Will the “cadaveric” look come back into fashion in 2023? Since the start of last year, the beauty and fashion trend has moved away from the clean, polished aesthetic of the Clean Girl to manifest a darker feminine energy. In the wake of the flourishing success of the “Wednesday” series on Netflix, and the explosion of gothic chic looks, the “Chic Succubus” trend continues to reinvent itself.
To put it simply, the chic Succubus look is characterized by thin, even erased eyebrows, an outrageous black smokey eye or an exaggerated eyeliner, pale skin with hollow features and Gothic-inspired clothing. Most women who sport this look like to cover their mouth with blood red lipstick or lip liner. The hair is jet black, straight, sometimes pulled back, in order to highlight this diaphanous complexion. It’s no longer about looking sexy, but about being mysterious and bewitching. The chic succubus look is very specific, right down to the pose, characterized by a bowed head, sulky pout, and a cadaverous gaze that’s both a siren call and a deadly warning.
A trend taken from the 2000s
The word “succubus” originates from the name given to the female demon who seduces men and abuses them while they sleep. In the early 2000s, the look became popular thanks to actress Angelina Jolie, considered the ultimate “bad girl” at the time. The proof with Elle magazine’s “Born to be Wild” photoshoot, which presents the heroine of “Tomb Raider” staring at the camera, her head bowed, with the look that will become the signature of “Succube Chic”. With her thin eyebrows, high cheekbones and pouty lips, dressed in leather and covered in tattoos, Angelina Jolie is considered the spiritual mother of today’s chic succubus girls.
Years later, around 2019, an influencer and model named Gabrielle Bechtel is picking up the legacy and democratizing the look. She sports, like her colleagues, like Cara Delevingne, very fine eyebrows, hollow features and a mullet. But it’s only since late last year that the hashtag “Succubus Chic” explodes on social networks, totaling 411.5 million views on TikTok.
Ultimate consecration for the movement, Kylie Jenner, a trendsetter among new generations, took up this underground look in one of her latest posts on Instagram. A far cry from her usual polished looks, Kylie Jenner shows off gray eyebrows, a tousled bun, black-rimmed eyes, sunken cheeks, and a dead stare at the camera. The media are quick to relay these new beauty standards, sparking controversy.
An unhealthy appearance
In early January, the American media Dazed discusses the expansion of this aesthetic on social media. The article will not take long to be taken up by thousands of socionauts who criticize the harmful way of life evoked by the article. From the very first lines, we can read:It’s Wednesday Addams if she grew up, got a job in Milan and took coke.”. The description continues with “lThe cheeks are sunken and the cheekbones are prominent. There’s not an ounce of mouth grease in sight.” In response to this passage, the tiktokeuse Yves Saint Laurel denounces not only the lack of diversity in the images chosen by the article, but also the way in which the medium banally promotes drug use and thinness. Thinness, which has come back to the fore with cosmetic surgery operations, such as bichectomy (buccal fat removal), highlights the unhealthy side of the “chic succubus” look.
On Twitter, Internet users mock this new aesthetic, pointing to the trend of thin eyebrows, which was originally attributed to Latin women. “Succubus chic? You mean copying Angelina Jolie’s look and wearing Mexican women’s 2000s makeup?”. Others denounce the overabundance of aesthetics on social media: “Soft Girl, Clean Girl, Luxury Girl, High Level Girl, and now Vanilla Girl and Succubus Chic??? It was cute at first but now they’re overdoing it…enough.”
