"But as I reviewed throwbacks to our younger selves (complaining rather cutely about the worst election of our lifetimes), I was also reminded that 2016 was when Timothée Chalamet began to take over our world. That was the year when Chalamet filmed lauded roles in Call Me by Your Name and Lady Bird that would soon catapult him into Hollywood's A-list."
"Call it "twink death," if you must, but a lot has changed in the intervening years. In 2026, it's the beefcake who is back. Muscles, mustaches, and mullets are all now firmly in vogue. Sure, the machomen among us have never really suffered from any true social exclusion, but it's now fashionable once again for the rest of us to be openly thirsting after the bubble butts on the Heated Rivalry boys or the snake-catching, bicep-bearing Love Island alum Rob Rausch (who was the subject of a story in The Cut this week entitled, "I'm Obsessed With The Hot Snake Guy on The Traitors")."
Social media throwbacks and memory prompts recalled 2016 as the moment Timothée Chalamet and a slender, youthful male aesthetic rose to prominence. The late-2010s cultural imagination embraced slim, 'twink' icons and a fragile, pretty masculinity. By 2026, the prevailing ideal shifted toward muscular, traditionally masculine presentation featuring mustaches, mullets, and pronounced physiques. Public figures, actors, and reality-TV alumni have visibly bulked up or leaned into overtly sexualized, athletic looks. Pop stars and commentators adopted tighter, body-revealing fashions, and mainstream attention moved from delicate youthfulness to conspicuous, performative brawn.
Read at Bustle
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