StarWars & Marvel Copium

The Clean Girl™ aesthetic is blatantly tied to purity culture. It started and continues in the white community with the image being a white woman with stacked jewelry and a minimal make up look, taking many clothing trends from the early 90s. A 'clean' look. A 'natural' look. Stop and think: what has 'natural' looked like for the United States in the last 200 years? Being 'natural', 'normal', and 'pure' have been ideals that white people have used to justify harm to minorities for centuries. When we talk about internalized homophobia and racism, when we talk about it being ingrained into culture in the US, this is one example of that.

Does this mean it can't reach past the white community into others? No. Does this mean this aesthetic is inherently negative and you're awful if you use less make up or like the style? Absolutely not. Is purity culture and political climate the only thing influencing this trend? No. There are so many factors that play into trends, especially in fashion. Another example is how trends move away from more colorful and layered clothing or heavy make up like the in 2010s to now. Another is how fashion repeats itself every few decades. However, you should ask yourself 'why?'

I just think the general public, especially young women who are susceptible to trends like these, should do more critical thinking as to where these trends come from. Who do they primarily include? Who is trying to sell you a product? Where did you see it start?

Think back to the 30s. What did their garments and make up look like then? How was it affected? What about a decade later during war? Think about the 70s. What was the political climate then? Why did the clothing and make up change so drastically? What influenced it? We have patterns of this throughout history. There are people with fashion degrees that study these trends and know much more than I, but we can still stop and recognize patterns.

Purity has been an excuse to erase people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ since before stonewall and BLM, and continues today. With the climate of the United States this past year: ICE militants locking up people of color regardless of citizenship status, drag queens and trans men and women's existence being under threat daily, No Kings protests taking place nation wide, and purity culture on the internet being forced and lobbied by billion dollar companies (the same companies that lobby politicians to push anit-LGBTQ+ legislature and help fund ICE), it's obvious in hindsight how a trend where being 'clean' and 'pure' has become popular while rhetoric of minorities being 'criminals', 'dirty', 'pedophiles', and 'unnatural' have been spreading like fire during the current presidency. That's not even getting into how it ties to classism and how the rich have always pushed an idea that being poor is associated with being 'dirty'. Who have been the poorest groups of people historically in the US?

In short: I don't think young white women are evil for following and even looking good with the trend, I don't think anyone following the trend is evil or immoral. This is not an attack on my neighbors. I just want to make people aware of how much our daily lives are impacted by political and socio-economic strife and how it can indicate said climate. How engrained it is into our culture in the US especially.

How it can influence you, even if you don't realize it.

I wanna take the Iron Lung blood poster and make a frame where the eel bleeds from the poster to the frame and becomes 3D. To do this, I'd love a blood poster that is a little wider and taller so the eels maw is closer to the edge of the paper and it to be void of text to make it really look real.

I've messaged the Iron Lung merch team for a modified version.

Wish me luck!