If your ears are pierced with enough silver to scare a werewolf; if you wear more harnesses than a habitual skydiver and more chains than a medieval dungeon master, you’re probably an eBoy.
The thing is though, being an eBoy is not just about style, it’s a way of life. Although this is the latest style trend in millennial menswear, something about it feels like dejá vu.
Like any other fashion fad, it draws inspiration from many places. The eBoy is a culmination— the latest evolution, if you will— of several personas: hypebeasts, skater boys, mid-90s emo and female fashion, South Korean street style and K-pop music video costuming.
Although eBoys draw influence from the emo movement of the mid-90s, they don’t necessarily listen to emo music. At least not the genre in its strictest definition. An eBoy’s playlist likely consists of “sad boy” music, featuring artists such as Frank Ocean, Joji and Bryson Tiller or more left-of-center rap artists such as Brockhampton, Tyler, the Creator and Jaden Smith. There’s nothing like crying in Nike gear while listening to Frank Ocean’s distorted power ballad Nikes. It’s for the aesthetic, after all.
Common clothing for emos is mostly black and takes the form of “band t-shirts, tight jeans, scarves, hoodies and layered clothing.” While mid-90s emo fashion was more ill-fitting and wrinkled, the eBoy cleverly plays with proportions and a more tailored fit, pairing trousers with a solid sweatshirt or oversized band tee layered over a clean white button-up.
Similar to the hypebeast’s obsession with brand names like Supreme, Off-White and Gucci, the eBoy appreciates luxury, especially when it comes to accessories. While a hypebeast stunts in one brand from head-to-toe with the logo front and center, eBoys rock high-end streetwear in a more refined way. Whether it’s an Off-White buckle belt here or some Gucci sneakers there or a Supreme bum bag to store your Juul, luxury is more an accent used to elevate a look, rather than the entire look itself.
When it comes to the essential footwear and the signature bucket hat, its closest influence is womens nostalgia fashion from the 90s. For any casual outing the eBoy will most likely reach for classic black and white Converse, Vans or a pair of reliable combat boots. However, if they’re looking for a little more sleek appeal, chunky platform sneakers or oxfords are the go-to. The chunkier, the better—just like the quintessential womens Mary Lou and Slinky sandals of the late 90s made popular by Steve Madden.
“Shoes had a more masculine look to them,” [Daianara ‘Dee’] Amalfitano, former president of specialty brands for Steve Madden, says. “They were a little bit rougher and tougher.” This idea still translates today, considering that all of the hallmarks of an eBoy’s wardrobe can easily be considered androginous.
To finish the look, an eBoy can’t leave the house without a neck full of silver chains and an ear full of dangling earrings and hoops. He may even strap on a harness over a black turtleneck or blazer for a subtle play on line or hang a few chains from the belt loops. Even though this heavy layering’s origin can be traced to many places such as skater culture, industrial streetwear and old school hip hop icons, I think the popularity boom of South Korean street style has a lot to do with it. And the ones leading the nation’s style trends belong to the globally influential K-pop industry.
Whether it’s from the screen, stage or in the streets, elements of the eBoy are heavily drawn from the impeccable and sleek styling of South Korean idol groups. In the raw, intense music video for Exo’s 2016 single Monster each of the nine members wears silver chains in various ways—thin necklaces, cuff earrings, belts and even lip jewelry. In Monsta X’s rhythmically infectious Shoot Out music video that dropped in 2018, all seven members sport olive jumpsuits paired with harnesses and belt chains. More recently, in February of 2019, rookie group Ateez marched in with a smoother, more classy militaristic mafia look with leather harnesses and silver necklaces over blazers and turtlenecks in their mesmerizing Hala Hala music video.
East met West when Dior’s artistic director Kim Jones designed stage wear for BTS’s Love Yourself: Speak Yourself stadium world tour in May 2019. Accessories were, you guessed it, harnesses and silver chains, but the cargo pants and military style jackets may have something to do with their fanbase being referred to as Army. Either way, this collaboration was “the first of its kind for the luxury fashion brand.” Through this collaboration we can see the intersection of all the many influences that come together to create the eBoy: music, luxury, sportswear and utilitarian and industrial streetwear.
At the end of the day I’m all here for the eBoy look. It’s intriguing and requires some significant effort when it comes to the layering and proportion play and that effort is attractive. However, like any way of dressing or trend, the people wearing them come with a certain stereotype. While I’m sure not all who enjoy the eBoy style own a Juul, make thirst trap Tik Toks or have a Frank Ocean lyric in their Tinder bio, there’s still a little hesitance when approaching this well-dressed, mysterious man. Style may not strictly be the measure of a man but it sure does play a part in the image they project into the world.
Visual by Guilherme Angelo