Bella Bots, Matilda Minions, and Personal Style

Graphic by Molly Van Gorp.

Are you a Bella bot or a Matilda minion? This is the not so age-old question that has been dominating my For You Page recently. It refers to a TikTok trend wherein users classify themselves as Bella Bots (as in the model Bella Hadid) or Matilda minions (in reference to the Swedish influencer Matilda Djerf). These videos typically consist of creators showing off their outfits next to captions like “deciding if I wanna be a Bella bot or Matilda minion for the day,” “serving Matilda minion today,” or “one bestie is a Bella bot & the other is a Matilda minion. … I don’t make the rules.” 

Self-proclaimed Bella bots might wear motorcycle jackets, short shorts, platform Uggs and scrunchy socks, or Adidas Sambas. Matilda minions, on the other other hand, have more Scandinavian, minimalist style: think chunky knit sweaters, tailored trousers, striped button downs and clothing from Matilda’s brand Djerf Avenue.

Niche as these styles may seem, Bella bot and Matilda minion are just additions to the growing list of style labels on TikTok. Users are fixated on conforming to a given “aesthetic,” and new ones seem to pop up daily. Whether it be “coastal grandmother,” “coquette,” “cottage core,” “rockstar girlfriend,” or “ballet core,” just to name a few, many TikTok users are eager to label their style with hyper-specific and oftentimes ridiculous TikTok-ified language that, to most people, seems like gibberish. 

However, this affinity for labeling isn’t without criticism within TikTok itself. For example, the comment sections of Bella bot Matilda minion videos are flooded with questions like “who is Matilda?,” “who are these people?”, and “huh?” Another user lamented, “We have lost any sense of individualism fr.”

And what’s even more interesting is the simultaneous movement on TikTok devoted to helping you develop your “personal style,” helping you differentiate between what you like and what is trendy. TikTok creator Alison Bornstein, for example, champions the “three word method.” She recommends you find three words to describe your style that will guide you in buying clothes you actually like to avoid blindly following the ever-quickening trend cycle. 

So how can these two ideas coexist? The notion of being a Bella Bot, Matilda Minion or any of the likes seems to directly contradict the notion of personal style. How can we balance unique and timeless personal style while still being trendy and stylish? Is it possible to be both, and is being trendy even worthwhile? 

I don’t have an answer, but I think it’s possible to have it both ways. I think a big part of developing your own style is taking inspiration from others while still expressing yourself and wearing what makes you feel good. That being said, taking style inspiration from others doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have a sense of what you specifically like. I think what’s most fascinating to me about a person like Bella Hadid or Matilda Djerf is their strong sense of personal style. They always seem to know what looks cool, and they create trends rather than following them. I definitely don’t think there’s anything wrong in being inspired by the way they dress, but I also don’t know that you have to be solely inspired by how they dress. 

Perhaps rather than boxing ourselves into a corner by putting hyper specific TikTok labels on our styles, we should instead draw inspiration from all the people we find stylish and combine it with what we personally think is cool. I love the way Bella Hadid and Matilda Djerf dress, and you can be sure that I’ll be wearing my Sambas and Scandinavian-inspired knitwear this winter, but it doesn’t mean I have to classify myself as a Bella bot or Matilda minion.