What's My Age Again? Pop-Punk Style Grows Up
From Marc Jacobs to Olivia Rodrigo, early ’00s fashion comes of age through a new generation.
When emo and pop punk’s ’00s presence faded away, parents weren’t the only ones who dismissed the subculture and its questionable fashion choices as a phase. But now, thanks to Y2K nostalgia and a new generation of angsty musicians, the movement is back, overflowing with as much pent-up, rebellious energy as ever.
But what would these clothes be without a fitting soundtrack? Artists including Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Uzi Vert, Trippie Redd, Willow Smith and Yung Blud all routinely release music that could have stepped straight out of any millennial’s adolescence. Kids who grew up listening to emo bands are now making their own music, and despite their angsty and emotional lyrics, modern pop-punk tracks from these musicians and others are upbeat, infectiously catchy and tailor-made for TikTok, introducing new audiences to the genre millions of views at a time.
And while side-bangs, layered wristbands and multicolored Converse are still more likely to be found in early Facebook albums than on the runway, pop-punk motifs have cropped up in recent collections, from Ashley Williams and Celine to Vetements, Marc Jacobs and even Chanel. Today’s interpretation is a combination of classic grunge mixed in with gothic elements and a dose of anime-tinged e-boy/e-girl style. The revival feels more polished than the first time around with hindsight allowing designers to cherry pick all the best bits.
At Ashley Williams Fall 2021, models wore colorful hair, in-your-face print tees and monochrome check. Chanel made a play for teen rebellion for Resort 2022 with heavy eyeliner, fishnets and grungy tweed. At Vetements Men’s Fall 2021, anarchy symbols, tattoo prints and slouchy black hoodies were an ode to angry, disillusioned youth.
Marc Jacobs’ Heaven line, which recently launched its Fall 2021 collection, perhaps best captured the mood. There’s baggy sweaters, tartan minis, ripped fabric, fishnets, oversized hoodies, layered silver charm belts and chunky footwear in collaboration with Dr. Martens. T-shirts are emblazoned with pubescent slogans like “More teen angst” and “Totally fucked up.” The label feels like a nostalgic teen dream, one that remembers all the best parts of adolescence while leaving out the messier stuff.
Many of the teens who gravitated towards the original emo and pop-punk subculture were searching for comfort and expression through music and fashion to help deal with various issues that teenagers face: problems at home, not fitting in, depression, anxiety, heartbreak. However, those who dared to dress differently often faced bullying and exclusion that could exacerbate these existing issues. Today there’s more of an open discourse around mental health.
“I see some people get bitter about [the emo comeback] on social media because the emo kids in school [in the early ’00s] were the ones getting bullied because of their fashion and music tastes and now it’s cool to listen to those bands and dress that way,” says pop-punk artist Bronnie. “But surely that means less kids are getting bullied and that’s a good thing.”
Bronnie, now in her early 20s, always loved pop punk and the fashion that came with it but it wasn’t until she left her strict all-girls high school that she was really able to embrace her personal style. “As soon as I finished school, I had bright blue hair the next day and went crazy wearing band merch,” she says. “I love how band T-shirts are such a huge part of pop punk and emo fashion because whenever I wear a band T-shirt in public, I always end up talking to someone with the same music taste.” Dying your hair bright colors or all black was an emo trademark. It was about rebellion; not just sticking it to The Man, but also daring to express yourself unapologetically–even if it was to the dismay of teachers and parents.
The original emo subculture experimented with bold fashion and beauty statements. Part of the fun was looking back at the photos and cringing. “The way teenagers dress now is emo-inspired but it’s very clean and considered because they learned it from somewhere,” says Marianne Eloise, founder of Emo Diary zine. “People pick and choose elements they like and that they think look cool, and they discard the things that look really bad. We used to chew the thumbs out of our jumpers and stick our thumbs through. It was fun to experiment but it was quite embarrassing and we did get bullied.”
TikTok is credited with helping speed up the emo revival. #emophase has amassed close to 850 million followers as nostalgic millennials relive their emo phase and Gen Z go through theirs for the first time over a decade after the subculture’s peak. It’s a shared nostalgia given that emo’s heyday is recent enough for many teens to remember even if they were too young to partake in it at the time.
Shopping for emo clothes used to be a sociable activity, back when hanging out at the local mall or congregating around the town’s only goth shop was the most exciting part of the week. This was the main way to build your wardrobe and aesthetic identity, a task made more difficult when all the local emo and scene kids shopped at the same places. The boom of resale sites in recent years changed this, offering endless retro options that allow teens to buy original emo and scene clothes from older pop-punk fans. In this respect, it’s easier to dress originally today because you can find pieces that no one else will know or have. This is closer to the experimental roots of emo fashion.
The risk whenever a cultural moment comes back around is that it becomes a watered-down version of the original. “The main gripe that I and others have [with the revival] is that true musicians and fans don't want their art, that means so much to them, to be replaced by superficial fashion trends,” says Taylor Markarian, author of From the Basement: A History of Emo Music & How It Changed Society. “You can always tell when fashion is a genuine representation of a person's love of the music, and when it's just playing into a look as part of a desire to seem edgy. ’90s and early 2000s emo bands and fans looked pretty normal, for lack of a better word. They wore the standard slim-fit band tee and jeans, accompanied by a piercing here or there. It could even just be a basic shirt with no graphics or a casual dress shirt, and maybe some spiky hair to add a little edge.”
Perhaps the best thing about pop-punk fashion is that it isn’t fixed. It’s Paramore’s Hayley Williams’ fiery Manic Panic-dyed hair. It’s Gerard Way in smeared red eye shadow. It’s Avril Lavigne wearing a tie and vest with cargo pants. It’s Travis Barker’s mohawk. It’s also Olivia Rodrigo in a tartan mini on Instagram. It’s beabadoobee in Heaven by Marc Jacobs. It’s Willow Smith in a spiked collar with black nail polish. It can’t be contained in one singular definition. It can be whatever you want it to be and it’s not just for teenagers either. After over a year spending so much time indoors like a too-long school holiday, we could all do with an expression of our angst. Hair dye and band tees at the ready.