By Emma Melvin
Scene is an alternative subculture originated in the early 2000s from Emo and Hardcore Punk scenes in the U.S. It is often characterized by skinny jeans, bright/neon color palettes, Kandi/DIY accessories, straightened and teased hair with side swoop bangs, and disconnected fringe/layers. Although it is still relevant today, the culture has had a tremendous fallout by the mid-2010s.
A factor of this fallout is the decline of Myspace users. Considering the subculture was very relevant on Myspace’s peak from 2005-2008, it started declining once facebook became more popular, leading to many users a part of the Scene culture losing their views, which led to many to stop posting. With many popular Myspace users dropping off of the website, the subculture lost a lot of its attention.
With the attention lost, the community is much smaller today than it was 20 years ago. However, it is more socially acceptable today. Benicia High School AP Seminar & AP Psych Teacher Ms. Martin believes, “The Scene culture is much more accepted today than it was back then. I never really fell into dressing that way because of the fear of judgement, so it makes me happy to see people can be more accepted now in their own style.”
Benicia High School Leadership teacher Ms. Morgan was a part of the scene community during her high school years. Ms. Morgan says, “Back then it wasn’t considered mainstream, but it was definitely more popular than today. Back then it was more easy to spot who was part of the culture and listened to the music, and who did not. It’s different than today, because the music was more present, people made more of their accessories/clothes, and people sometimes even sewed their skinny jeans on to be even tighter.”
Mr. Rodriguez, AP Psych, and U.S. History teacher at Benicia High shares his favorite part of the Scene community from the mid-2010s to now. He says, “It’s cool to see people still engaging in the community. Some people then and even now who were part of the community felt isolated from their peers, but they are some of the most caring people because they have experience feeling judged.”
A big characteristic of many alternative subcultures is the music, and this applies to Scene too. Scene music comes in different genres, the main one being Crab-Core. This includes some more popular bands like Bring Me The Horizon (specifically 2006-2013), Attack Attack!, and We Came As Romans. The less popular Crab-Core bands include A Bullet For My Pretty Boy, Make Me Famous, and An Evening In Elmwood.
Another huge characteristic of Scene culture is avoiding fast fashion or big corporations. This really goes for any alternative subculture, but fast fashion produces so much waste for our environment and uses a lot of underpaid labor, which are two main factors why many of the people go to thrift stores, secondhand websites, and DIY a lot of things in their wardrobe.
However, a big problem with secondhand clothing, specifically on websites like Depop, Poshmark or Ebay, is people overcharging for rare 2000s name brands. Brands like Killer Panda, Cupcake Cult, or Abbey Dawn are hard to find because they have been discontinued for at least 10 years, and that’s why resellers charge so much. While looking for these name brands, it is possible to find for cheaper, so make sure to check out a thrift store, garage sales, and set a reasonable price limit to avoid supporting overpriced clothing from resellers.
Although Scene culture has had a tremendous downfall, many say it’s making a comeback. Dressing this way does not and should not have to be expensive, check out a local thrift shop, and bring your creative ideas to life!
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