The coquette core : The toxicity of this aesthetic

WHAT IS THE COQUETTE AESTHETIC ? 

You certainly did not avoid the coquette trend that takes all over Tiktok and Pinterest. The coquette aesthetic is defined by hyper-femininity codes, reclaimed girlhood and embraced a fun-loving and bubbly personality. Moreover, the coquette aesthetic includes different subtypes of aesthetics such as angel core, light academia and ballet core. The aesthetic embodies all the things idyllic, feminine and romantic. 

Coquette girl takes her inspiration from the movies, for instance  Lolita directed by Adrian Lyne which is originally a book written by Vladimir Nabokov or Marie Antoinette by Sofia Coppola 

But also from singers like Lana Del Rey during her Born to die era or Melanie Martinez.

You probably think that the coquette aesthetic is harmless and it is only about dressing up with pink pastel outfits and be hyper-feminine, but the coquette community has deeper problems. 

THE FASHION OF THE COQUETTE AESTHETIC :

To be a perfect coquette girl, all of your outfits need to follow a color palette that is color pastels, mostly pink (which I love it) and to be obsessed with flower embroidery. The main key to achieve a coquette look are accessories, for instance bows, pearl jewelries, headbands. Their common point is the childish aspect of them.
When it comes to garments, coquette girls love Mary Jane shoes, knee-high socks, corsets, summer dresses and tank tops. Again, the coquette style allows us to express our femininity and charm with a touch of girlhood details. 

Many designers use coquette characteristics in their runways and have a coquette identity that is unique. 
A brand that comes on top of mind is Miu Miu by Miuccia Prada with its ballet flats. Miu Miu is the sister label to Prada and was established as a more youthful, playful, and affordable alternative to the Prada line. Miuccia Prada said “The Miu Miu girl, is the same as her big sister, only a little more angelic”.  

Personally, my favorite ones are Blumarine, Acne Studios and Simone Rocha which used pastel colors, bows as a centerpiece of the looks and radiant a young, playful and sweet energy. 

THE TOXIC COQUETTE COMMUNITY :

By liking the coquette aesthetic, it leads you whatsoever to interact with the coquette community in social media and you will see the toxicity of these people (disclaimer: not everyone act and think like this but it is a majority of what I see). As I said in the beginning of the article, being coquette is a way to express our femininity and embrace the traditional beauty and simplicity. However, being a coquette girl is not only about appearances but also about your attitude and personal interests. 

We are living in a society that already set beauty standards making women's life more difficult, but now even in an aesthetic (a concept that is just a combination of pretty things) there are beauty standards. To fit them, you need to be white and skinny (how surprising), people of color and plus size people (who are already excluded from society) find themselves excluded again from a community who likes pink and Lana del Rey. Furthermore, the coquette girls are not ashamed to normalize eating disorder and bully poc and plus size people. One of the aspect of being coquette is that you take codes of girlhood to include them in your style however some girls infantilize themselves and then romanticize pedophilia and huge age cap relationships just like in Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. There is obviously nothing cool about it, and this kind of behavior is dangerous.

CONCLUSION:

We can see that even when women try to appropriate their femininity, the male gaze and beauty standards have already strong roots in society so it is unavoidable. Plus, just because you call yourself a "coquette girl" do not give you the right to be a mediocre human being and do not make you superior to anyone. Life is already complicated, so you do not need to make it more complicated because you dress a certain way. To finish, I find sad that some people take an aesthetic as something to follow like a book to finally forget their own personality and become clones. Instead, appreciate your fashion sense and let people live. 

Thanks for reading my article <3

By Aya L.