Next
Marina & the Diamonds - How to be a Heartbreaker
Sunbelt Siren
posted January 5, 2025
link
link
This Fashion Subgenre took me on a bit of an adventure.
I had a vague sense of where I wanted to go next: Americana, vintage, country—but filtered through heat and humidity. It’s something I’ve seen resurfacing in the past few years, though it’s canonically late-’90s to mid-2000s. Back when people mocked Britney Spears for everything—especially the Louisiana-coded paparazzi shots at gas stations. How dare she be a rich and famous celebrity and walk around like she’s a normal person. Of course, twenty years later, her outfits are pretty on-trend. Pinterest is full of boards titled “🍒Trailer Park Princess 🌺,” populated with purposely low-res images of women in beer can hair rollers and posing with rifles. And although I find that all a bit contrived, I can also appreciate the evocative imagery: driving on the interstate in the middle of nowhere as the sun sets, mid-century neon signs, baby tees in shades of girly pink.
The Sunbelt Siren is geographically specific: Florida and the surrounding states, away from urban centers and master-planned suburbs, in places where dirt roads still exist and HOAs don’t. Family structures tend to be either tightly bound or something she’s actively distancing herself from, but either way, they’ve left an indelible mark on her personality. Maybe one or more of them do not get along with her boyfriend, who is chiseled, tatted, and may have a chin strap. Her signature scent is a mixture of nicotine and Victoria’s Secret body spray, and her car is outfitted with a fuzzy pink steering wheel cover and an array of cigarette burns.
Lana Del Rey’s turn as Lizzy Grant exemplifies the Sunbelt Siren, or at least a somewhat performative version of her, with haphazardly-bleached hair, the secondhand varsity jackets, and the stars-and-stripes motif. In a lot of ways, she nails it, but it still reads as more of a persona than a natural identity. A more recent iteration would be Ethel Cain’s bucolic, liminal take, which can sometimes read a little more fundamentalist and subversive. Both risk aestheticizing poverty or chaos, but they also reveal how femininity mutates under heat, class pressure, and regional politics.
Cowgirl Clue living out her Sunbelt Siren fantasy with a 1 megapixel photo taken in a truckstop parking lot.
Don’t be fooled by revivalists jacking up prices on the obvious brands like Von Dutch and Ed Hardy. Besides, they’re Sunbelt Siren aspirational but too overpriced. The whole ethos lends itself to curating selections from obscure, era-appropriate items. Lean towards department store Juniors-y brands: Candies, l.e.i., Mudd. Bebe is a little too suburban shopping mall. It’s generally easy and inexpensive to find vintage Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tees or rhinestone-encrusted Playboy halter tops. Silhouettes include lots of camisoles/tank tops, tight, low-cut flared jeans, bare midriffs, short shorts. Bleached hair piled high in a messy bun or with curvy face-framing layers, sometimes with contrasting lowlights.
Ideal career paths: cosmetology, dancing, Playboy model
ffasdfdfasdf Did you run the mile? Or did you walk the mile while wearing sweatpants and gossiping with your friend?
I had a vague sense of where I wanted to go next: Americana, vintage, country—but filtered through heat and humidity. It’s something I’ve seen resurfacing in the past few years, though it’s canonically late-’90s to mid-2000s. Back when people mocked Britney Spears for everything—especially the Louisiana-coded paparazzi shots at gas stations. How dare she be a rich and famous celebrity and walk around like she’s a normal person. Of course, twenty years later, her outfits are pretty on-trend. Pinterest is full of boards titled “🍒Trailer Park Princess 🌺,” populated with purposely low-res images of women in beer can hair rollers and posing with rifles. And although I find that all a bit contrived, I can also appreciate the evocative imagery: driving on the interstate in the middle of nowhere as the sun sets, mid-century neon signs, baby tees in shades of girly pink.
The Sunbelt Siren is geographically specific: Florida and the surrounding states, away from urban centers and master-planned suburbs, in places where dirt roads still exist and HOAs don’t. Family structures tend to be either tightly bound or something she’s actively distancing herself from, but either way, they’ve left an indelible mark on her personality. Maybe one or more of them do not get along with her boyfriend, who is chiseled, tatted, and may have a chin strap. Her signature scent is a mixture of nicotine and Victoria’s Secret body spray, and her car is outfitted with a fuzzy pink steering wheel cover and an array of cigarette burns.
Lana Del Rey’s turn as Lizzy Grant exemplifies the Sunbelt Siren, or at least a somewhat performative version of her, with haphazardly-bleached hair, the secondhand varsity jackets, and the stars-and-stripes motif. In a lot of ways, she nails it, but it still reads as more of a persona than a natural identity. A more recent iteration would be Ethel Cain’s bucolic, liminal take, which can sometimes read a little more fundamentalist and subversive. Both risk aestheticizing poverty or chaos, but they also reveal how femininity mutates under heat, class pressure, and regional politics.
Don’t be fooled by revivalists jacking up prices on the obvious brands like Von Dutch and Ed Hardy. Besides, they’re Sunbelt Siren aspirational but too overpriced. The whole ethos lends itself to curating selections from obscure, era-appropriate items. Lean towards department store Juniors-y brands: Candies, l.e.i., Mudd. Bebe is a little too suburban shopping mall. It’s generally easy and inexpensive to find vintage Sturgis Motorcycle Rally tees or rhinestone-encrusted Playboy halter tops. Silhouettes include lots of camisoles/tank tops, tight, low-cut flared jeans, bare midriffs, short shorts. Bleached hair piled high in a messy bun or with curvy face-framing layers, sometimes with contrasting lowlights.
Ideal career paths: cosmetology, dancing, Playboy model
Muses: Britney Spears, Anna Nicole Smith, Jaime Pressly
ffasdfdfasdf Did you run the mile? Or did you walk the mile while wearing sweatpants and gossiping with your friend?
Both the Scene Queen and the LiveJournal Celebrity are her predecessors. In the early 2010s, a lot of Scene Queens washed up in LA and became proto-influencers: “I’m sexy, but online,” updated for Instagram. LiveJournal Celebrity contributes the indie-sleaze layer—grungy partying, ironicasfsdfsdf
Scene Queen = What I thought was cool in middle school.
Indie Hipster = What I thought was cool in high school.
Tumblrcore = What I thought was cool in college.
I’ll admit: I never properly tried to emulate the Indie Hipster. I sort of tried—posted film photos to Flickr groups called “d▲ncing m▲untain,” botched a bleach job, attempted pink dye (disastrous). But like being a Scene Queen, it required a level of commitment I wasn’t willing to give. Imagine me clomping around in Litas or wearing blue lipstick. No. It’s better that I admire her from a distance and borrow specific pieces that evoke the Indie Hipster without making it feel too corny or try-hard.
Next