cringe

Identifying as a “foodie” used to be cringe. Junaid Bhatti, a sophomore at New York University, doesn’t care. “I’m a big foodie,” he said. “Beli has a changed the game for me.” There’s a typo in that last quote, or perhaps he just said it in Mario voice:

I have talked a lot this week about a perplexing experience I had last Saturday night at the Perfectly Imperfect 5th anniversary party [SIC] homie Tyler Bainbridge was kind enough to invite my chunc ass to. The London rapper Fakemink was headlining and I was curious to see what the kids are into for myself. It was ... shambolic (as rappers playing

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“Seeing all the content makes kids feel like they’re part of the braces community,” said Dr. Staller, who posts on TikTok as @bracesbysable to over 235,000 followers. “They feel like they’re part of the process and it’s revived metal braces. The industry has really leaned into it.”

For Madison and her peers, metal braces are a look to be celebrated, personalized and, of course, documented online. Spend a few minutes scrolling the apps and one will find no shortage of orthodontic content.

Since then, the concept of nerdiness has largely transformed from insult to aspiration and nostalgia for the ’90s has never been stronger. Watch any school dismissal and you’ll spot your share of low-rise jeans, claw clips for the hair and point-and-shoot cameras. Metal orthodontics seem to have logically followed.

After all, the analog version of almost everything is what’s cool in many corners of adolescent life. But the braces trend may come as a particular surprise to parents who came of age in the 20th century, when pejoratively termed “tinsel teeth” were something to be dreaded — signaling awkwardness and used in pop culture for comedic effect.

Metal braces have shed their negative reputation and, for some tweens and teens, have become a coveted signifier of cool (colored bands and all).

2016-era “Instagram makeup” has made an inevitable comeback on social media. The revival — complete with sharp contour, matte finishes, block brows, and hyper-pigmented eyeshadow — taps into Gen Z’s obsession with nostalgia and irony. Is it homage? Or parody? I think a bit of both: