He’s so babygirl by Lewis Vorn40 Images
‘He’s so babygirl’ is a phrase that plagues the comment sections of grown men’s Instagram accounts and TikTok fancams daily. Often soundtracked by pitched-up Lana Del Rey tracks and paired with cutscenes from Josh O’Connor’s red carpet moments or Timothée Chalamet’s press interviews, the term has become shorthand for describing a softness that is embraced in a space often awash with machismo portrayals of masculinity.
Parodying this, at times, forced softness is the latest shoot from photographer and producer Lewis Vorn. Collaborating with make-up artist Elaine Lynskey and hairstylist Laura Swaine, the team explores the absurdity of contrived cuteness, which often effortlessly wins over online fandoms.
The shoot taps into the chaos and intensity of fan culture that surrounds the archetypal ‘babygirl’, with the team adorning its models in stereotypically ‘cute’ motifs: ribbons, gemstones and spray-painted hearts. As torsos gleam with baby oil, and faux tramp stamps stick to toned skin, the team set out to replicate the atypical baby girl men that would have teen girls collapsing into comment sections and swooning behind their phone screens.
The images feel like a glimpse into a teenage scrapbook or diary – was this an intentional choice?
Lewis Vorn: Definitely! With most of my work, I like to have that come through with the way the images feel. I think it’s mainly a yearning for physical media – I love collecting old magazines and shooting on film. Having the negatives allows me to be more personal with the way the images turn out. It’s fun, and I can cut them up and stick them back together in my own way, which I guess also feels like something a super fan might do in creating collages and scrapbooks. I was definitely that teenager whose whole bedroom was covered in posters and pages from magazines. I was, and still am, a super fan of pop culture.
Elaine Lynskey: The references for this shoot brought me back to 90s/2000s Smash Hits magazine, boy band ‘heartthrob’ vibe, so it naturally went down this route, mixing in some feminine motifs to bring in that ‘babygirl’ aesthetic. I think the kind of ‘pinups’ in magazines back then were marketed in a very innocent, tongue-in-cheek and lustful sort of way, but the attraction towards them came from all ages and genders.
You describe a forced softness in online masculinity. How did you convey this in the shoot?
Lewis Vorn: With TikTok and Instagram, my feed is inundated with videos of famous people doing interviews with kittens or puppies as the pull. I think I wanted to include callbacks to this with the stupidly obvious item like the kitten lighter. I found them the day before the shoot, and it felt like they needed to be included in some way just so I could make that point. Also, Elaine made a really amazing fake teardrop, which was our call to performative emotion, fake acting, and that image I really wanted to look like an old Hollywood heartthrob headshot, someone like Rock Hudson or James Dean.
What other make-up and hairstyling choices brought the ‘babygirl’ theme to life?
Lewis Vorn: We had a board of references, mainly editorial shots of lots of different actors, some from now and some from the 90s. We tried to bring these grooming choices into each model’s look. Like the wet hair on Momo was from a Keanu Reeves Sky Magazine cover image that I love. And with another look on Isaac, we wanted to make him look like a modern-day Greek god, so his hair had to be romantic and angelic.
Laura Swaine: The references I chose when bringing these characters to life were that of clean-cut, all-American ‘good boys’ that would lead you to expect they were not the likeliest characters to act the way they are intending to. With references to gentle, soft, romantic, chivalrous but boy-like hair. Using products from Bumble and Bumble, tonic and prep sprays, Oribe Dry Texture Spray and Oribe Super Shine Moisturising Cream. We also did traditional round-brush blowouts using the Dyson Pro, then finished the looks with Bayliss Pro.
Elaine Lynskey: Dewy skin using Proshine and Chanel Essentiel. Laneige lip mask for the most nourishing, plump lips. Flushed cheeks using Glossier Cloud Paint. Bow motifs and tears – all giving cutesy, vulnerable, and emotional vibes.
What role do small details, like tattoos or scribbles, play in reinforcing the larger theme?
Elaine Lynskey: They add an element of playfulness, youthfulness – cute but desirable.
Lewis Vorn: I think with these, we wanted to be quite literal, only because the concept as a whole is steeped in silliness. So having the tramp stamp with ‘babygirl’ on the lower back was Elaine’s idea. And also, she hand stuck each diamanté on one by one for the bow, which I think reinforces the delicate and considered nature of what it means to be ‘babygirl’. Like, it’s not just ‘stick it on and see how it goes’ – it has to be pretty and look intentional.
How do queerness within popular culture shape modern iterations of male beauty?
Lewis Vorn: In recent years, queerness has been exposed in mainstream media in a more meaningful way. Pop stars are more vocal about their sexuality, and movies by directors like Luca Guadagnino have included storylines that have taken characters outside of tokenistic and stereotypical props and given them fully formed identities. People are now confronted with marginalised stories and, in turn, it feels like it’s resulted in the commodification of ‘queerness’. I think what we’ve also seen over the past four years is a mass interest in wellness and self-care when it comes to male beauty.
With brands like Pleasing and Humanrace, it’s become more acceptable in general for men to utilise beauty products without judgment – which is obviously very silly. But it does feel like having these big pop stars or actors talk about their beauty routine and actively endorse specific products on things like ‘10 Things I Can’t Live Without’ has changed the way a lot of men perceive what is typically masculine.
