The music videos for Weezer’s “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” and Neon Trees’ “Everybody Talks,” share three things in common: they’re super catchy, they’re about confident and villainous women and they’ve got great takes on 1950’s fashion. I will focus on the latter two.
In Weezer’s video, the girl wears a buttercup yellow dress with a full skirt, corseted halter top and some serious victory rolls. Other important features include a brick red lip and a matching yellow scarf in her hair. And while the video exhibits almost none of what the song’s talking about, one thing is clear as she struts past men dying—literally—to impress her: This girl knows her power.
Similarly, though supernaturally, Neon Trees’ girl is a waitress at a drive-in movie. In a classic powder blue uniform, filmy black scarf around her neck and red heart-shaped sunglasses and scarlet lips, she exudes confidence with long looks, cheeky smiles and cheekier bites. The lyrics are basically irrelevant, because spoiler alert, she’s actually a monster and that’s definitely not in the song. Nevertheless, she uses her allure to capture men, succeeding where Weezer’s girl was left only with her convertible.
The key factors here are confidence and scarves. The way the girls act and the way they know it are self-assured and inarguably sexy, but in a way so much more sophisticated than what currently passes for “sexy” today. As has been countlessly proven, sexy isn’t crop tops or tight skirts. It’s magnetism and confidence with who you are: monster, heartbreaker, college student or all of the above.
But I mean, the scarves are probably also important
