Why Hot People Are Allowed to Look Ugly and You’re Not

Ugly fashion is being celebrated. 

In 2017, Balenciaga platform Crocs hit the runway in their pink, puerile glory and brought the ugly fashion discourse to the mainstream. Ever since, the high-fashion madness previously reserved only for the catwalk has seeped into observable online trends, and, for the brave, everyday life. The lines of taste have become blurred – which has led to some unusual items being embraced by the sartorially stimulated. In recent months we’ve seen the internet go giddy over AVAVAV’s frog leg heels, Fredrik Tjærandsen's viral balloon dresses, the MSCHF big red boots and the raggedy, raw-edged Mui Mui micro-minis. 

As far as I’m concerned, there are three core types of ugly fashion: the outrageous, the alternative and the “low effort” look. And it’s this third category where things get interesting. 

Think Dirty Dog sunglasses, skunk stripes, trucker caps, chunky white trainers, skirts over jeans and socks and sandals. Basically any fit that would’ve had you bullied back in 2013. Instead, it’s 2023 – and the girlies all want to look like the love child of Adam Sandler and a Vegas pick-up artist.

On the commercially friendly side of the “ugly-cool” trend, Bella Hadid immediately springs to mind. Anyone with Instagram has seen Bella and her slicked back bun, strutting through Manhattan in cargo pants, speed dealers and a shrunken tee. And based on her 59 million followers, the children are gagging for it.

While the sloppy style is adored by many, these celebrity fits have sparked a trend of their own online – with a barrage of  “is it a good fit or are they just skinny?” and “Is it a fit, or are they just famous” videos springing up on YouTube and TikTok. These videos usually involve mid-to-plus-sized people trying on celebrity outfit-alikes and critiquing them on their own “normal” bodies, determining whether or not they’re still considered fire. 

While the people putting themselves on the line often do look great, seeing the same trends worn by Insta-dolls instead donned by normal people quickly alters your perception of why we’re so obsessed. Because half the time… the outfits themselves look like shit. 

Are we surprised that a whale tail sticking out of an acid wash waistband doesn’t get half the love it gets on a size 4 model when worn by a sales assistant from Hamilton? Sadly, not really.  

In 2020, a viral tweet highlighted style discourse at its worst. The tweet showed two plus-sized women, photographed without their permission, going about their day in t-shirts, baggy denim and white sneakers. An outfit almost guaranteed to be praised by thousands if it had been snapped on a Hadid or a Jenner. Instead, the now-deleted tweet gained 100k likes and endless replies shit-talking the way they were dressed. And why? Because they weren’t skinny. And from there the assumptions rolled in about their style, health and even finances. 

The fashion industry has been excluding big bodies for decades and because of this bigger people have a harder time finding clothes made to fit them well. It makes self-expression more complicated from the get go, and evolves into societal body shaming that keeps fat bodies at a distance from “fashion”. And it isn’t just fatphobia that comes into play. Do you remember the “Chanel vs Walmart” trend? A meme format that places something beloved on the left and loathed on the right. Inexpensive and plain outfits are sometimes referred to online as “Walmart fashion”, in a quick bid to diminish them to their class status. Walmart shoppers are poor = therefore tasteless and uncool. Classism is quickly highlighted by our glorification of celebrities in ugly outfits.

The uncomfortable truth is that it’s the things that people don’t get to choose – your size, your shape, your face, your financial background – that can have the biggest impact on whether we interpret what they wear as “fashionable.” And that can feel incredibly restricting to anyone that struggles with the way they look. There is a beauty standard, and as much as we should spit in its face, we can’t be blamed for living in its shadow. 

I’d fuckin’ love to be bald and never wear a bra and wear an elevated eye-look every day. But I have a flat head and no jawline, tits that hit the floor when I don’t wear an underwire and a face you’d never see in a magazine. They’re features that have kept me feeling like my fashion experiments would be considered uncool as opposed to avant garde. 

The celebration of the ugly and unusual feels like bullshit when the people celebrated most for embracing it exist within such a small box. Sure, we’ve become better at expanding on our beauty ideals, but we still expect eyes that aren’t too close together, pouty lips and hairless faces. A model can have a big nose as long as she’s thin and “elegant”. A big girl is a style icon but only when her waist is smaller than her hips. Thrifted clothes are suddenly cool when worn by the wealthy. 

We’ve got a long way to go before we truly reach a place where “ugly” is celebrated on everyone. We are all shallow in different ways, as much as we hate to admit it, but it’s the second thought that counts, not the first. So if you’re looking at someone with a tummy in a crop top and your instinct is that it doesn’t look great, maybe gain some perspective: are you judging their style or their appearance?  

There will always be things to critique when it comes to beauty standards because of capitalist implications of self-acceptance and human insecurity – but it's not all bad. The internet is full of content that's genuinely exciting and expanding on narrow ideals. It’s an exciting time for fashion that we all deserve to embrace. 

As social media empowers individuals and gives everyday people an audience (perceived or real) to perform to, we’ve experienced a counter-cultural move away from celebrity idolatry. In turn, “normal” people are embracing self expression previously reserved only for those in the public eye. The days of being overdressed are swiftly fading, and every day is yours to decorate and embellish as you desire. 

If you want to wear a full Euphoria style eye-look to your lectures: do it. If you wanna wear a floor-length vintage gown to brunch: go for it. If you want to walk through Pak’n’Save in a see-through slip as Rose McGowen once did on the red carpet: why the fuck shouldn’t you?

Rachel Barker is a writer / producer at VICE NZ in Aotearoa.