“Lobotomy Chic” is Deeper Than We Think
Open your copy of The Bell Jar and cue "Sad Girl" by Lana Del Rey.
Although 2026 is the new 2016, duck lips have not yet made a comeback. However, a new facial expression has taken over Instagram—the dead, dissociative pout. This face goes along with the edgy internet phenomenon: "lobotomy chic." The term, coined in 2022 by Canadian writer and cultural critic Rayne Fisher-Quann, has made its place in the lexicon of internet aesthetics.
Rayne describes the vibe as “…look(ing) as though you just happened to be photographed whilst contemplating your abject disaffection with the world around you.”
The concept of a lobotomy—a 1950s medical procedure that notoriously left mental patients extremely apathetic and despondent—makes for this aesthetic’s namesake. This being said, the women who personify this aesthetic are not truly “lobotomized.” They only seek to come off as detached and separate from their overactive brains.
The look itself comes from a place of inner contemplation and existentialism, a far contrast from what the name might portray. This aesthetic represents women with too many thoughts of grandeur, not too little. Lobotomy-chic girls joke that they need this procedure, as it would help cure their melancholy thoughts.
Source: MACK Books
Chloe Cherry, Fiona Apple, and Addison Rae are some of the many female faces representing this trend (whether intentionally or not). Their facial expressions on Instagram are rarely smiles. Instead, they wear a vacant, dead stare for the lens of their cameras to capture.
Music artists have set the groundwork for “lobotomy chic.” Think Lana Del Rey, Mitski, Björk, or Ethel Cain—lyricists whose songs convey complex, often negative emotions.
Films such as The Virgin Suicides and Girl, Interrupted also serve as inspiration for women seeking this aesthetic, drawing in emotions of complex feminine torture and conflict.
Petra Collins also rises with the concept of melancholic girlhood. She is overlooked and underappreciated, despite having spearheaded many of the modern aesthetics we see in the media today. Similar trends have come to the fore in recent years: trailer-park princess, indie sleaze, and the infamous coquette. These aesthetics all attempt to exude a certain energy: esoteric, intelligent, and, in some cases, off-putting, all the while carrying an air of sensuality.
The commonalities among these niches can be translated into their main goal. There is a subgenre of women on the internet who strive to be as unique as possible, wishing to find their own creative, individual flair.
The “lobotomy chic” aesthetic is a fabulous example of this objective. Women—online, in the public eye, or none of the above—feel a need to prove themselves. At risk of sounding cliché, there is an internal need for women to be “unlike other girls” and to have certain attributes that set them apart.
There is a silent battle happening in front of everyone’s eyes. Who can have the most obscure thoughts? Who can have the most intelligence? Who is the most self-actualized? And of course, who can be the hottest while doing it?
Many may see this as inauthentic or unoriginal, but there can be a positive element to this competition.
Women are striving to be themselves and to be intelligent. In a society that dumbs girls down to just their looks, pushing women to have original personalities and think deeply is incredibly beneficial.
Girls are realizing that it’s not fun to be pigeonholed into having certain, stereotypically “female” characteristics. They want to have unique personalities and a strong mind to go along with it. Women are building a new, modern femininity.
If the way to accomplish this is through “lobotomy chic” and posting their best dissociative pout on Instagram, so be it.
What are your thoughts on these new-age aesthetics? Leave a comment below!