TIKTOK MADE ME DO IT

There's a sartorial trend for everyone on TikTok. We dared three writers to get down with the kids and test out the app's wildest styles

BIMBOCORE

Alex Bruce-Smith channels noughties Paris Hilton in a quest to reclaim #bimbo

I'm standing on a street in Sydney dressed in a hot-pink minidress and Barbie-esque platforms when a truck driver calls out a "heyyyyy sexy" as he drives past. Catcalling! In the year of our Lord 2022! I thought we were past that, but apparently all it takes is dressing like a bimbo for strange men to give me their opinions as they pass. The next truck driver is a little less encouraging. "Slag," he declares. Ah, the duality of man.

I'm dressed like a bimbo for a very important reason: to see if the TikTok favourite #bimbocore aesthetic works in the wild. Visually, bimbocore is exactly what you think it is: hyper-feminine, slightly sultry and pink everything. Emotionally it's a little deeper. It's "no thoughts, just vibes" but done in the name of feminism. Or something.

My moodboard for this challenge is a combination of Paris Hilton in the 2000s, Hailey Bieber dressed up as Lola Bunny and, of course, Elle Woods. When Legally Blonde premiered in 2001, Elle Woods (played to perfection by Reese Witherspoon) became an instant icon for subverting the dumb blonde stereotype. "What, like it's hard?" was the refrain for women succeeding everywhere. But it was only a few years later that we were treating Paris Hilton like a joke for having her sex tape leaked, instead of calling the act what it was: a sex crime. In the noughties, being feminine meant being dumb - a bimbo - and therefore less worthy of society's respect.

In the years since, we've reexamined what it means to celebrate femininity. Phrases such as "I'm not like the other girls" became "I'm exactly like the other girls." Now, thanks in part to TikTok and the resurgence of '00s fashion, women are experimenting again with the hyperfeminine bimbo look. Only this time we're the ones in control.