This past year has been marked by the rise of the messy girl.Like most, if not all, fashion moments, the messy girl look isn’t a new aesthetic per se, but its revival is timed to cultural pushback against propaganda on how women ought to look. TL;DR: The world is a mess, and our fits should reflect that.The messy girl embraces imperfection and thinks outside an overly cultivated grid. She’s the antithesis of quiet luxury’s tonal Heather-elitism, and the problematic and privileged clean girl aesthetic that’s been buzzing about for years.Note that messy is different from sloppy. Messy is chaotic elements of taste thrown together with abandon. Sloppy is poor hygiene or, well, taste that’s cringe. Charli XCX began the trend by bringing brat energy, and so did aloof style icon Ella Emhoff. This winter, “I Love LA’s” Odessa A’zion ran with the messy look on the awards circuit, as did anyone attempting a winged eye on the first try and not caring if the line didn’t come out straight.GettyElle Fanning and Odessa A'zion, a model and Charli XCX all embody different elements of the messy girl look.This rebellion against beauty standards isn’t just about aesthetics. Women are increasingly being told how to exist in public spaces by a narrow elite as their fundamental rights are eroded. The 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, the skyrocketing costs of child care, and the aggressive ”trad wife” dogma pushed by groups like the Heritage Foundation have stoked the flames of female rage. We’ve seen it in the casual condescension of a president telling a female news anchor to “smile” while she questioned him on sex trafficking consequences and in the Department of Justice’s repeated mishandling of victim identities. The Messy Girl Revival Opts For Chaotic Makeup “If my dark circles are showing, I don’t care about that,” said Devon Abelman, a former beauty magazine editor, influencer and author of the Substack Abelskin. “Those are like, so on the bottom of my list of things I care about.” But the messy girl look isn’t about eschewing makeup. Quite the contrary. Makeup is at the discretion of the wearer’s fingertips. That makes its application a vehicle of self-expression. “I love to smear glitter all over my eyes,” said Abelman, explaining her technique. “I don’t care about placement. I want to feel radiant,” speaking also to the intimacy of how the wearer serves a look. A blurred lip, or when you don’t match lip liner to your base shade, is a messy girl makeup that calls to mind Courtney Love’s smeared red pout. But for Abelman, quintessential to messy girl makeup is showing up without having to cover up your skin. “Like, OK, I’m having a breakout. Who cares? I don’t. I don’t cover it up.” She went on to say that “foundation is a barrier between you and the world,” because it’s a tool to help women “perform perfection.” The messy girl is authentically intentional about showing up as is. “We’re seeing so many women blow out the proportions of their faces,” Abelman explained, “so much that we don’t even know what people’s faces are supposed to look like anymore.” For her, her makeup is about adding color in dark times. “Experiment with where you put your blush,” she recommended, mixing colors and finishes for a look that should be “glowy.” Kevin.Mazur via Getty ImagesCourtney Love's famous smeared red lipstick look is the vibe of a messy girl.She agrees that the messy girl is the anti-Mar-a-Lago face. “When I leave the house, I want to look like me. I don’t want to look like some cookie-cutter or some cartoon version of what a woman should look like, because I’m already eschewing all those things anyway.”Messy Girl Dressing Is Authentic And Lived-In, Not PerformativeWhen it comes to dress, the messy girl “leans into the chaos,” said Christine Morrison, a former Calvin Klein VP and author of the new book ”Clothes Minded.” She referenced a history of women in the ’70s like Jane Fonda and Katharine Hepburn who wore blazers, motorcycle jacks and baggy trousers “to make a statement that said ‘I don’t buy into what’s happening in this world.’” GettyKatharine Hepburn and Jane Fonda were messy girls before their time.She also said today’s messy girl revival isn’t quite grunge. “It’s more about being authentic and lived-in,” and speaks back to a femininity that expects women to show up in public as a sanitized “clean girl,” a look we see on actresses like Sydney Sweeney. Instead, she said, expect women to strive for a look that’s “anti-perfectionist,” especially in the workplace with the departure of the “girl boss with a tight bun and heels. The vibe is not about a 60-hour workweek, it’s about prioritizing mental health.” Even on the grid, Morrison pointed out, outfit photos are becoming “less high maintenance. You’ll see clothes all over the bed in the background. People are tired of trying to put on a show.”The Messy Girl EthosPersonal and celebrity stylist Sheyna Imm, who owns Good.Good Shop, a consciously curated boutique in New York, points out that the current messy girl revival prioritizes independent brands and upcycled or vintage clothes to close the loop on corporate greed. “I refuse to buy something to fill a need,” Imm told HuffPost. “The sea of sameness is so redundant. Every brand is doing the same thing. We look like a herd of sheep.”Neil Mockford via Getty ImagesLauren Sánchez Bezos (seen here with husband Jeff Bezos) epitomizes the cookie-cutter aesthetic of corporate greed that messy girls rebel against.The messy girl does not buy into made-up preseasons or fabricated trends. Ironically, Imm credits The Row’s Olsen Twins as millennium messy girl go-tos, along with Kate Moss and Winona Ryder, whose looks haunt the mood boards of messy girl aspirants of today. To rebel against the sea of sameness, Imm suggested to shop your closet and wear what you have or to work with a stylist or tailor to make something individual rather than contributing to the bankroll of tech giants that will “put small brands out of business.” The messy girl is unbothered by the chaos of imperfection. “The look is quirky; patterns clash,” she said. “Then when you do acquire something you really care for, the piece is a beautiful reflection of you internally.”D Dipasupil via Getty ImagesAshley Olsen (left) and Mary-Kate Olsen embody the messy girl ethos. Their line, The Row, while priced inaccessibly, features silhouettes that disrupt feminine norms.The messy girl is intentional but doesn’t overthink the look. That defies the point. Last looks should always be about showing up with agency, not based on someone’s expectation on how you should turn out. Messy authenticity trumps fake perfection.