s the thing. The feral girl still… …takes damn good care of her skin. She doesn’t “wake up like this” she wakes up and starts her skincare routine.
Yes, even feral girls put on sunscreen. The messy bun is still artfully messy and actually complements your face shape. She wore that lime green eyeshadow because fuck it looks great on you.
She’s wearing that cheap shirt from Forever 21 but it’s from the distressed collection so it costs like 3x more than it should. The point I’m trying to make is yes things are a little more carefree but that doesn’t mean you throw all essence of fashion sense out the door. You’re still going to want to look good goddammit.
But the problem with caring so much is that it takes all the fun out of getting dressed. Once I started letting go and caring less about if my shirt matched my skirt perfectly or if my hair looked “good enough” I started to have fun with getting ready again. I played with colours I would’ve normally be scared to wear.
I stopped “needing” to do my hair and just went with my natural wave. I literally wore a shirt that didn’t match my trousers one time and it wasn’t the nightmare I built it up to be in my head. It also feels good to just….wear your clothes!
One thing I love about dressing feral is that it’s like you actually wear your clothes instead of treating them like fragile flowers. I actually wear my nice clothes now because give them life instead of letting them wither away in my closet! I will say I still shower regularly and put on deodorant, so green hair and hoop earrings don’t judge.
But even the fashion industry is leaning more and more feral as time goes on. Remember when Rachel Comey did that whole fucked up jeans and barely there shirts collection last Spring? Or how Miu Miu always seems to grace us with beautifully destroyed pieces?!
Every single fashion week I cover for work, the coolest street styles are always the ones who give off outfits we dreamt of in our sleep kind of vibe. As for me and my personal journey into the wild….I think I’ll always have a soft spot for my glam girl moments. Slapped on some false lashes and put a dang halter top over it?
Sure. Want to finish off my diamondencrusted punk vibe with some funky lashes? Absolutely.
But it’s so nice to not worry about things being perfect anymore. To not look at your closet and stress about what to wear but instead get excited about throwing something together.
Even if it’s together by ass together.
Trying to lean more into the feral side of life?
Here are some tips to get you started. Rock your natural hair texture.
Unless you were blessed with curls that deflate like a dildo after two seconds out of the shower, wear your hair how it naturally wants to grow. For me, that means air drying and hoping for the best. Challenge yourself to wear something you think people won’t understand.
For me that was putting a pink bottom half with an orange top. Brown and orange? Shock them Victoria, shock them.
Wear that shirt with the weird stain on it that you love but are too afraid to actually wear outside of your flat. Bottom line? Live your best feral life.
We could all use a little less perfection in our lives.
