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By Marni Rose McFall
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In 2023, author, model and New York It Girl Julia Fox went on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and she said, "Men hate my outfits. They're so mad that I'm not like hot how I was on Uncut Gems."
Fox's words have since become something of a siren call for young women, helping to prompt a rediscovery of a certain trend from the 2010s: the Man Repeller outfit.
Two years after the comments from Fox, as the political divide between men and women continues to deepen, young women are driving the revival of the Man Repeller trend.
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What Is a Man Repeller Outfit?
The term Man Repeller was widely popularized by Leandra Medine Cohen, who ran a fashion blog-come-lifestyle-website by the same name from 2010 to 2020. The blog was shuttered in 2020 as a result of "financial constraints" and criticism directed at the company.
The aesthetic has begun to rise again among women across social media.
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The Man Repeller brand has influenced a number of millennial women. Now, young Gen Z women have discovered the trend and are bringing it back to the forefront of fashion culture.
Put simply, a Man Repeller outfit is designed to avoid unwanted male attention and is considered to be not traditionally attractive to the male gaze, a term first coined by Laura Mulvey in 1975. It's often characterized by long skirts, baggy silhouettes and details like big bulky glasses.
A recent Instagram Reel from the account Style Analytics—which has received a million views at the time of reporting—used data analysis to scrape the comment sections on Reddit threads discussing clothing items that men "hate".
The research from Style Analytics found that some of the most mentioned items were oversized sunglasses, pointy-toed shoes, high-waisted trousers or jeans and baggy clothing.
In an email shared with Newsweek, Molly Rooyakkers, who runs the account, said that she wonders if these trends are "representative of the growing divide between American gen-z men and women politically. In this way, perhaps women are participating in these trends out of exhaustion with men's behaviour more generally or perhaps resentment for men's contributions to the current political climate."
What's Driving the Trend?
The revival of the Man Repeller trend comes early into the second administration of President Donald Trump, as political divides continue to widen. According to exit polls, in the 2024 presidential election, among young adults aged 18 to 29, 61 percent of young women voted for Democratic candidate former Vice President Kamala Harris, while 55 percent of young men supported Trump.
The new rise of the Man Repeller movement also comes as there is a decrease in young adults dating, according to research. Gen Z is more likely to be single than any other generation, according to a new report from Coupon Birds, with 46 percent of Gen Z saying they were without a partner compared to 28 percent of millennials.
The Man Repeller trend also comes as other contrasting aesthetics have become popularized by Gen Z. Elsewhere on TikTok, traditional gender roles and conservative styles like pared-back styles and prairie dresses are still popular.
The revival of the Man Repeller trend has also been reflected in the collections of prominent designers. Prada and Miu Miu, both run by Miuccia Prada, two of the most popular names in fashion, have collections that feature bulky silhouettes, big glasses, and messy hair. Prada herself has long been credited with coining the "ugly chic" aesthetic, and these styles fit into the codes of the Man Repeller aesthetic.
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The rise of the trend also reveals that women aren't necessarily listening to men when it comes to fashion.
Research from Style Analytics says that when men make it clear online which clothes they don't like, women following the trend are reveling in wearing them.
One Instagram Reel from the account Daphne Blunt, which has been viewed 2.2. million times as of reporting, came with the text overlay "today a MAN said he didn't like my outfit which means it must be a really incredibly cute outfit."
In its first iteration, the Man Repeller aesthetic held firm for around a decade and majorly influenced how millennial women dressed. Time will tell how the tenure and impact of the trend will look this time around.
Update 03.23.25 11:23 AM ET: This article has been updated with comment from Molly Rooyakkers.
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