Ok so I can totally answer this.

I graduated in 07’ and heading into the end of the year, Bands like My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold were making huge waves.

Now the fashion didn’t quite hit the seniors just yet, but as you can see from our first exhibit:

#Exhibit #A

The long hair was present, but it doesn’t have that formal Emo polish. The long hair symbolizes the required length for imitating the look, but the confidence to pull it off isn’t there.

The hair is parted down the middle and has that more distinguished style in order to keep the general aesthetics neutral.

If you look at exhibit B:

#Exhibit #B

You’ll see that the same 07’ classmate has fully committed to the appearance. He has the cross over bangs, dark colored hair, and even piercings to complete the ensemble. A full blown Emo.

This unfortunately is the beginning of the epidemic and what might be the first documented case of Emophila.

My apologies…