Decoding hot girls: All about the Baby Look

Read the second “Decoding hot girls” here

These days, opening any teenage online magazines which by the way, attract not only teenagers but also a large crowd of young adults like Kenh14.vn or news sites such as VnExpress, any reader will find countless articles about “hot girls” – what they wear, where they go or what their latest Facebook status update is all about.

So who are these “hot girls”? They are first and foremost girls who stand out for being pretty and have wide online coverage which in most cases is prompted by their selfies. Since the prominence of the first “hot girl” in 2005, there have been many changes in characteristics of “hot girls”, reflecting shifts in Vietnamese beauty standards and youth lifestyle.

The Baby look

The first generation of “hot girls” started from the emergence of Mi Vân in 2005. She was an ordinary 16 year-old girl who was studying piano in the Conservatories of Music in Hà Nội and happened to like taking pictures. When her selfie photos were shared on the Internet, Mi Vân’s sweet and pure look had immediately captured the hearts of Vietnamese netizens. After that, her photos were ubiquitous in every online topics about “girl xinh” (“cute girl”) and she quickly became a popular teenage photo model. Mi Van’s meteoric fame brought a new wave of Internet “cute girls” who gave the same poses and showcased a similar look.

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Photos of these “cute girls” (they were not labeled as “hot” during this time) look almost the same though depicting different people. The photos focus exclusively on the model’s face and emphasize on her big doe-eyes.  The typical pose is looking up while inflating cheeks and holding a tight-lipped smile. The purpose is to make the eyes look bigger and the face looks rounder on the cheeks to resemble a child’s face. The camera’s position makes a model’s head proportionally bigger than her body, signifying under-developed body of little girls. Sometimes, the model’s skin is photoshopped to remove any blemish and a rosy touch is added on the cheeks for a perfect baby look.

The choice to focus and exaggerate those features might be partially influenced by Japanese manga and anime loved by almost all Vietnamese teenagers ever since they were kids. Characters in popular manga/anime for girls such as Sailor Moon, Tonde Burin, Glass Mask or Candy, all have huge eye size, small high bridged noses and small mouths. But the notion of women being weak and subjected to men’s protection in Vietnam’s patriarchal society is an equally strong drive for the popularity of the Baby look. In their photos which are usually but not limited to selfies, “Hot girl” models appear endearing, soft and helpless. Their doed-eyes look up innocently; their smiles hardly show any teeth; their posture fakes shyness.  According to Laura Miller, covering or de-emphasis of the teeth is a submissive signal since baring one’s teeth is considered a threat display. In Japan, “covering the mouth while smiling or giggling is etiquette dating to the Edo period and, like teeth blackening, might be related to a desire to subdue a woman’s animalistic or aggressive potential” (2006). The hot girls’ Baby look might just be a classic visual presentation to appeal to the male audience.

The Internet boom in the early 2000s had created a proliferation of “private” online venues for young people to express themselves, away from adults’ stern eyes. It was a completely opposite place to teenagers’ cramped and somehow repressive environment. Study load was heavy as always. Schools were pushing very hard for conformity. All pupils had to wear uniform and were not allowed to make alterations to the uniform. Nor could they dye hair or have their nails veneered. Pupils’ appearance was constantly invigilated by teachers and proctors to assess their morality record which in turn, was one of the decisive factors for their school performance. One of my classmates had to bring photos of her when she was a kid to prove to the teachers that her natural hair colour is slightly brown and that she did not dye her hair.

Given that “hot girls” (or any Vietnamese Internet users at that time) had the digital space to be whoever they wanted to be, one would expect their photos to be a little more rebellious. Instead, most photos taken around 2005 to 2006 have the models wearing simple outfit, sometimes school uniforms with very little or no make-up, posing on ordinary daily setting background such as home or school, depicting themselves as soft and innocent – conforming to exactly what was expected of school girls at their age.

And in these brief two years, consumerism is not yet visible in “Hot girls” photos. They seem to be more about “Look at me” than “Look at what I’m wearing”, “what I have”, “where I’m at” or “what I’m eating”.

From “Babies” to Dolls

2007. Beauty hit the spot light. Modelling, together with “accompanied jobs” such as MC, singing or acting, became an aspiring career. There were countless of beauty pageants or talent contests for teenagers. The number of modelling and MC course rose exponentially, even covered target as small as seven year- old children.  Everybody was eager to join the entertainment industry.

The Baby look naturally fit into beauty pageants for teenagers, conforming to beauty standards for girls this age. A new look evolved from the previous innocent style – enhanced innocence. “Hot girls” photos show teenage girls with eyes enlarged by make-up and circle lens, full thick fringe, hazelnut or blonde curly hair clad in bows and ribbons. “Hot girls” objectified themselves by adopting the look of dolls.

The term “Girl xinh” (“cute girl”) was no longer used, replaced by “Hot girls” as in “hot trend”, “hot movie” or “hot cell phone”. Since more brands aiming at Vietnamese teens, the “hot girl” title was an asset to be capitalized. In fact, by then “hot girl” was almost a job, giving easy access to modelling, MC, acting or singing opportunities. There were jokes about little kids who said they wanted to be hot girls when asked what career they wanted to do in the future.

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New bottle, old wine

Thanks to make-up, photography angle, Photoshop and later on, various photo edit apps, a lot of “hot girls” looked nothing like their own photos. A new term was invented  to refer to them, “Ảo” (“Illusion”).

In response to public saturation of commercialized make-up made, doll-like “hot girls”, online media infused them with photos of “hot girls” with no make-up to show their “authentic” side. On the other hand, they constantly seek for fresh faces. Following the Milk tea girl trend in China (A student who became an Internet celebrity in China after a picture of her carrying a cup of milk tea went viral and topped netizens sexiest student in China), Vietnamese media fed netizens with plentiful “hot girls” from variety of background – pilot, police, teacher or rice cake seller.

While this trend is just another way to attract viewers, it shows the desire for more authentic, pure and perhaps, diverse looks. Authentic and pure, maybe, but whether these new “hot girls” adds more diversity to the “hot girl” world is questionable. They all look pretty much the same.

L.L

May 23rd 2014

Reference

Miller, L. (2006). Changing Beauty Ideology. Beauty up exploring contemporary Japanese body aesthetics. Berkeley: University of California Press.