About

Swagapino is a slang term that stems from the words swag and "Filipino." The term is used to reference a fashion and photo editing style popular with ethnically Filipino people in the early 2010s. Notable signifiers of the style are flat-brimmed hats, skinny jeans, vans, nerd glasses, and heavy photo editing.

Origin

The term "Swagapino" specifically refers to a fashion and lifestyle trend that was prominent amongst young Filipino-Americans living in the United States of America. The term is used interchangeably with the word "Illipino," which is a combination of the positive slang adjective "ill" and the word "Filipino."

The term "Illipino" was added to Urban Dictionary^[1] on October 23rd, 2008, and was defined as "One of Filipino/Pilipino origin from the Bay Area California who gets hyphy." "Hyphy" is a term popularised by Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak in his song "Super Hyphy,"^[10] and typically means "to party hard."

The word "swagapino" was first added to Urban Dictionary^[2] on April 26th, 2012, where it was defined as "A mixture of the words swag and Filipinos . Refers to the swag fags (who are usually filo), who think they have swag because they have an obey shirt. skinny jeans, vans, and a snap back." The definition gathered over 100 likes in ten years (seen below).

Spread

The term "swagapino" grew popular on Tumblr and Instagram in the early 2010s, with various blogs centered around the theme gaining prominence. One such (now-defunct) blog can be seen below. ^[3][4]

The "swagapino" look is characterized by highly accessorised clothing and heavy photo editing. This swag is often derived from African-American style and clothing from the late 2000s.

The visual aesthetic of the Swagapino is also sometimes linked to the early 2010 page "kushandlyriks" on Tumblr, which often depicted people blowing smoke at the camera. These photos typically use high flash and have catchphrases or hashtags superimposed on them. The hashtag #kushandlyriks on Tumblr contains several references to swagapino and illipino culture. ^[5][6]

Discussions of swagapino and illipino styles made a resurgence in the late 2010s and early 2020s, with various internet users making references to the style. On November 9th, 2018, Twitter^[7] user posted a meme where Ben Shapiro was edited into kushandlyriks style photos. The post gathered over 2,000 likes in three year (seen below).

Discussions of the style made a resurgence on TikTok as well, with TikToker^[8] @jawwnuthin posting a video joking about the swagapino archetype on February 6th, 2021, and gathering over 60,000 plays and 20,000 likes in over two years (seen below, left). TikToker^[9] @auntiebacterial made a video about swagapino culture on July 20th, 2021, gathering over 800,000 plays and 120,000 likes in over two years as well (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References