Aesthetics And The Quest For Individuality
Aesthetics on social media are fun to look at, but they’re not all harmless.
There’s an aesthetic for every style, even ones you probably didn’t know existed. What harm might they be doing to young people, and why should we find our own style instead?
In the 19th century, philosophers defined aesthetic as “criticism of taste” or “the science of the perception of the beautiful”. Non-philosophers have used the word since to describe their personal preference.
Modern aesthetics, however, have taken on a different meaning. They have turned into niche lifestyles that people subscribe to.
Google Trends recorded peak search engagement of the word aesthetic in the fall of 2020. During this time when COVID-19 had teenagers quarantined, aesthetics became popular on social media. Cottagecore, dark academia, and goblincore, to name a few. Core is a popular word to pair with a style to make it an aesthetic.
The coquette and mob wife aesthetics are especially trendy now. People who enjoy the coquette aesthetic wear pastel colors and accessorize everything with bows; while people who prefer the mob wife aesthetic will opt for an all-black outfit with bold jewelry.
Not all aesthetics are fashion-related. For example, searching dreamcore or nostalgiacore may generate pictures of early 2000s malls, surreal liminal spaces, or old home videos.
Aesthetics related to how one dresses, does their makeup, and overall lives, however, are among the most popular and may be the most damaging.
Being on social media, especially TikTok, it seems like every day there’s a new trendy aesthetic. One day, you’re scouring the internet to buy anything floral to be cottagecore, and next thing you know it’s out of style.
According to The Good Trade, fast fashion brands produce about 52 “micro-seasons” a year or one collection a week, replacing the traditional four-season method. These clothing pieces are consumed and then forgotten once the next trend starts.
Individualistic Or Conforming?
With all these specific aesthetics trending, it’s clear that Gen-Z strives to be as individualistic as possible.
However, I feel as though the popularity of aesthetics is doing the opposite for this generation. Each aesthetic created by someone and then spread across the internet just barely differentiates itself from the last. With each one, people make a guide of rules to follow, down to how someone should act and what they should do.
People who want to follow an aesthetic should conform to it exactly, making sure to not cross over into a different one. The point is to look unique and niche, yet with no room for personal taste, everyone ends up looking the same.
It becomes restricting when every action a person takes has to be aesthetically pleasing. People are asked to change themselves to conform to an aesthetic. It likely makes many discontent in their lives because they’re trying to be someone they’re not.
Exclusionary Aesthetics
Some of the aesthetics seem to be only for a certain type of person. One of the most popular ones is the “clean girl aesthetic”. The bottom line of this trend is that you should look your very best without looking like you spent any time getting there.
Similarly to the soft girl and vanilla girl aesthetics, followers wear their hair in a perfect slick back bun and put on small gold hoops. They opt for minimal makeup and an effortlessly stylish outfit. An iced matcha latte or iced coffee is their drink of choice.
Searching for this aesthetic on TikTok, you’ll find almost entirely thin blonde girls with clear skin. The word “clean” suggests that people who don’t have this style are dirty, but it’s simply not attainable for most lifestyles.
Additionally, many have brought up that Black and Latina women have worn slick-back hairstyles and gold hoops for decades. Yet, they are hardly present in the clean girl, vanilla girl, or soft girl trends. The vanilla girl aesthetic, in name, suggests that white women should be the only ones participating.
When these trends and more that exclude groups of people are all over people’s Instagram and TikTok, they’re hard to ignore.
Normcore
Normcore was popular in 2014 as a response to the try-hard nature of alternative styles. It’s all about authenticity, understated clothing, and embracing blending in. K-Hole, a trend forecasting agency, reported, “In Normcore, one does not pretend to be above the indignity of belonging.”
Isa and Lisa of the Internet Aesthetic podcast recently released an episode called “are you normal or are you normcore”. They explained the history of normcore and their thoughts on how it manifests today and the aesthetics that have come after it.
They brought up the point that everyone’s trying to find a unique way to be themselves, but it’s so hard to break the norm because of how many styles or aesthetics there are.
K-Hole wrote in their report about normcore that it finds liberation in being nothing special. It’s all about connecting people through common interests and styles and is overall freeing from the pressure of finding an aesthetic.
I think we can learn a lot from normcore, and what it represents beyond basic fashion choices. Perhaps we can embrace the philosophy of it without feeling the need to label our style with a “core”.
A huge range of clothing is available now more than ever before, and people want to experiment with their style. Instead of trying to follow a strict set of guidelines that will be unpopular by the time your clothing delivery comes, we should embrace finding our own style.
