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There’s a new It Girl on TikTok.
Her name is The vanilla girl, and it is characterized by two characteristics: It is comfortable and “clean”. Dressed only in neutral tones such as white, beige or a many light brown, she might favor a loose, cozy knit sweater over short Ugg leggings. Her hair is matted, and her skin is without heavy makeup — maybe just some lip gloss, eyebrow pencil, and blush. When she welcomes you to her home, she offers you a homemade latte, a white boucle chair to sit on, and a blanket to cover your feet while the aroma of sugar cookies wafts in the background. It is elegant, smooth and, above all, light.
It’s also almost too white. Of the seemingly endless TikTok videos tagged “vanilla girl” and “vanilla girl aesthetic,” almost all of them are from the most popular blonde women. Some creators appreciate TikTok megastar Alix Earle popularizing the vieweven though she didn’t invent it and doesn’t seem to use the hashtag in her videos.
But with her sleek blonde hair and big blue eyes, Earle definitely fits the bill, and it’s hard to find on-trend creators who don’t match the look, although there are some videos showing how to style it too if you are a *gasp* brunette.
The popularity and specificity of the trend has many people on TikTok saying the quiet part out loud: This feels racist.
“It feels like WASP, tradwife, purity culture repackaged for Gen Z,” a Black creator@troublepuffs, said about the trend.
A Prominent Black TikToker, @OliviaLayne6said the name “vanilla” and the examples used to demonstrate it in mainstream media trending articles Make it seem like the trend is only for “pretty, thin, white women”.
Olivia said she saw comments on TikTok saying “anyone can be” a vanilla girl, but noted that the trend just seems to be a repackaging of the same TikTok trends we’ve seen before, like “clean girl“and”gentle girl” aesthetic.
“And no shade, I’m not making fun of this style, I’m just wondering how many ways you all can find to say you like beige?” she said.
Aiyana Ismael, editorial assistant at Teen Vogue, got into TikTok that after receiving a PR envelope for the trend, she decided to start her own trend: the “chocolate girl” trend.
“The new aesthetic just fell,” she said. -Stephanie McNeal ●
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