Origins were influential on the development of scene fashion. Scene originated from the
emo subculture in the early-2000s across the United States. The name began being used around 2002, through the term "scene queen", a derogatory term describing attractive, popular women perceived by older hardcore musicians as
only being involved in hardcore for the subculture. "Fashioncore" was an aesthetic originated by
Orange County metalcore band
Eighteen Visions that helped to originate the scene subculture. Originating as a way of purposely being confrontational to the hypermasculinity of hardcore, it used many aspects that would come to define scene fashion, such as eyeliner, tight jeans, collared shirts, straightened hair and white belts. In
Louder Than Hell by Katherine Turman and John Wiederhorn, Ryan Downey states "Javier [Van Huss] really led the charge with crazy hairstyles and pink and blond and blue chunks in their hair". Though the term began as pejorative against fashionable people in the hardcore scene, the style was eventually popularized in the early-2000s through the success of Eighteen Visions,
Atreyu and
From Autumn to Ashes. According to
Exclaim!, the term "
fashioncore" was originally coined by the post-hardcore band
From Autumn to Ashes when they printed it on merchandise, and was also subsequently used to ridicule the style by its critics.
OC Weekly stated that "fashioncore" was a "subgenre of metalcore".
Ultimate Guitar used the term "
mallcore" to refer to this style, including bands such as
Escape the Fate and
Enter Shikari as examples.
Sass was also a notable origin of scene. Like fashioncore, sass was also a deliberate confrontation to hardcore's hyper masculinity, with sass bands doing so through their use of overt
homoeroticism. The fashion of many sass musicians, notably
Johnny Whitney, lead vocalist for
the Blood Brothers, were influential upon the development of scene. The scene subculture is considered by some to have developed directly from the emo subculture and thus the two are often compared. During the mid 2000s, members of the British and American scene subculture took inspiration from the
deathcore music scene. In a 2005 article by
Phoenix New Times, writer Chelsea Mueller described the appearance of the band
Job for a Cowboy (a band that was deathcore at the time) by writing that the band "may look like scenesters with shaggy emo haircuts and tight pants, and may mock metal greats, but this death-metal band is for real." Mueller described Job for a Cowboy as "five guys in girls' jeans and tight band tee shirts". In the following years, the spectrum of scene fashion broadened to include a number of sub-styles taking influence from a wide range of fashion styles. According to
PopMatters writer Ethan Stewart, "the most renowned [sub-style of scene] was those who merged the subculture with brightly coloured party fashion", a style he attributed the beginnings of to
Cobra Starship vocalist
Gabe Saporta and his influence from
rave and
Harajuku street fashion. He also noted those who took influence from 1980s
glam metal fashion, such as the members of
Black Veil Brides,
Escape the Fate and
Falling in Reverse. He attributed the origin of this style to
Blessed by a Broken Heart. Notable MySpace scene queens include
Audrey Kitching,
Jeffree Star and the members of the
Millionaires. The music festival
Warped Tour became popular with members of the scene subculture during the 2000s. Artists associated with the subculture would often play at the festival. During the late 2000s, similar subcultures emerged in Asia and Latin America, including the Shamate in China, the Floggers in Argentina, the Coloridos of Brazil, and the
Pokemón in Chile. Like their American counterparts, these scene kids wore brightly colored clothing, androgynous
big hair and
eyeliner, and identified with the
emo pop,
indie rock,
hip hop, and
EDM scene.
Decline and revival By around 2014, the subculture had seen a decline in popularity, while also being influential on the fashion and culture of
Tumblr, a website which would eventually develop a number of its own scene queens, such as
Halsey. Warped Tour had its last show in 2019 after running annually since 1995. The late 2010s saw the growing popularity of musicians who had begun their careers as members of scene bands, most notably
Lil Lotus,
Blackbear,
Post Malone,
Mod Sun and
Lil Aaron. Within this movement came the mainstream success of
emo rap, itself influenced by scene. and the "Rawring 20s" (2020s). Websites like
SpaceHey and FriendProject, which retain
Myspace's early design, have gained popularity among teenagers, and
social media influencers on
Instagram and
TikTok have begun adopting scene fashion. Around this time, the subculture was also influential on the development of the
e-girls and e-boys subculture, and the development of
hyperpop. Scene festivals also returned in 2022 with the
When We Were Young festival. ==Music==