Just a few years ago, the term “basic” was just some underground slang for those unfashionably tiresome girls who thought “red bottoms” were the be-all, end-all shoe and pumpkin spice lattes were just super-duper. But thanks to Kreayshawn‘s 2012 “Gucci Gucci” track, in which the rapper proclaims she is unbothered by “basic bitches” wearing designer labels, the world got better acquainted with the term. Two years later, New York Magazine published a trend piece on basic bitches, and now everyone is hip to the slang — even those to which the term refers. So now that we know what the word means, Allure magazine figured it would try to use the new vocab in a sentence.
The glossy published a “Beauty & the Beat” feature, outlining four types of dressers. Leandra Medine was hailed as a “Street Stylist” and Vanessa Hudgens a “Bohemian Hippie,” but poor Lauren Conrad was relegated to the “Basic” category, which wouldn’t have been too offensive were it not for the accompanying description:
“Made famous by Kreayshawn and viral by YouTube, the Basic woman is remarkably unremarkable. What’s noteworthy about her style is its very plainness. Except to her: she swears those red-soled shoes are cutting edge.”
Damn, that’s cold! Lauren caught the write-up, and tweeted her 3.25 million followers:
I definitely just got called a basic b*tch! Haha! Sausage curls!? Really @Allure_magazine? pic.twitter.com/m7CsNqvU0Z
— Lauren Conrad (@LaurenConrad) July 21, 2014
Oh, it certainly looks real. The feature goes on to list the distinguishing characteristics of this “basic” woman: she wears Essie Ballet Slippers nail polish, rocks sausage curls and smells like vanilla-cupcake body milk (wait, that last part actually sounds kinda good).
We can’t say for sure if Allure really meant to diss Lauren’s personal style, but the write-up is definitely a little shady. But that doesn’t mean that the Condé Nast title doesn’t have a soft spot for the lifestyle guru. Just this Saturday, it tweeted out a slideshow in which the mag compiles the best beauty advice found on Lauren’s site. So I guess sausage curls and vanilla-cupcake body milk ain’t that bad when you’ve got great tips on how to grow out your bangs.
We reached out to Allure to comment, but we’re still waiting for a response.
[via @LaurenConrad]
