About

Fingermouthing is a facial expression made by resting one's fingers near or directly on the lip that became a popular pose for selfies and other photographs beginning in 2015.

Origin

American model and reality TV personality Kylie Jenner is often credited with popularizing the pose by sporting the look in her selfie photographs on Instagram (shown below).^[7]

In December 2015, Jenner told the women's interest magazine Elle UK^[5] that she picked up the habit of molding her hand next to her mouth in photographs because she was "insecure" about her lips, which has been a subject of fascination and a photo fad challenge among beauty-conscious teenagers since as early as 2014.

"I was so insecure about my lips. Even now I always post photos where my finger is always in front of my mouth…it's a habit. I would always cover my lips."

Spread

In February 2016, Canadian model Kristen Hancher began sporting the pose in her selfies posted on her Instagram^[4] account (shown below), which drew even more attention to "fingermouthing" as an emerging photo fad and a trend in selfie poses.

On July 1st, BuzzFeed^[2] published an article titled "'Fingermouthing' Is The New Hot Pose For Selfies," which cited Kylie Jenner as a "prominent early adopter" of the pose. On July 2nd, Teen Vogue^[3] published an article questioning whether the pose should be considered a "trend." On July 5th, The Sun^[8] highlighted several examples of the selfie pose (shown below).

On July 8th, the women's interest magazine Allure^[6] published an article calling fingermouthing “the new duck face.“ On July 10th, the Pop Trigger YouTube channel uploaded a video in which several hosts discuss the photo fad (shown below).

Examples

In addition to Hancher, the pose has been associated with other fashion models, celebrities and beauty trendsetters in pop culture, including Bella Hadid and Lily Allen, as well as most of Jenner's sisters, including Kendall, Khloé and Kim Kardashian.

Search Interest

External References