‘Scuse me, why do people keep taking mirrors into their garden to take selfies?

It’s all over Instagram

4 years ago

Is it just me, or is your whole Instagram feed full of people taking pictures of themselves in a mirror, in their back garden? In all the pics, the mirror is really fancy, antique maybe, and the person in the reflection looks like everything you want to be – effortlessly cool, chains, little sunglasses. But quick question: where has this Instagram trend come from and what do their parents have to say about them lugging the lounge mirror into the garden to play with?

In all fairness, the “mirror selfie” has been around forever and it still takes first place for picture success. But then came lockdown. With the government telling us to stay at home and the limited number of mirrors on offer, we nearly saw the death of mirror selfies altogether. Selfie-obsessed Instagrammers had to get inventive, and naturally, this was their next step: they found a movable mirror in their house, carried it into the garden, propped it up and voila! A new Insta trend began – the outside mirror selfie.

What is the outside mirror selfie?

On Instagram this trend is being called the #outsidemirrorselfie or the #gardenmirrorselfie. Other than having a mirror propped up in a garden, the common theme in all of the posts is a swanky mirror, a perfect blue sky and a banging outfit.

Credit: Instagram @weworewhat

To be honest, it works. The bright sun makes your eyes pop and gives you a natural highlight, the colours are incredible, and you still have all the control of a mirror selfie to make sure you get the perfect shot. Well done selfie-obsessed Instagrammers, you’ve smashed this one.

How did it start?

It’s hard to tell exactly where it started, it almost feels like everyone just had the same bizarre idea all at once. However, designer Jacquemus, has posted a couple pictures playing around with mirrors outside on a sunny day. The pics aren’t mirror selfies at all but they’re a similar sort of vibe so could’ve inspired the idea.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JACQUEMUS (@jacquemus)

How do I do the outside mirror selfie?

There’s no doubt posting an outside mirror selfie tells all your followers: “Yes, I’ve just spent about an hour setting this picture up and yes my mum is currently searching the house, wondering where her bedroom mirror has gone” but if you’re okay with that, get ready to take a great pic.

After looking through many posts, there seem to be two variations. The first is propping your mirror up against a wall or a tree or maybe getting someone to hold it for you and taking the pic like this. If you’ve got a fit garden then this works a treat – blue sky, green grass, maybe some rhododendrons in the back – stunning.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_GtfiYBs8U/?igshid=1r0w64b3wkg7a

The other version, if you can’t balance your fancy mirror, is to lay it on the floor and stand over it. This also creates a very cool pic with a fun background.