Why the Celebrity Lookalike Craze shows that the kids are alright

Let’s face it - the newsbeat is hardly one of joyous optimism at the best of times; and as we head into the depths of a winter marked by global conflict, an incoming Trump presidency, and the spectre of soaring living costs, you’d be forgiven for burrowing your head in the sand and sticking on some Netflix instead.

Yet Gen Z, as ever, has something more fun up their sleeves. It began with hundreds of mysterious posters dotted around New York, advertising an impromptu Timothee Chalamet-lookalike contest. Thousands of attendees, some dubious doppelgangers, and 4 arrests later, a winner was crowned and awarded $500 in the city’s Washington Park Square. Topping off the fever dream, the Academy award winner himself actually turned up, congratulating the victor and bewildering fans.

Two weeks on, the doppelganger craze has somewhat-predictably gone global. A copycat contest in Dublin, where you couldn’t move for mulleted-and-moustachioed twenty-somethings in Paul Mescal’s iconic short-shorts, sent fangirls spinning. This weekend, London got in on the action, hosting a homegrown Harry Styles competition, complete with awards for Best Hair, Style, and even Daddy Harry. The following day, a smattering of ‘you-know-who-you-remind-me-of’ Dev Patel’s gathered in San Francisco’s Bay Area, where the winner took home a floral arrangement as well as $50.

More than just a lark, the meteoric rise of such contests nods to the coping mechanisms of Gen Z, and how they are managing in a time where futures have never seemed so uncertain. Recent reports show Gen Z are more than twice as likely to say they frequently experience stress and anxiety than Baby Boomers; student debt, stagnant wages, don’t-even-ask house prices and climate change concerns are just some of the reasons behind this.

So how did we get to the lookalikes? Social media marketing manager Anna Buckley notes how this rise of celebrity-centred contests highlights Gen Z’s ability to “find humour in situations” despite being under “a lot of stress”.

These sentiments were shared by London-based Katrina Mirpuri, organiser of the Harry Styles contest in Soho Square, who emphasised how such moments that are the “perfect recipe for madness and disaster” are becoming necessary in a world “where there is a lot going on”.

Moreover, Mirpuri insisted that whilst her competition was the third instalment of “topical, young, cool heartthrob” contests, she and the judging panel were keen to keep inclusivity at the heart of their branding.

Awards for different categories allowed for the event to be “something everyone could get involved in”, agreed author, superfan and Judge Bonnie McLaren. Going “completely off script and [giving] Best Hair to one of the girls” was just part of the fun: “Harry Styles loves feminism, so why not.”

While the atmosphere, complete with Harry cardboard cutouts, megaphones and paparazzi, felt like a forgotten episode of Ab Fab, winner of ‘Best Style’ Oliver laughed “I think it’s fun, it brings people together.” Though Oliver didn’t win outright, and failed to scoop up the £50 prize, he was pleased nonetheless: “He likes good clothes, I like good clothes. I must be doing something right!”

With a Zayn Malik contest lined up in Brooklyn this Saturday, there are already murmurings on social media that the trend may have run its course, with some discontented netizens calling it “boring”.

However, for Gen Z, these lookalike events clearly offered something more: a playful escape and a unique opportunity to find community in an increasingly complex world. Whether or not these contests endure, they at least captured a moment in pop culture that resonates deeply amongst a generation looking to find sparks of spontaneity and joy in a world of seeming doom and gloom.