The Scene

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An amateur guide to scene and scenecore fashion and subculture, revolving mainly around the 2009-2015 era.

Quick Tips

If you're not sure where to start, a quick google of "scene outfits before:2015" or "guy scene outfits before:2015" will bring up a ton of examples of what people in The Scene were wearing, when it was at the peak- aka, prior to 2015.

A Quick Rundown!Look at the general aesthetics of the era you're interested in- fashion, makeup, decor, music and media trends change. It can help to look to media that was made during the peak of the Scene subculture!I recommend finding videos on YouTube from 2000-2015, posted by people who were in the subculture.Watch trendy movies from the time, like Mean Girls and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. If you're 18 or older, I recommend the entire Eating Out * film series. It is a collection of queer comedies set in the early and mid 2000s, that reference a lot of the relevant societal issues going on at the time.**Again, if you're old enough, get yourself familiar with music artists like Jeffree Star, Blood on the Dance Floor *, and Scotty Vanity **who were at the time, well known among Scene teenagers. In recent days, BOTDF and Jeffree Star have done some unfavorable things. Please note, these aren't people to look up to. Other bands include Panic at the Disco, 3OH!3, Attack Attack!, Nickasaur, and Millionaires.Finally, if you've spent any time within modern Scene communities, you'll probably have come across gatekeeping. It both then, and now consists of posers telling other people they don't count because they're not sCeNe eNoUgH by some arbitrary standards that shift every generation of Scene. Some things never change! Just keep in mind, you don't have to prove yourself to anyone, and nobody has to prove themselves to you.*_{The film series Eating Out deals with a lot of adult topics, and potentially triggering material. Homophobia, and casual transphobia aren't uncommon. Things that were politically correct then have evolved and are now problematic. Keep that in mind while watching.}
*_{The lead singer of BOTDF is a predator against children, and the lyrics of the band's music reflect that. If you check out the band please do so knowing the risks, aware of triggers, and be safe.}

Fashion

Every Scenester does fashion differently than others, and during the late 2000s and early 2010s, Scene fashion had branched out into multiple directions. There are many terms you can include to alter your search results when you're looking for inspiration, but make sure you include "before:2016" to each search, to exclude anything that wasn't posted before 2016 from showing up. You can use any year to your preference, also.A few examples of the different ways people might dress; some focus more on cartoons and characters, like Invader Zim, Hello Kitty, Pokemon, Gloomy bear. Often they watch cartoons and anime. This is the subgroup most closely related to scenecore, which takes nostalgic or retro imagery and incorporates it more heavily into scene fashion, as well as adding a clutter component and a more rainbow aesthetic. It also has much in common with those who prioritize kandi. Others branched off and became became more of a hipster **look, whereas others evolved into a mix of scene fashion and trending swag fashion fashion. You may find reference to Tumblr scene, which was more muted and often had a softer vibe, as well as galaxy and space themed elements.Regardless of the specific influence you prefer, there are a couple of tips you should know if you're going for authentic vs scenecore. First, when you're selecting patterns, keep in mind that they were used more sparingly than it might appear. At the peak of Scene fashion, zebra print and leopard print weren't uncommon patterns, and they were often balanced out with solid colors like black and white.Second, layers. Look into "early 2000s fashion trends" and "2010s fashion trends" to see what kind of style choices you might not be aware of. Belts around the waist, skirts and shorts over leggings, layered tank-tops, crop-tops with low-rise jeans. Crop-tops came down lower at the time, mostly showing hips, not even always bellybutton.As far as hair... that's a little more complex, so I'll just link to a few resources.

Decor

Color combinations of the 2000s-2010s made up the majority of Scene bedrooms. It wasn't uncommon to see- like in some of the hairstyle tutorials- a regular tween/teen bedroom no matter how alternative your interests. Whether you had a basic room, or a very personalized room, some common wall color pairings I saw were as follows--Pink/Green
-Blue/Green
-Pink/Black/White
-Purple/GreenEvery once in a while, someone would paint their walls black, but most often the walls themselves were just normal wall colors.For Scene teens, one or two walls- typically those that the bed were against- were covered in posters, printed images of band members, celebrities, or artwork, artwork done by yourself or your friends, and random 'quirky' items like spoons, childhood items, street signs, or whatever you might have or find to make the space unique to you. A clean bedroom with your Scene gear in it is more important to the authentic vibe than a bedroom themed bedroom.

Brands

Here is a list of brands to help you get started in finding some scene gear! I always suggest starting with clearance at any shop.Cool PJs at Joe Boxer
Cool t-shirts at Akumuink
Occasional finds at Boxlunch
Hot Topic
Spencers Online
Occasional finds at Vampire Freaks
Occasional finds at Dark Star Fusion
Pretty cool Crunkcore finds at Zumies
Want to buy second hand, but not sure where to begin? Here are a few links to try.
Crunkcore
Scenecore
2000s clothes
Emo clothes
Invader Zim
Crunkcore on Depop
Scenecore on Depop
Emo
Scene

Living Scene

If you aren't at school, where do you find yourself? In my years of highschool, there were a handful of places to go- I lived in a small town, so options were slim. If you weren't at your house, or someone else's house, you were probably hanging out at the mall, walking around Walmart with your friends, hitting up QuikTrip, or loitering at a playground or in a parking lot. Or, alternatively, hanging out in the woods, or just driving around, especially at night, listening to CDs. Bowling, rollerskating a skating rink, and begging our parents to let us go to a concert were also typical activities. If it was too hot, we'd just sit in McDonald's and bum fries off each other until we were kicked out.If you really want to get into the subculture the way people used to be, just dress up, listen to your favorite music, and hang out with friends. Take tons of pictures and make tons of memories. That was the highlight of the entire era, and that goes for emo, goth, or any other subculture, and that is something I think I lost somewhere along the way to adulthood- that's why I'm so excited for this revival of subcultures from my youth.

Tips, Tricks and a Final Note.

I'm not someone who will say cellphones are bad, technology is bad, or anything like that- but one big difference between then, and now, is that planning the day was part of the fun.We had Myspace (try friendproject.net), not Facebook, and later, Tumblr, not Tiktok. A ton of tweens and teens learned HTML coding to make their Myspace profiles custom- I was doing it when I was 12. Friendproject uses the same coding, unlike the alternative Myspace clone, SpaceHey. So for customizing, I recommend Friendproject over SpaceHey, and it could be a lot of fun to customize your profiles with friends.You might have Netflix or another streaming service, but try looking around for DVDs to take home- the library might have them to borrow. Instead of pulling up Spotify or YouTube, try keeping a CD storage case with CDs curated by you and your friends like. It's great to have apps and websites available to use, but there's something different about having the time you spend together in tangible form. Something you can pull out of a box a decade from now and listen to again, or hand to your friend to borrow.Try carrying a camera for pictures, instead of using your cellphone. Try the library or dollar stores for DVDs. Look into burning CDs with your friends that have only your favorite songs on them, and decorating the top with Sharpies.

Final Note:To see Scenesters in action, I've collected a few videos from the time period of kids goofing off. To be clear, I did not watch all of these videos all the way through to check for what content is included. Viewer discretion is advised.I found a video of Scene kids at the mall, as well as a documentary of sorts that someone did on the subculture. Some Scene kids at school, a Scene girl giving a bedroom tour. I'm sure there are many more videos too, if you utilize the search with that "before:2016" trick.If you have any questions, or suggestions for me to improve this page, please reach out to me! :)