“Chic” is used for just about everything these days. Someone posts a mirror selfie in pants and a tank top, and the comments are like “so chic.” Another girl's wears tiny sunglasses and a loose bun, and now she's everyone's Pinterest inspiration for the next two weeks.
A few years back, chic had a very polished, fashion-person feel to it. Matching sets, pristine designer bags, neutral apartments with coffee table books no one ever opened. Now, the girls people call chic usually look a little more relaxed than that. Still styled obviously but less stiff about it.
Chic Girls Never Overstyle
If you look back, look at old fashion content, especially late 2010s, early 2020s, people are putting everything on at once. Loud logos. Layered jewelry. Trend after trend in one outfit. Most stylish girls online now are way more simple dressed than that.
They always look good in trousers, a fitted tank, jewelry and one bag that they seem to have an emotional attachment to. I keep seeing things like the Toteme T-Lock bag or Aritzia Effortless pants or the Khaite Benny belt, because they go with everything and don’t feel like they weigh the outfit down.
Now people care more about fit than trends. How the pants sit at the waist, how the sleeves fall on the shoulders, if the fabric moves properly when someone walks. Stuff like that is more important than being first with the latest microtrend.
Healthy Hair Is Now In
Hair changed a lot too. You can simply wear jeans and a black sweater, but if your hair looks healthy somehow the whole outfit seems more expensive.
The very stiff “clean girl” bun mellowed over time. Big brushed-out blowouts came back again. So did shiny espresso browns, warmer blondes, softer layers around the face. Even when hair is up now, it’s usually a bit more natural and less frozen there.
But honestly, the products that people go gaga over do make sense when you think about the overall aesthetic. The Dyson Airwrap, Color Wow Dream Coat and Kerastase Elixir Ultime Oil are back in shopping carts because people aren't so fixated on perfect styling and are more interested in healthy-looking hair in general.
Makeup Looks Softer Now
The really sculpted full-glam makeup that people were doing a few years ago went away a lot. Makeup still matters of course but now it feels like the goal has shifted. Skin looks like skin again. The cream blush that’s taken over more than half of the internet. Lips got shinier. Foundation got lighter instead of that super matte full-coverage look everybody wanted before.
Which is why products like the Rhode Pocket Blush, Armani Luminous Silk Foundation and Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm are constantly doing the rounds. Instead people want makeup that looks fresher and sits lighter on the face, rather than overly perfected.
And really most chic girls today look like they spend more on skin care than they do on make-up.
Repeating Is Normal
One thing social media changed a lot is how obvious outfit repeating became. And people are a lot less embarrassed about it now.
The girls everyone calls stylish usually wear the same silhouettes over and over again. Same trousers. Same jacket. Same sunglasses. Same jewelry stack.
You keep seeing Levi's Ribcage jeans, The Frankie Shop's oversized blazers, Éterne's white basics, because people want clothes that they can wear all the time and not get tired of after two photos.
Honestly, I feel like repeat dressing is more chic now than trying to reinvent yourself on the internet every week.
The “Expensive” Look Changed Too
The difference is pretty obvious when you look at the ‘rich girl’ aesthetic from a few years ago to now. Everything used to look so polished and untouched. Now it seems people are attracted to the things that feel softer and a little bit lived in already.
Suede replaces shiny leather bags. Brown shades instead of jet black. Jewelry that looks vintage even when it isn’t.
Even the perfume was part of the whole online image. Now girls almost talk about fragrance like an accessory. You’ll hear perfumes like Glossier You, Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 and Parfums de Marly Delina referenced constantly in conversations about this aesthetic.
Taste Matters More Than Trends
A lot of what people call chic today isn’t just about the clothes, it’s about how someone puts everything around them together. The restaurants they save, the sunglasses they wear at all times, the candle in the background of every mirror photo, even the type of drinks they post somehow becomes part of the overall image.
The girls we all call chic tend to have a very identifiable taste across the board. The clothes they wear seem to have a relation to their apartment. Their playlists match the vibe of their Instagram stories. Even their beauty products seem to fit with the rest of their style.
A Lot Of Chic Fashion Already Existed In Baddie Culture
Fashion stole a lot from baddie culture, much more than people wanna admit.
The custom silhouettes, the matching tones, the hair always done, the glossy lips, the gold jewelry, the sense of being "done" before you leave the house. Girls dressed like that years before fashion started repackaging everything as quiet luxury or elevated basics.
What changed was mainly the styling around it. Heavy contour became more modern makeup. Giant heels morphed into kitten heels or pointy flats. Loud logos were replaced with cleaner fabrics and tailoring.
And if you’ve been following fashion online these past few years, the crossover was very obvious. Girls who only ever wore oversized neutrals before are carrying structured bags again, wearing fitted dresses again, caring about glam again.
