Glam Girls

Take a look at an Instagram Explore page and you’ll see the faces of up-and-coming influencers. They look, dress and act like they’re at least 20, but many of them are under 18. Thanks to the widespread accessibility of makeup, makeup techniques and photo editing, your average 16-year-old has the tools to look 23. While this discontinuity is often the subject of lighthearted memes, it also reveals the complexity of the transformative abilities of makeup and fashion. People often disagree on how young is too young to wear makeup or dress a certain way. While these young Instagram stars do not adhere to our standard idea of what teens should look like, they also don’t hide their age. Is it somehow “not right” for younger girls to dress and act like they are much older, or is society’s negative reaction to the new generation of full-glam girls a product of constricting female ideals?

Some of the most well-known cases of young girls looking much older are Loren Gray, Malu Trevejo and Devenity Perkins. These girls rose to popularity through Musical.ly (a platform that is almost exclusive to people born in the 2000s), and then transitioned to modeling, singing, or Instagram fame. Loren Gray and Malu Trevejo are 15, and Devenity Perkins is 14. While genetics certainly play a part, having good makeup, lighting and editing skills do as well.

Due to the rise of beauty gurus on Youtube, knowing how to apply makeup to best suit your features is no longer esoteric information possessed only by trained makeup artists. Basically, the girls of the new generation are much less likely to have the same embarrassing makeup mishaps as we did when we were younger, from plucking our brows to oblivion to piling on cakey foundation to my personal pitfall, smearing eyeliner only on the bottom part of my eye. When you scroll down these girls’ Instagram feeds, you’ll notice not only the immaculate makeup, but the careful poses and lighting that emphasize their natural features. A large reason the new generation seems so much more photogenic than previous generations is the new technology that gives people the tools to take better pictures and look more attractive. These girls aren’t breaking any rules by dressing and looking a certain way; instead, one could say that they’re simply using the tools at their disposal to look their best. And who doesn’t want to look their best?

My initial reaction to this phenomenon was more critical. I felt like there was a certain image young teenage girls should portray, and dressing provocatively and trying to look older didn’t fall in line. However, I immediately realized that my critical thinking was a product of toxic societal expectations that have been reinforced over centuries: that young girls are pure, delicate creatures. Even more insidious was the fact that I had felt for a moment that these girls should follow those toxic societal expectations rather than expressing themselves independently. People who criticize these girls say that they’re portraying a false image and trying to seem older, but many Instagram girls will put their age in their bio or reference high school in captions. In some more well-known people’s cases, the information is easily found online. The girls themselves aren’t trying to lie about their age or act older, it’s the audience that skews the images into a false narrative. Essentially, the criticism that these people receive for putting on makeup, throwing on a cute outfit, and taking some pictures is a product of backwards standards that boil down to the fact that society doesn’t like when people don’t follow the expected and antiquated ideal.

If I was 13 or 14 during this time and I saw other girls on Instagram glamming up for pictures, you can bet that I’d do the same. Would I be actively deceiving people into thinking I was 20? Not at all. Would I want to seem older or more mature? Possibly, but that’s also how most people feel when they’re younger. Should we judge these girls for looking their best because they can? Absolutely not.