The Moo Deng Starter Pack
I have fashion month brain rot, let's look at baby hippo pics.
A few weeks ago, I wrote that All Animals Are Fashionable, But Some Are More Fashionable Than Others. Well, the most fashionable creature of all has emerged. It’s Moo Deng, the baby hippo from the zoo in Thailand that has won over the internet by being equal parts grumpy and adorable, inspiring a wave of memes. Look at her!
The virality of this little baby hippo, whose name means “Bouncy Pig,” harks back to the post-ironic internet lore of the 2010s, which heaved with animal memes. Though Harambe was for the boys (#dicksoutforharambe and whatnot), Moo Deng is seemingly for the girls, a budding fashion, beauty, and lifestyle icon.
Vogue profiled her in the article Moo Deng Is The Moment. As we’re enveloped by the blush blindness trend, Sephora Thailand shared the products that would give you a baby hippo glow. The first of I’m sure many, makeup artist Mei Pang shared a tutorial to achieve Moo Deng’s dewy skin and halo eye.
I’ve certainly felt her influence. Joel is talking to me about something right now, and I’m not listening, scrolling through her zoo’s profile and chuckling as she wreaks havoc on everything in her path. “Are you still thinking about that sloppy hippo?” he asks. Excuse me? Sloppy hippo? She’s a hydrated and screaming legend who must be protected at all costs!
In my day job, I’m currently knee-deep in the rich broth of fashion month, and I can’t shake Moo Deng’s presence. She’s everywhere, like a chubby little angel on my shoulder as I sift through designer’s collections. “This is so Moo Deng coded” I whisper to myself, examining the beautiful bouncing silhouettes and soft pink and greige color scheme at Alaïa.
The slippy textures and cartoonish boots at JW Anderson. Can we expect Jonathan to add a hippo to his line-up of gimmicky-yet-coveted clutches alongside the pigeons, canaries, and hedgehogs?
I draw parallels between the iridescent silky sheens and slick leather at Jil Sander and Moo Deng’s luminous but tough skin.
I forget for an instant that I’m quite frightened of hippos. I once fell down a YouTube rabbit hole about the guy who got swallowed by an adult one and lived to tell the tale. I was scared to swim for a little bit after that, expecting a fully grown Moo Deng to be waiting for me in the Australian waters that hippos absolutely aren’t native to. The There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake books have done a number on me and all 90s Aussie kids, I guess (IYKYK).
The comment sections on Moo Deng posts are littered with comparisons to Harambe, whose death netizens often attribute to society's downfall. Social media is declaring that Moo Deng is the chosen one who will rise from the ashes and rebuild the world, though, of course, we hope the same fate doesn’t befall her.
Concerningly, the online love for Moo Deng has caused attendance at her zoo to increase by 30%, revealing some shitty behaviors of the general public when confronted with a new viral sensation. In High Snobietry’s article Leave The Baby Hippo Alone, Please, Aerin Daniel connects the truly vile actions of some trying to get a rise out of Moo Deng for content with tourists damaging artwork in galleries for the perfect selfie, writing “Some people are not intelligent enough to know to love from afar […] have we not all universally agreed that this is cringe, shameworthy behavior? Sometimes you just gotta log off.”
But it seems we can’t. The NextAtlas report, The Aesthetic Noise 2024 Fashion Trends, reads that “the interplay between fashion and memes highlights the fluidity between our online and offline identities.” Moo Deng represents that even after Brat Summer, Very Demure, Very Mindful, and all that came before, we’re not quite ready to give up memes, which continue to spill out into fashion and beauty trends.
What does it say about the current state of aesthetics if our inspiration comes from a soundbite or a baby hippo? As evident by this piece, I’m all for being silly and enjoying cute animal content. It doesn't have to be too deep, but it could be a sign that my brain is well and truly mush.
Regardless, in today’s Ozempic-obsessed world, Moo Deng is truly the hero we need right now, but not necessarily the one we deserve.