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Every era comes and goes, and eventually creates a disposable trend that we love for a second. However, time always tells what we need or what we actually want to be. After years full of clean girls, quiet luxury, and mob wives, we are suddenly turning one cigarette upside down in the pack again, reminding ourselves who we used to be: Tumblr girls.

With messy eyeliner, Brandy Melville basics, flash photography, skinny scarves, black fishnet tights, and a Crystal Castle song trending again, we are so back. It was an era that might have faded, stumbled, and silenced under years of algorithmic perfection, but it never fully died.

As someone born in the ‘90s (technically, it’s 1999), I witnessed Tumblr happening in real time. And let me tell you, it wasn’t all cigarettes, chokers, Arctic Monkeys lyrics, and blurry party photos. Underneath the coolness was a generation deeply obsessed with melancholy. The Tumblr era was born from nostalgia and shaped by music and fashion.

In 2014, Tumblr acted as the zeitgeist of moody girls, shaping many of the tastes and aesthetics we still carry today while constantly introducing us to the right references ahead of their time. Grainy pictures of Sky Ferreira or Effy Stonem from Skins, American Apparel ads, and GIFs that we wanted to recreate with a Lana Del Rey song in the background. What we now call “moodboards” were, back then, actual representations of personality and identity.

In an analysis on technology and nostalgia by Wired back in 2017, Southampton University researcher Tim Wildschut explained that nostalgia gives people a “sense of social connectedness,” especially during periods of loneliness and uncertainty, which makes sense. Nostalgia today is no longer just an aesthetic trend; it has become a psychological comfort mechanism operating within the digital exhaustion of constantly performing online.

The pressure to look perfect has been one of the strongest emotions social media has imposed on us for years. That’s exactly why the longing for more secure and emotionally familiar times keeps transporting us back to 2014. So everything we do without social media whispering trends, aesthetics, and expectations into our ears suddenly feels more authentic. And maybe that’s exactly what the return of Tumblr is about. Pushed by nostalgia, we are digging out a version of ourselves that never truly disappeared, only buried underneath years of distractions and algorithms.  

For Tumblr girls, nostalgia means putting on smudged eyeliner and listening to The Neighbourhood’s “Sweater Weather” on repeat. At least for me, it is.

Fashion was and still is at the center of Tumblr girls. Oversized shirts, skinny scarves, low rise jeans, and fishnet tights were never questioned, acting as an unspoken uniform. The aesthetic always existed between two extremes: the chaotic nightlife coolness of Hedi Slimane’s Saint Laurent girl and the melancholic dark romanticism of Ann Demeulemeester.  To sum it up, Tumblr-coded fashion was a sense of freedom mixed with soft grunge aesthetics under a VSCO T1 filter.

Celine’s Fall 2023 runway carried that same Tumblr girl energy that we adore, with tight leather pants, graphic tees, long necklaces, oversized black sunglasses (worn indoors) and models styled like they had just left the coolest afterparty at 4AM. Even recent runways like 7 For All Mankind’s Fall 2026 show carried traces of the same Tumblr energy a little too strongly to ignore, with messy layering, skinny silhouettes, dark eye makeup, and an undone coolness that felt like a modern version of Jenny Humphrey’s season 4 Gossip Girl wardrobe walking into an event. 

This comeback of the Tumblr girl aesthetic has become impossible to ignore, especially thanks to the power of social media and a whole new generation discovering the platform through TikTok. We are being reminded of everything that once made these It girls iconic through new Tumblr-coded icons like Gabbriette. 2014 me also would have definitely reposted Addison Rae on Tumblr.

Being a Tumblr girl was never really about following a pattern or rules. It was about looking like you had somewhere to be, someone to miss, and a curated playlist constantly playing in the background. 

Even as Tumblr girls have recently begun resurfacing through a more modern wave, they still haven’t forgotten their roots. They still carry the same messy, cool girl energy: old Doc Martens combat boots worn with knee-high black socks, a low-rise mini skirt, a faded band tee tucked carelessly underneath, and an oversized studded leather jacket slipping off the shoulder with songs like Julia Wolf’s “In My Room” on repeat like the modern version of a Tumblr diary entry written at 2AM.

This new era has everything we once had, just more of it: a black Balenciaga Le City bag hanging off the shoulder, wired headphones tangled under an oversized leather jacket, and a digital camera filled with intentionally blurry flash photos. 

Let’s face it, Tumblr girls will always be the coolest because they never really cared. Being a Tumblr girl means creating your own dramatic reality to live in. Their new era doesn’t necessarily smoke cigarettes (she’s more self-aware) or reblog black and white GIFs anymore, but she still romanticizes emotional chaos through fashion and music. Maybe that’s exactly why they continue to feel relevant no matter what year we’re in.

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After posing for Sports Illustrated at just 18 years old, then working her way up to one of the publication’s leading cover stars in 2023, Brooks Nader has just walked Sports Illustrated first-ever Hulu-streamed runway show in Miami.

The model and TV personality spoke to Refinery29’s Social Lead Taylor Loren on the big day, explaining: “Sports Illustrated has seen me through every phase of life. I’m 29 now, so they’ve seen me through boyfriends, divorce, breakups, and moves. They’ve cried with me, they’ve laughed with me.”

And after handing out free bikinis alongside her sisters Mary Holland, Grace Ann, and Sarah Jane at their Agua Bendita pop-up truck at Paraiso Miami Swim Week, Brooks actually got to walk the SI runway alongside her sisters. “Just to be here today in year eight and have my whole family who’s watched me on the runway now be walking in the show with me is the biggest pinch me moment. I feel like a proud parent,” she says.

Known for her ultra-glam looks and unfiltered personality, Nader has become an internet sensation, from her SI shoots to being a contestant on Dancing with The Stars and her Love Thy Nader family reality Hulu series. So, she understands a thing or two about being in the spotlight and having all eyes on her.

“I have to be totally honest with you. I think with the culture of everyone filming everything and being on their phones and paparazzi pics, you can’t really get away with cheating it for a good angle or lighting. People are going to get the shot regardless. So, I’ve mostly given up hope on curated photos, and I just kind of clip the ones I like online,” Nader shares.

However, she’s still game to get a good shot (especially when her sister Sarah Jane is behind the camera) with the help of her Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra phone. “I think it’s all about the lighting and the angles. I love a good mirror selfie,” the Team Galaxy member says, adding: “Confidence is for sure most important. I mean, the Samsung does take amazing photos and that always helps, but confidence is number one. If you feel good, you look good.”

Nader also called out one of her favorite features on the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. “I love the circle-to search feature because if you see something you love, you just take a photo, you circle it, and everything pops up online,” she explains, adding: “It’s the most dangerous thing that I have access to right now because I’ll just be like: ‘Oh, love that purse,’ and then it’s in the cart.” (A feature we may just want to use when watching the Sports Illustrated show stream on June 9.)

Speaking on her SI photoshoots and runway walks (during a time when body diversity has severely decreased), Nader says the publication’s editor in chief MJ Day has always championed real bodies. “I’ve gone in for the fitting and then showed up for the shoot and been 20 pounds lighter after crazy dieting. And MJ’s like: ‘Where’d you go? This isn’t who we booked. We want you for you. We don’t want you to change or morph into someone you’re not.’ I think that’s so special.”

For the runway itself, Nader adds: “It’s obviously nerve wracking. Everyone’s watching. They’re getting every little angle of your body, but I would say Sports Illustrated is a brand that embraces all women, and they always have. They were so ahead of the curve, and they did that before any other brand or magazine did that. And that’s why it’s so special to be a part of it because everyone is celebrated with this brand. I feel zero pressure when I’m working with Sports Illustrated.”

On the big night, Nader showed up and showed out in three swimwear looks, but the most notable was perhaps her striking red one-piece — fitting, because she was casted and shot a Baywatch reboot, which is set to release in 2027. When Loren asked Nader if she practiced her slow-mo Baywatch run, the model-turned-actress quickly said: “I’ve been practicing that since I was 10 years old. So when this call came through, I was ready. I’ve been benched and waiting for my entire life.”

In addition to her features on the SI Hulu stream and upcoming Baywatch Fox series, we can probably expect to see Nader back at the Dancing with The Stars stages… this time in the audience. That’s because her truest friend and fellow SI runway model Maura Higgins was announced as one of the first contestants for Season 35.

“I think she’s an ultimate girls’ girl and she’s not afraid to say exactly what she’s thinking or what everyone else is thinking,” Nader says about Higgins. “And she has been so kind and humble along the way. I don’t even think she needs advice. She’s so gorgeous and stunning and I can’t wait to see her crush it.”

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