The Power of Apps: The 90s Are Back

***Article originally written for VIM Magazine

In a time of technological prosperity, creators have to come up with something simple yet fantastic, in order to be economically and socially successful in a world full of aspiring apps. Throughout the years, social media websites such as FaceBook, Instagram, and Snapchat seem to have taken a hit when it comes to the relevance in Generation Z’s lives, but one app that continues to be pretty prominent is Twitter.

Per usual, Twitter users following certain meme accounts or funny influencers have been seeing an immense amount of TikTok videos coming up on their timelines lately. While many have been reluctant to download the app due to the association of it previously being the infamous app, Musical.ly, those who have downloaded it said that they just can’t seem to get enough. It tends to remind them of the beloved app Vine, shut down by Twitter in January 2017.

Now before we get into the influence the app TikTok has had on society, let’s learn a little bit about it first.

Musical.ly was an app the rose to fame in July of 2015. With its original release in April 2014, it was created to be an educational video app for teens, that included 15 second videos and live broadcasts of educators conducting online courses, but it wasn’t succeeding. The creators, Alex Zhu and Luyu Yang realized that if they didn’t change something soon, they were going to run out of money to fund the project. They instead made the app a place for teens to upload lip sync and dance videos, and 4 months after its release date, the app started growing, but a little too slowly. A year later, they made a few tweaks, such as moving the logo when people shared a video on other social media platforms so that users can actually see what app created it, and boom! It exploded.

On one random Thursday in August 2018, users of the app were informed that the multi-billion dollar Chinese company, ByteDance was buying Musical.ly and turning it into the app, TikTok. It was the same kind of gist (15 second videos, lip syncing, dancing, etc.), but it somehow became more than that. It’s no longer known for just “cringy” videos of tween girls and boys doing bizarre choreographies to songs, but it became known for many viral challenges, hilarious comedy sketches, and duets (where you can video yourself reacting to someone’s video).

Whether you’ve heard of the app or not, I can assure you that you have been affected by it one way or another. How? Well they say that fashion trends always have a way of coming back around, but it seems to be that specific ones are due to this app…

THE 90’s ARE BACK, BABY!

Parents all over the country have been noticing their kids wearing scrunchies, mom jeans, and Nike Air Max sneakers. Nameplate necklaces are making an appearance, and the slim circular orange sunglasses that 2000s babies were once laughing at their parents for wearing are miraculously showing up on their kids faces in every picture they see.

And with the reemergence of the Friends cast fashions in 2019, we also have a reappearance of the other trends the 90s were notorious for, but with a twist: the eGirl/Boy.

The app TikTok, is probably most known for creating the eGirl and eBoy. They’re terms to describe a group of people that dress, look, and act a certain way:

For guys, they’re “skater boys” with black painted nails, hair parted down the middle and topped with a beanie, predominantly black clothes with striped long sleeves underneath band tees, and their holy grail places to shop are Vans and Zuimez.

For girls, it’s a very similar look: black jeans with chains looping through the pockets, checkered belts and shoes, locks hanging off of silver chains on their necks, and hair clips flattening their middle parted hair, usually with paired with short cropped bangs.

While people would like to say that this type of fashion is considered “emo” or “goth,” this is slightly, sort-of, well kinda incorrect. While gothic, emo, and punk elements played a roll in this style of fashion, many are forgetting that the trend that stars like Drew Berrymore and Kurt Cobain was known for in the early 90s: Grunge.

Grunge fashion was notorious for using certain articles, some polished some distressed, and thrifted clothing adding Doc Martens to put together a minimalistic, eye-catching look expressing individuality.

It can be debated what type of fashion eGirls/Boys fall under, however looking from a fashion perspective, it tends to fall under more a grunge look rather than specifying it to “metal” “emo” or “goth,” because grunge was inspired by all of these things and was seen so highly in the early 90s (the trend that has made its way back in 2019).

Nevertheless, the eGirl has become its own style by bringing in new trends such as bright eyeshadows with dramatic wings, blushed noses, dusted pink lips, and eyeliner hearts underneath the eyes. While all of these have been popular at one time or another, the eGirl managed to put all of them together, specifying the eGirl “look,” maybe allowing the same style to come around 20 years from now after its popularity dies down.

We can talk about the different fashion trends and what’s considered relevant now all day long, but the most important thing to discuss is how much technology can impact the world we live in. Obviously it makes tasks much easier and certain activities more fun, but we often forget how influential it can be on society, especially on how we see ourselves and other people.

In regards to fashion, be excited: if you’re obsessed with a previous trend you know technology makes news travel fast and that trend could be on it’s way. If you have your own style, show it off. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the newest inspiration for girls and guys trying to match “your look.” Use technology to your advantage and overall, just have fun with it!

Citation:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/10/style/what-is-tik-tok.html
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-musically-2016-5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHdVj1ne51A
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/12/10/18129126/tiktok-app-musically-meme-cringe