are we over fashion aesthetics?
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- Опубликовано: 25 июн 2024
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 intro
03:21 Subculture vs Aesthetic
08:17 the rise of the internet aesthetic + my experience w/them
16:45 Tiktok's influence on fashion aesthetics/trends
22:00 caring more about online vs in real life
24:25 why I stopped making "thrifting for an aesthetic" videos
27:11 downsides of aesthetics
29:18 why fashion aesthetics are over
31:08 reflecting on my own personal style and aesthetics
34:17 outro
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Хобби
take a shot of WATER every time I say "aesthetic"
TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 intro
03:21 Subculture vs Aesthetic
08:17 the rise of the internet aesthetic + my experience w/them
16:45 Tiktok's influence on fashion aesthetics/trends
22:00 caring more about online vs in real life
24:25 why I stopped making "thrifting for an aesthetic" videos
27:11 downsides of aesthetics
29:18 why fashion aesthetics are over
31:08 reflecting on my own personal style and aesthetics
34:17 outro
Shot of water 😂
lol aesthetic
it gets kinda annoying to me how some aesthetics and some people's compulsive approaches to aesthetics are making people decide aesthetics are inherently bad. i appreciate that you acknowledge how aesthetics can be useful for searching and inspiring personal style.
Yes. What we call aesthetics can mostly just be descriptors if we use them loosely. And they’re helpful in describing what we like and finding inspiration: Academia, boho, preppy, sporty, classic… but the hyper specific aesthetics like mob-wife are like one outfit. That’s so confusing to me. 😅
I agree! As soon as I saw the “cottagecore” outfits I grabbed on with both hands and haven’t let go. I grew up in jeans and T-shirts thinking I didn’t like fashion because I only saw clothes I liked in fantasy movies. Now I live in my cottagecore day dresses and almost never have the problem of buying something and not getting the wear out of it (in fact, some of my day dresses had to be demoted to home dresses because I’ve worn them to pieces)
I'm tired of algorithms and trends. It makes everything feels saturated.
I'm an elder millennial, and could be totally wrong, but it seems like as humans get more and more online, their lives and identities become exclusively virtual and aesthetics play into that perfectly. I see my teen nieces carefully crafting their make-up and outfits to go out, only to get perfect pics and then be bored of whatever activity we're all at. Constantly slumped over staring at their phones watching tiktoks... I'm a huge music person, and my style always incorporates notes of punk or goth. When I ask them what they're listening to lately, it's mainly whatever songs are viral on social media.
I don't wanna sound old, but it kind of seems like technology itself is turning into the culture, and aesthetics are just a way of feigning an identity. It'll be interesting to see where things go in the future
This is why my kids don’t have phones. And they won’t have one until they are driving, if they even get one then.
Just because your nieces aren't alternative like you doesn't mean they don't have their own unique interests. As an alt person
Young millennial here, agree 100%!
This is exactly why I was slightlyyyy upset at Alexa saying that aesthetics communities were just as supportive as subcultures. When I was an emo in 2008, I could literally go to an emo meetup and find a stranger who was willing to listen to me and give me a hug if I was feeling down. Not that that whole scene and music subcultures in general didn't have their toxic sides but show me one example where coastal grandma or whatever's popping up these days is at least trying to create a social safe(r) space for youths? Especially not physically, in the real world. I know this video was supposed to be about fashion but as a millennial I really want to keep the legacy of subcultures alive because those were THE groups of people where lonely weird kids could turn to without having to change.
@@katc2040I don't think that's the point here. It's not about them being alternative. This is an issue with alt kids as well.
When I first got exposed to new aesthetics (fairycore, whimsygoth, etc!), it felt so freeing. I felt like people (particularly girls/women) were experimenting with styles that were joyful and were not necessarily curated for the male gaze. It was the pandemic and everyone was home, and I feel like people felt more free to connect with their inner whimsy and express themselves for themselves. While I'm trying to buy less clothing pieces now because in general I have too much, seeing other people discover fun outfits (butterflies in their hair as adults, bright colors, etc) impacted me in a very positive way
I feel like this is a very gen z / very online conversation. I observe aesthetics and they are fun, but i never felt the need to buy a new wardrobe everytime a new aesthetic comes up. Eclectic grandpa is the first time a aesthetics speaks to me and i have a name for the way i dress. But it never occured to me to buy a new outfit, thrifting and knitting for life 🙌 and aesthetics are super fun and creative,If you don't take it too seriously ✌️
i feel like the tipping point of the aesthetic fatigue was the mob wife one and the eclectic grandpa because it's so manufactured
Yeah I have no fucking clue what any of those are but on Pinterest I get ads for eclectic grandpa tiktoks and it’s like 😭😭 they’re just coming up with new shit to sell
This is gonna show my age hard buuuut…I came up in my teen years in the punk subculture in the 90’s. Underground music definitely defined my style and still does to this day. It’s very DIY based, promotes creativity, and your clothes told people what you were into basically. Same with goth. Same with “scene” in the early 2000’s. So when fashion aesthetics popped up, it seemed a bit hollow and costumy to me. Distilling a subculture to a Pinterest board misses a lot of what it’s about. And I 100% do not give a crap if someone that’s not a part of the subculture dresses in that style if they love it. By all means. But there are most definitely values, bands, and communities centered around subcultures, and the fashion is just the cherry on the sundae. And don’t even get me started on the sub-sub-cultures within these scenes! We will be here all day. At this point, the best thing we can do to is dress true to ourselves and our tastes and influences and values as best we can. We can just call it “AUTHENTICITY CORE” and call it a day
Luckily the aesthetic hollowness is mostly an online thing. People get way too stuck on the internet and believe subculture has been killed by aesthetics. Alternative subcultures are alive and thriving - especially after covid. My gf and I go to punk and goth shows along with plenty of others our age. It's really reassuring
Edit, I think the hollowness comes from the fact that it was hard to have any of these experiences in lockdown. You could try to look like something without participating in it outside of a digital realm
@@rsaunders100% as a musician still active in underground music it is still alive and kicking and always will be.
Yeah I noticed once emo/scene faded out nothing else has really filled the void, like we've had e-girl/e-boy come up but it's also from what i've seen more a fashion style with an alternative influence. Most subcultures form around an interest and then the fashion comes out of that but recent things seem to go backwards where people find a fashion style and then try to tack stuff onto it.
@@noctelupus Agreed, but also, these days, online it's mostly just about the style and that's it, nothing tacked onto it.
"Distilling a subculture to a Pinterest board misses a lot of what it’s about" - damn, that's good, I might steal that quote!
As someone who does style bundles through Etsy (I have a 4.9 rating, so I promise I genuinely care about making them), I've noticed that people lean more towards using combos of aesthetic names to describe their style rather than just solely sticking to one! It makes me so happy to see that people are using the names to enhance and find their personal style rather than making one their whole personality. I can really see the difference in people's Pinterest boards as well! It's also so interesting to me to see how trends don't really impact what people are looking for at all. I guess it shows that the average person who isn't super invested in the fashion world doesn't really buy into trends, which I think is great honestly, since I personally think they've become increasingly annoying and overdone. Trends have begun to feel like a scam cooked up by marketing teams and I think most people are feeling that fatigue
Cool perspective!
Okay this is a really fun exercise!! i think I'd be a mix of 70's, dark academia, with african prints (is there a style for that?) and some soft grunge with the tiniest splash of cottagecore.
I agree. I could see us all following macrotrends, like some items genuinely look a bit outdated, while some new styles are popular. But as for shorter trends, microtrends, I am usually not even aware of them, or I hear about them once from a fashion youtuber. It feels like just a mainstream influencer or tiktok niche thing xd
Im older than most folks here. But I find aesthetics can be a springboards into discovering ones own style. The trick is not copying the aesthetic in its entirely, but taking elements you like, and playing around with different things until you discover something that's uniquely you.
On another note. I find it interesting that while cottagecore started as merely an aesthetic, it has since grown into its own legit subculture, well at least online.
I hope so!
Im much older than all of y'all, and the "aesthetic boom" has been ridiculous. An outfit doesn't give us a personality. Social media has made personality obsolete for so many people, as long as your Aesthetic is deemed "cool" for the moment ✨✌️
Also older than most of the crowd here but yes ! Unfortunately it’s more about fitting into boxes than cultivating a personal style all your own. Granted there are many many more boxes to choose from these days, but also, it’s not super connected to really anything , other than a “vibe”. Which personally, I’ve never connected too. One perk is that so many different styles are “trendy” now, that folks have more options for self expression than ever before. It’s just a matter of encouraging more authenticity
OMG, yes. I'm 38, and just haphazardly tried to word the same sentiment into a comment. Definitely think being constantly plugged in is stealing people's personalities and inclination to think outside the box. "Aesthetics" are like a costume to put on for validation
Agree. I just ignore it mostly.
Prepackaged aesthetics aren't my cuppa either (speaking as someone in their thirties). I would have to describe my look as "spent too many hours reading about vintage and historical fashion in libraries".
Study yourself. Find your personal patterns; what do you naturally gravitate toward. Find what makes you feel like you and stick to THAT. It only took me 40 years to learn to sharpen my own senses😂
I’m actually not tired of fashion at all. I’m really inspired by all these different perspectives of style. But I think the important thing to remember is that you should dress how ever you want and do it only for you, no one else. If you are dressing to fit in, you’re missing out on what fashion is all about. As you said in your video, the aesthetics trend is just another way of advertisement and to get you to spend your dollar. In general, I have also found that sticking to one aesthetic is boring and too literal. It becomes costume-y and forced. For example, I love bright saturated colors, color blocking and I have hints of y2k vibes with the small hand bags and baggy pants. In contrast, I also like to play with more edge/rock band/street vibes with black combat boots, oversized plaid, graphic oversized Ts, moody sunglasses. I also play with the cozy/ cute kawaii style with the pastel colors, uggs, fuzzy sweaters/cardigans. So I just take inspo from everything that speaks to me and I just mash these styles together which is much more interesting and unique. My latest fashion discovery is going more masculine wearing sweat pants and oversized crewnecks but wearing fun colors to make it girly with my airforces. The more you can break the rules in your head and just play and have fun, fashion and style becomes much easier, stress free and will make you feel your best which is the point of fashion… SELF EXPRESSION!
yes to all of this! 🙌🏻👏🏻
Perfectly stated! I’m 38 and fashion is SO much more fun now than it was back in the days of “what not to wear!” We just can’t let ourselves get carried away and overwhelmed by consumerism.
This 10000%!!!!!!
"yes i was 6 years old making my sims woohoo okay that games RAISED ME"
maam i spit out my coffee on that one LOL
I think fashion aesthetics as a concept are super lame. What ever happened to discovering a subculture organically because you like the art? Or skate. Or like the music. It's such a superficial representation of self that hinges on what brands want you to buy into. I know as a 33 year old gal I'm not in touch anymore but it all strikes me as over consumption and tiring.
I don’t think anyone intended for the aesthetic boom to be the cause of rampant consumerism, but it ended up being the perfect way for companies to sell more stuff to people. I was indifferent about it until “Mob Wives aesthetic “ became a thing and then I was like….Ok y’all. This has gone too far. Literally all my aunties and half of North Jersey dresses like this. It just seems like a weird direction to go in. Maybe because it hits so close to home for me lol. But it does seem pretty surface level overall
@@jennywhiskey9327I do think Mob Wife was a breaking point for a lot of people. It was such a sudden, opposite swing from the clean girl trend, dominated discourse, and it was too much to handle.
I'm the same age as you and I have similar thoughts. This whole thing is tiring and a bit depressing. As a goth kid, I thrifted nearly all my clothes and tried to DIY as much as I could. I liked being able to listen to good music with other people who were left-leaning and who didn't want to just spend money or compete with one another. It's okay to just have fun, but it actually seems like a lot of younger folks aren't having much fun with this whole thing. It's like a full time job obsessing over aesthetics and naming every single one. The one that made me want to take a nap was office core. They're just office clothes or professional clothes. I was hoping it was a joke when I saw people calling it an aesthetic and referring to it as office core. It was not a joke.
I'm 24 yet i feel the same.
It got in my nerves with the coquette thing that everyone who was below 18 y.o. posted WHATEVER THEY WANTED and asked, "hey is this coquette?/styles of coquette", like, why you guys wanna like everything but keep on making boxes with names for ALL you are gonna touch???
Just ENJOY, THINGS.
STOP, NAMING, THEM.😭
I understans if they exists as taggs to find specific types of content on the messy big places of the algorythm, BUT DAMN, NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS TO FIT INTO SOMETHING ELSE AND HAVE A NAME, GEEZ.
Companies really used this trends to market whatever the heckitty they wanted to people, and the wears and rips of this thing make everything less fun and more tearingly dissapointing.
It is simply a market tool rather than people looking for their identity or sharing their love for certain things like floral dresses with homemade food or bats and knick-knacks.
Capitalism makes everything boring and overwhelming.
I’ve been broke for the past two years and have basically taken a sabbatical from fashion and personal style. Been DYING to add to my personal style. Now I have to dress for an office, but I still really find myself drawn to my old alternative rock looks. My friend tells me they can always tell that 2016 was the most influential year of my life because they can see the tumblr grunge no matter what I do LOL. I want to expand, but I guess the heart still wants what it wants. I SWEAR I’m trying to dress like mob wife and whismigoth, but I cannot escape the vibe of soft grunge. Your escape from scene fashion is an inspiration hahaha
Also FELT that comment about the sims
I feel you. Thanks to pregnancies I had 3.5 years without fashion and now as running behind kids and working fulltime, it has to be practical or business wear.
YES some people just exude a fashion style/aesthetic. I think it has to do with which pieces you own and how you're used to putting those pieces together -- that, and you probably have such a genuine soft grunge soul that it pours out of everything you do. 🤣
@@fieldofyellowroses I BLEED Lana Del Rey and Arctic Monkeys
As a young Gen Z, I find it crazy how aesthetics are so prevalent for such an individualistic generation. Like, what distinguishes you as an individual more than having your own unique style? Still, I do understand why they exist, they’re marketable, and identifiable and do give people a sense of community in a very detached world.
Personally, I use aesthetics to develop my style by creating a blend of my favorites, for example, currently, my style could be described as a blend of coquette, cottagecore, and downtown girl aesthetics, but just a few weeks ago, when it was still winter, it was more of a casual-light academic look with a bit more color thrown in. Basically, what I'm getting at is that I believe that if someone wants to use aesthetic labels at all, they should mix their favorite aspects of their favorite aesthetics to create their own style, instead of subscribing to a singular specific aesthetic. From my experience, it allows your style to stay much more fluid as your taste changes over time, and in the end, you don’t end up wasting as much money on an aesthetic that you eventually get bored of.
You’re right that current aesthetics are way more specific than a lot of previously popular ones. The aesthetics that are popular now very much encourage one head to toe look and make people feel like they don’t fit into them if they don’t have all the pieces. I’m not online that much, but to me every whimsygoth outfit I see looks basically the same- a long skirt, chain belt and bell sleeve top. When people think they’ve “ finally discovered” their aesthetic, they don’t run out and buy just one thing but they feel like they need to buy all of them to completely revamp their wardrobe. In reality, most people aren’t going to like every aspect of an aesthetic. They probably feel like they need to buy the bell sleeve top in order to fit into the whimsygoth box, when really all they liked about the aesthetic was the skirt. Lots of brands are profiting off of this too, just like how you mentioned Lulus, I get emails from urban outfitters all the time about how to dress like the latest aesthetic.
I definitely agree that these aesthetics are just for all the fashion-loving chronically online girlies. I'd say 90% people do not read/watch/consume content around these cores. We NORMIES just have to chill! We're not even content creators and in real life, nobody cares about OUR aesthetics and no one even heard of any aesthetics/core names.
Commuter core is absolutely dystopian! Love this video Alexa! You are the thoughtful thrifting queen ❤!
I am so glad I'm not on Tik Tok -- I thought adding 'core' to style descriptions is stupid anyway.
MySpace is what got me to go to college for coding because I wanted to learn to make them little emoji dolls…it was when Kawaii was HUGE
as someone who is goth, people are right when they told you that it isn't about the fashion. Goth is a music based subculture, you're goth (or can identify as goth) if you're participating, listening to the music, going to shows, etc... you CAN be goth and not dress the part, however you CAN'T be goth without the music aspect of it, it's been this way forever.
people tend to think that dressing in a gothic style makes you goth, however Gothic ≠ Goth
@@rsaunders absolutely! i use the term “darkly inclined” for example when I’m referring to most of the genres i listen to because although i mostly listen to goth & vkei, i also listen to other darkly inclined genres that simply arent goth, i believe its a great differentiator
Yep! I have been participating in the subculture in some way since I was in middle school and I'm 33 now. I love black, but half the time I look Ike a rainbow threw up on me or I dress like a mermaid. Getting dressed up to go to a club night is so fun, but it's not practical for a lot of us everyday, especially as you get older. I work from home and have mental health issues, so I'm mostly wearing bike shorts and t-shirts for 8 hours of the day. I listen to the music regularly and so does my husband. All our goth loving friends look just as low key as we do.
absolutely valid! i only dress in black and dark colors in a general way, i like to go for the casual goth look, but sometimes i do feel like dressing up, it's just not a very practical thing to do everyday and i have some sensory issues and too much makeup and layers drive me insane in the long run! i feel like most goth people donot dress up everyday and it's pretty easy to understand why @@Aster_Risk
Honestly I love the idea of aesthetics! I think most people naturally gravitate to certain aesthetics and I really admire people who stick to one their whole life 😭 I tend to rotate and mix and match different aesthetics and have always had a playful approach to fashion so I find aesthetics to be really inspiring for me and help me think of new ways to style clothes and try pieces I normally wouldn’t but end up loving! I think most of us just want to express ourselves and the internet and trending aesthetics seem to help people explore their best way of doing that (: also i love that you brought up how trending aesthetics make it easier to find it when shopping and define what you like!
I love aesthetics!! I just think of them more as mood boards or inspo rather than a to buy list or something
UR OUTFIT IS SO ADORABLE I CANTTTT😭😭😭😭😭😭
Dark/light academia really is the same thing but different color palate and seems part of the larger and long-lived preppy (popular when I was in school in the '80s).
Not everyine who wants to be fashionable has the eye. Use these as tools (may just pin or shop without buying though), but at some point put them away as you figure out what you like.
What word did we use before "core" dominated the vernacular? The first time I heard it used was when cottage core emerged as a home decor trend.
I think styles just had names instead of "-core". For example, in 2006-ish I was really into Decora. I think this still exists with Whimsigoth, Dark Academia.
Those aesthetics do not end in "-core", and that is because I believe these styles are more tailored to a certain look with staple clothing items than an overall, more general, flexible look/aesthetic such as cottagecore, mermaidcore.
Then again, Scene was just Scene back then, and scenecore is the word a lot of people use now. You raise a really good question.
@@fieldofyellowrosesI remember the movie subgenre mumblecore becoming big when I was in high school in 2005-2009. Aside from hardcore, that was the first time I really remember core being used in this way. Then the fashion equivalent, normcore, got big around my senior year of high school. That one is a bit of an ironic term, because 2000s hipster irony, but also it was about wearing basics and not actually trying to differentiate yourself through your style.
I wanted to quickly add a note about subcultures and consumerism! Some fashion subcultures do embrace consumerism, but in an untraditional way. I’m a lolita and while there are definitely certain other values we align around like being self-indulgent and unappealing to men, the Japanese lolita community is very brand loyalty focused. For instance, Americans and other English speakers tend to categorize lolita as sweet, classic, etc. whereas Japanese wearers call themselves fans of a specific brand (e.g. “I’m a sweet lolita” vs. “I’m an Angelic Pretty fan”). Buying and flexing your purchases is important for lolitas-but your money is going only to small woman-owned brands that pioneered the subculture and help keep it alive. I have super mixed feelings about the rise of more “fast fashion” type brands in lolita because it feels totally against how we see purchases.
You're surprised that a culture partially focused on flexing on one another became even more capitalist?
In general I don't have anything against naming specific aesthetics, it simply serves the purpose of knowing what to look for. But to me it has very escapist tendencies (which isn't a bad thing, it's simply an observation). Note how previous styles have been very broad concepts, like goth where you have several different subdivisions, same with punk, metal and all these other subculture-specific styles. Everyone makes it their own. Yet, on TikTok every aesthetic is a very narrow concept with little wiggle room and with that in my opinion it becomes more of a costume than an outfit. The aesthetic is also always sold with a specific scene in mind, like from a movie (think coastal grandma like Diane Keaton in that one movie with Jack Nicholson) and with that the outfit suddenly serves the purpose of enveloping you in that fantasy, that's where it becomes escapist to me. And it makes sense when you think about it because it is very much a Gen Z thing with some millenials taking part and that's a generational response so what's going on in the world where we don't live in that almost-utopia that the Boomers had with a strong economy and increase of wealth. For (at the least the late) Millenials as well as Gen Z the world goes downhill with one crisis after the other hitting hard, like the pandemic and now inflation (at least in Europe where I'm from) and economic struggles. That leads to the urge to flee from the daily reality into your own fantasy and I think that's exactly what we see with these narrow fantasy-induced outfit-like aesthetics.
I personally have a specific style (or aesthetic) but it really helps me save money because sometimes I see stuff online I love but then I realise I won’t actually wear once I have it. So that way I can avoid getting caught up in styles and spending money I usually know what I like and what I will enjoy wearing
your cardigan is just 👌
I personally have had enough of them. It was fun when I liked a certain look but didn't have a name for it and suddenly it had a name. Now EVERYTHING has to have a cepecific name or aesthetic or "core". I'm kind of tired of it. Just let clothes be clothes.
Love this video! Alexa you always take the time to respond really thoughtfully and carefully. For me, I've never decided on one aesthetic or dressed in that way but I like taking one item or styling tip from an aesthetic trend and applying it to everyday life (straw bags from cottage-core, sweater vests from light/ dark academia). A lot of the trends, like regency- core as a whole are too extreme and costume-y for me as a someone who has to work and really likes practical outfits that feel comfy and professional day to day. I think I'm too old to go full into trends anymore like I did when I was younger! But creds to people wearing them and pushing the boundaries, and I can always be inspired by something even if I wouldn't wear it out of the house.
I love when you do videos like this! I love watching people experiment with fashion and their sense of style. It has been so great seeing people evolve and truly find what they love, and encourage that wholeheartedly! But I hate seeing people on Instagram who just buy things because it’s what someone recommends, saying you NEED that dress. There are people like that and have their place. I love seeing the mom creators who help encourage other moms to find their style and recommend pieces for their body type, I love all of that. I just hate seeing people saying you have to buy this new dress from target or this new bag, OMG. Then trying a new style every single day and not really being happy with it because it’s not there’s. So they keep buying pieces because someone tells them to buy something and it’s not for them and the cycle just continues. That’s where the issue lies to me personally.
Girl, born also in 1994, sims lover and followed scene trends+….I feel nostalgic watching this video. Thanks for talking about these things 🥲 feeling closer to you than ever 🤣 ah well….I think it’s because I moved away to a different province so everybody I knew is far away and don’t talk to. It’s good to hear in some way of my past through another that I frequent now (you lol) thanks for the video Alexa ❤
I love your section about subculture vs aesthetic ! I'm a metalhead and a goth, and for me it's all about the music ! I love wearing my band shirts and spikes and doing goth make up, but it's a way to express myself through fashion. Most of my shirts are old but I will wear them and repair them because they are of my favourite bands. And even if my style is slowly changing now to be more goth, I didn't really buy new things.
When I see someone goth or wearing a band shirt I like it makes me really happy because I know we're part of the same subculture !
(side note, it is a meme in the goth community that all you need to do to be goth is listening to the music, and NOT buying all the fashion things ahah)
Loved your take on this! I'm much interested in seeing people create original outfits in their own nameless style, vs watching people recreate an aesthetic
I was born in 1996 so I'm technically gen z, but I'm from a small town in Chile (where I still live) therefore my upbringing was a bit different. I've noticed that aesthetics and curated fashion styles are mostly a first world occurence. No one in my city dresses or identifies like this. Of course there are people inspired by what they see on the internet but it is not something thats engraved on anyone's mind. Only in the capital city I've seen more whatever/core styles. But again I don't think they make this their personality.
I find it stressful to not know how to describe my style (and biker druid hobbit little brother art aunt doesn’t roll of the tongue), but maybe one’s style doesn’t need to be described? Anyway v interesting video Alexa ❤❤
Honestly I LOVE aesthetics. It really helped me define what my personal style is. I also take inspo from my fav tv shows and its so easy to look up things i like on pinterest or when im shopping for myself online 🤎
I love this conversation because it is getting out of hand. We see it in how companies now invent a cute little name for a “new aesthetic” to sell more things. The micro trends and how fast they are changing is exhausting.
But maybe, at the end of the day, it’s about getting offline and touching grass more often. 😂 I’m going back to following some people that I like on RUclips and letting their ideas on fashion inspire me. Also, Pinterest is the best social media for collecting things you like and creating your personal style.
I really enjoyed this video! Thanks for the time and heart you put into this! 👏🏼💜
I love your informative videos! You do such a great job researching and translating the info ❤️
For me it was the anxiety that held me away from a certain aesthetic because I thought every aspect of my everyday living had to fit the aesthetic otherwise it would somehow ruin it. And I struggled to find sleepwear, occasion wear and all that in that specific aesthetic.
The MySpace/Buzznet emo era was where I fucking peaked. Audrey and Hanna Beth were my icons
Amen 😂
It's really cool seeing how you've grown over time with your views on consumption. I followed you because you just come across super pleasant, but as time goes on you keep showing sides of yourself and opinions on fashion as a hobby that make me want to support you more. Here's to the continued success of your channel!
I was thinking about recently how Tumblr both the aesthetic and fandom sides really influenced my style as a teenager, alongside Rookie Mag RIP. I also became interested in different subcultures like Riot Grrrl, Punk, Vintage, and Lolita fashion as a teenager. I definitely still enjoy seeing different styles and subcultures even if it’s not my personal style or what I gravitate towards on a day to day basis. So I have enjoyed seeing different fashion aesthetics pop up and I’ve found creators I really enjoy through these styles. However, as you highlighted it felt like it just became another marketing tool very quickly. I think there was also a point online in 2020 where it felt more like people were having fun, getting creative, and playing dress up then riding a particular fashion wave.
when you said me-core was gonna be the new aesthetic i thought you meant mii-core LMAO
Your raspberry sweater and dark teal top both look so nice on you! 😻❤️ I think if your personal style is rooted in subculture, it’s going to be more stable. I’m just a couple years older than you, and while I had a much later introduction to the internet and socializing online, a lot of what you said about subcultures and other ways people found fashion inspiration was very true to my own experience. When I think back to what my inspirations were growing up, many of those things still inspire me today, I can see a definitive through-line between the rest, and I still have roots in at least two subcultures. I can see that I have clearly gone through a true evolution, rather than a dramatic change. And I think this stability has helped me remain aware of what my personal style looks like, and it’s not defined by an aesthetic (I use historic periods/decades and fashion terms like silhouettes and details of garment construction to search online for what I’m looking for).
Omg, sister! 🌻 I love hearing you process this stuff. I agree with your ideas and like your questions.
I've been having this crisis where I want to put a name to how I dress or the aesthetic it's called. I never find anything because I love such a mix of styles, but I have fallen to thinking I need to dress as one thing. Just within the last couple of days, I hit my epiphany of taking inspo from styles I like and making it my own!!! This video is definitely helping cement it in my brain.
I respect that you actually researched the goth subculture. I get a little peeved at people speaking authoritatively about goth being an aesthetic and knowing absolutely nothing about the history and basis in music.
I love style and notice what’s ”trendy”in real life and in RUclips, but i do know my ”personal style” and like to dress up to express myself. But of course trends and aesthetics do affect me in some way, since I’m interested in the topic and consume style related content. I really pay attention on people’s style out in the streets though, it’s interesting. Not being on tiktok really works for me too, i think it would get very oversaturated for me. 🌝
I could never keep up on with the trends and aesthetics on Tik Tok, it was so overwhelming! 😭
Great vid! Love your personal style 🩷
I’m one of your older subs, and like others have said here, Goth and Punk were always about the music first, and that’s often how we found our tribe and aesthetic back in the day. In the 90s Grunge was my thing. Going to gigs in Liverpool, dressing like Kurt and Courtney, living my best smudged eyeliner life. Music videos and magazines were the influence. The earliest example of this for me was when my first pair of converse were inspired by INXS. I loved that look - the men’s white shirt over jeans, skater vibes (but I didn’t ever have a skateboard!) 😂
I've been saying for ages that a lot of these asthetics are surface level trends that are annoying because it becomes ABOUT fitting into an aesthetic rather than your personal style slowly and organically growing out of who you ARE as a person. Yes, I have notes of what would be considered "dark academia" in my style BECAUSE I've been an avid reader since I was 4 years old and am academically minded and I own hundreds of books and am a writer and I love history and let history inspire what I wear etc etc. It's a natural outgrowth of who I am as a person over the 30+ years of my life. I didn't wake up one day, see literate girlies on tik tok and say "I wanna cosplay them" and throw on a brown sweater and a tweed skirt and carry a book around as a prop.
And yes, you can dress as anything you want, including a green alien or a blue unicorn, but you should also do the very real work of asking who you are as a person and letting that dictate what you put on your body rather than trying on costumes and hoping to gain a personality that way.
It’s quite interesting the dynamic between seeing influencers/fashion enthusiasts in major cities (LA, NY, etc) vs rural PA. Though, there are few and slim people in these eccentric trends, you can still see them subtlety in ‘everyday’ outfits with trendy prints, textures, etc.
Also, I feel like “me-core” is satire for wearing whatever you want lmao
It’s like there is a subculture of buying stuff online to only wear it online and show off to other people doing the same thing. Seems useful as a search algorithm, but I imagine you’d mostly find fast fashion stuff if you use those keywords. Now that brands are trying to create aesthetics, people are going to lose interest. I’ve been goth since I was 14 and it’s nice not to worry about this stuff. I do enjoy seeing aesthetic stuff online but more for inspiration, never bought the exact pieces in those images/videos. It’s rare that I like the whole outfit anyway, so I usually think “I should try to find a shirt like this” etc. And then try to find it in person so I can try it on.
Please do more of these, interesting to hear your thoughts
I think it's just a lot of us found ourselves in a shopping addiction from the idea of trying to find personal style and aren't in acceptance of trying to simply be ourselves. My expendable income is dwindling so it kind of forced the habit to be broken over the last year and a half to two years, but it was a relief. I started actually wearing my clothes because I definitely had stuff to work with considering the rate of my shopping trips of years past, and found the stuff I veered towards and stuff I didn't. Wearing stuff that worked instead for the work and hobbies I was doing instead of solely how I wanted to be perceived resulted in a more assured version of myself when I would leave the house. However I did pack some stuff away instead of donating it, and every couple months with the season changes I go through what other pieces I have and I'll play dress up, and switch out for more season appropriate clothes to excite my closet a bit more. I still shop but now it's down to one or two items every 3-5 months. It's opened up a lot more time for other hobbies and while embarrassingly I do get a rush whenever I do get the chance to get a new article or accessory, I feel better for waiting than showing up weekly to bi-weekly to replace a closet I hadn't even worn yet.
I graduated in 2002 and we tried so hard to not have labels and now it’s the opposite
if you need to log off, log off. mental health is not a joke. i find this obsessive nature (making an aesthetic your entire personality, then experiencing identity crisis 7 months later) worrisome. this is not serious. wear whatever.
I've been listening to goth and punk music since 1986. I wore black skull buckle boots and a lot of black eyeliner in the late 80's in high school. I've seen 'goth' clothes become popular on and off since the 90's. The people who listen to the music are the ones who stay in the goth subculture for a long time. The others will just jump onto another trend train.
i'm very tired of trends, they always existed but in this era of social media their cycle is stupid short, nobody can't keep up with it. and who really suffer are the people who do try to keep up with it but it's so sudden now that it makes no sense, they end up not having enough time trying to form their own fashion personality because of the chase. so even tho i like some pieces that came into trend for being cute, i don't care at all if what i wear is in or not. i dress in styles i always liked, vary from fashion from different decades and specially in what i feel compliments my figure the best
and always study if i really like and will continue wearing things after if they are currently trending because otherwise it can be a waste of money
I had noticed that you pronounced "gingham" differently (no big deal, we all have our own little quirks), but now after you explained about having problems pronouncing Gs, I noticed it with the word "spring". I think it's adorable! One more thing that makes you unique.
I think this is an issue of affect hunger (just to be clear, affect hunger is not an issue). Humans will always crave love/attention as this is an instinctual need that guarantees ones survival. Now the easiest way to get your fill is showing up on social media and aesthetics are a streamlined path to that - put on a pencil skirt, tight button up, and slim rectangular lenses and post some pics/vids on tiktok, guaranteed approval. Just as an example: the obnoxious catholic girl aesthetic is a prime example of taking a subculture that would otherwise be very unappealing to modern women (being a devote catholic) and stripping it down to an aesthetic; post a pic of a girl in a flouncy white dress wearing a rosery and looking forlorn. Affect hunger is no issue. Just spend the cash, wear the right shade of pink, and be content with the validation/affection of total strangers
It's not all bleak... perhaps as the internet matures we will have more spaces online that closer resembles our ease of perceiving each other IRL. To rehash a point that Alexa made, not everyone has the time/knowledge necessary to produce a 20 min youtube video several times a month. Though that would be the more satiating option (remember, affect hunger), tiktok is more accessible/approachable. Still short form content in it's nature is quite limiting, so why take the gamble of seeking approval for your unique culture/expression when there are mass produced templates to choose from instead guaranteed to generate social interaction? But maybe I'm wrong, and years from now we'll be seeing 'tomato girls' and 'that girl' posing for likes in the virtual realm
Read 'The Bridge to Humanity: How Affect Hunger Trumps the Selfish Gene' to get a better understanding on this topic
Also, I would like to propose a theory... could it be that although individual aesthetics aren't (for most people participating in them anyway) their own subcultures, that the entire aesthetic/core phenomenon can be called such?
As a viewer, I'm interested to see how people's personal style evolves over time. I would get bored by a content creator's fixed style/aesthetic/brand pretty fast.
Ohhh! I have that same sweater but I got mine custom light purple with pink strawberries.. looks so nice on you.
I’m over aesthetics if I’ll be honest. Im really fluid in my fashion but I like what I like and these elements don’t change much
I have tons of things in my closet that are 10+ years old. The things that tend not to last are 1. Fast fashion 2. Loud patterns 3. Overly revealing/wardrobe malfunction territory (i.e. if I needed to run, something would show). Some of the staples in my closet include knit sweaters, cashmere, and solid color dresses
Ash Callaghan had a wry recent video about noticing that normies who aren’t steeped in fashion content just wear what they like or have.
Agree with the takes below that aesthetics or styles can be an avenue for exploration. They can also be, often wastefully (in terms of time, money, materials):
- an attempt to connect with peers or a subset of cool women
- a kind of wishcasting for an aspirational lifestyle that will appear like magic to match the wardrobe
- a themed excuse to do another round of shopping
Just something to consider as to allocation of resources and reasonable expectations of how far just clothes can get you.
I recommend the podcast Tech Won’t Save Us which is good at unpacking how much we should let tech shape our lives, instead of using tech to the extent that it’s a useful tool that’s a net positive.
It’s too easy to forget how much big social media accounts are under pressure to generate viral content: it’s often perceived as “this is a thing that’s trending because it’s really happening, it matters and I need to get on board to fit in or be current” versus it’s a creator just latching on to a ready-made trending hashtag to churn out content that’s at least sure to get some clicks this week and serve up some ads or affiliate links. We don’t have to give it all weight.
Alexa where is your sweater from it’s sooo cute!
I feel there are some aesthetics I’ve been for a long time, there’s just names for them now
Your cardigan/sweater!!!😍👍🤩❤️
To me as a milennial aesthethics are like roleplaying, so I really like the idea of watching some reels and getting inspired and then going to my closet and see if there is something that fits. But last year I did start to feel like I was loosing my own style (which I've always felt fairly confident with) so I've stopped watching GRWM reels and I just follow a few influencers.
Dwelling in this did help me start dressing more out there (for example now I don't feel silly about wearing 70's stuff)
I think an underestimated factor in the changes in our style is the fact that thrift stores removed the change rooms, so we can’t just try things on and experiment with dressing outside of our comfort zones.
Side note, your hair color looks beautiful! Your eyes are popping! Did you color it at home? I am platinum blonde and want to go darker blonde with at home dye, but heard once you are platinum, you need a stylist to help you go darker. Thoughts?
It's actually all my natural color! I haven't had any color or bleach done since May of 2023! ❤ I would recommend going to a professional if possible, my hair was horrendously damaged from going platinum in November 2022 so I needed to go to an actual hairstylist so it didn't fall off and she helped me transition to incorporating my natural color which is why I didn't bother getting it touched up and have been letting it grow.
Thank you, Alexa. Looks really nice❤
Oh thats so interesting, Carry Dayton too just had a very similar video out in which she walked down early 2000s memory lane.
I love aesthetics, to me it seems really freeing, cause you can pick and chose from everything rather than follow trends or seasons and be "limited" to looking nice to other people only if you have the newest shit. Now noone is batting an eye no matter what i wear, it can be the most vintage 80's dress with ginormous shoulder pads, 2000s/bratz outfit or full fairy and i can be comfy in my style without being judged. I was always afraid of truly expressing myself with style, cause i am your weakest soldier, and can't be negatively percieved by others, or i'll cry, now i don't have this problems. Also i love cosplaying as myself in different eras or styles, it is amazing!
Where is that green tank from? The color is gorgeous!!
Reformation! I got it back in 2020 I think! They always have some on thredUp for cheaper 😉
That's why I watch you, you have a personal style and do your own take on fashion instead of slavishly following trends
I need to know. Where is your top from? It's an amazing silhouette
I've been into subcultures most of my life by now (alternative/punk/bit of goth), and I honestly love aesthetics. They're totally different, subcultures are mostly about ideologies, mindsets, community, music, and the look comes after (especially with something like punk, which is by nature anti capitalist, so thereby anti fast fashion, so most clothes that are 'punk' is thrifted and/or DYI'd), whereas aesthetics are more about the visuals and the vibe of an outfit.
But aesthetics feel like visiting your favorite book or movie, hanging out with your favorite characters and studying interesting things together (like dark academia), or visiting a fantasy world (like dark fantasy (my favorite genre) or knightcore, (which I'm exploring right now), or finding a quiet place in the world where you feel safe and can relax (like cottagecore, but for me that's rainy day and lighthouse core/dark nautical). Are they really about the look? No, but it's about giving you a certain energy to do things, or about a comfy place to relax and revive your spirits, with things that make you happy, like drinking a cup of tea while staring at the clouds through your window, or going hiking while it's foggy, or listening to certain types of music while doing the dishes.
Most are more about a vibe and atmosphere, with some recommendations of looks, books, music and activities that can give you that feeling that you seek. It definitely made me enjoy my wardrobe more, like I'm going on my own adventure based on the clothes I choose to wear that day, but I can also do all of those activities in clothes not matching that vibe and still enjoy it.
I always treated aesthetics more as a guidance into different vibes, looks and interior designs, like I love making pintrests boards and visiting those to enjoy the mood, but also figuring out reoccurring themes and looks, I definitely noticed I have a bit of a dark and green academia vibe going on in my room design, and figuring that out helped me find pieces that fit with the rest and made it all look well put together.
But I also always wait a bit, like I was into exercise wear last year for a bit, and it took me a few months to realize it was just that I wanted to exercise, and didn't really care for the fit.
I think it's healthy to take the time with an aesthetic and/or microtrend for a bit if it's you or you just enjoy the vibe/world/mindset it's gives and figuring out if the outfit is or isn't really what made you attracted to that aesthetic in the first place, especially when it comes to buying things.
I think the bigger problem is that we've mostly gotten too used to just always buy something as soon as you want it, with exploring something new with buying items for that something new, without giving it second thought if we need it, if it actually makes us happy and is what we're actually looking for, and if it's really suitable for who we are as a person.
My experience with goth communities is it's less about the music then like metal or punk, but you are sorta excepted to have some some affinity towards a form of music that isn't pop, like we know at least one goth that's only really into edm, which I think is a pretty good place to draw the line in a sub culture. Goth has to be a little braud in that regard because it's history and current niche being so often mixed in with metal and punk at this point that it's easier to just pick something like connection to at least slightly less mainstream music to tell the members of the community from the normies just passing through.
I feel tired now whenever there’s a new fashion aesthetic and how fast trends come and go. Also, it promotes overconsumption that it makes me feel guilty even when I buy essential items. If I were a bit younger or in my teens these would make me feel excited, but just a bit too fast for these younger generations too.
Off topic, but what brand are your jeans? they look so cute :)
Great video Alexa! Personally.... I don't care anymore about aesthetics anymore😅🤣 I just turned 27 and I feel very settled into my personal style. I make fashion content every once in a while and run a small jewelry business so I know the importance of having a niche. I portray niches online but in real, I am more than just one. Us humans are very binary thinkers and I think it cripples us as a species because style AND LIFE usually lies in the grey. We are all well rounded humans that like many things. We can't fit into a box and probably never will but we will always feel forced to try.
I find the aesthetic-building and labeling fun, especially when you really see one take off and flesh out. I especially love seeing which one becomes the style of the summer. (I have no clue this year!) But it's concerning when young people take it too seriously and try to find and fit one perfectly. There's always been an element of that, with teens trying to figure themselves out and find a clique or a scene (if you're in the goth community, it's everpresent). But social media makes self-branding feel more mandatory and important.
Where did you get your bow?
I definitely have a love hate relationship with aesthetics because on one hand, it can be incredibly helpful to look at these "boxes" and get inspiration from that but then on the other hand...theres nothing to look at that between aesthetics. I really like academia, art hoe, boho, and fairy core but i have no idea how to intermingle these aesthetics. But also i love knowing that i can summarize my tastes by saying i love academia, art hoe, boho, and fairy core aesthetics.
Its a double edged sword
Its all rather overwhelming at times. I enjoy vintage inspired and darkly inclined fashion and feel like labeling my style would box me in. Fashion should be fun not something that stresses you out just to keep up with the next micro trend.
I clicked for that adorable strawberry sweater
“Yes I was making my sims woohoo at 6 years old” 😂 thanks for the video! I wonder how people in the future will dress for the 2020s decade since it feels like there are so many more options.
I remember really struggling when searching for fashion inspiration for my personal style. Like, I had an idea of what I wanted in my mind, but didn’t know how to define it. And then the internet invented cottagecore and I was like, “There it is! Finally!” So now I mostly use aesthetics as search terms, just how I might with classic fashion terms like boho or goth. And now I’d describe my personal style as 60/70s cottagecore whimsigoth grandma. lol.
When you're 35, you'll have a base wardrobe of classic pieces in black and neutrals that will last forever because they don't look trendy. You will buy trendy pieces, combine them with your classics, save money, and always be in style.
You can do that now.
Your classics now are going to look different than your haberdashery trousers, little white tee (actually, you probably have one of those,) and your grab-and-go tweed blazer, but you do have basics: they're the things you still wear after years, the things you don't abandon.
Do now what you're going to do with your business wardrobe: buy pieces of whatever trend turns you on, and blend them with your wardrobe basics. If you don't look EXACTLY like whatever manga or movie character or Pinterest board figure catches your eye, very few people will ever notice or care. It's all theatre. Make your own character, from what you already love, from what you can obtain for little or nothing, from something out there that honestly sparks your creativity.
If you're not sure who you want to be today, start with a bit of you that you already know you love, and go out and add inspiration to it. Don't just borrow somebody else to be. As fun as that is, once you start playing, you won't want to go back to doing impressions of someone else's play.
I’d really like to see influencers seen as professional advertisers because that’s what they are. Imitating someone else is not being inspired and doesn’t lead to personal style. I love the thrifting trend because as an older millennial who couldn’t just go out and buy the stuff you saw people wearing for the most part because you didn’t have access to much, it makes you so much more individual and creative. I think aesthetics lost their fun when they became corporatised and the creative people moved on from them and left them for the trend victims.
I have always been unable to identify my style and I dress kind of boring/minimally and in a pretty small color/pattern range because of that. I hate most of my clothes and putting together an outfit I like is nearly impossible bc I cannot decide what I like 🥲
I feel like aesthetics are supposed to be for more than a moment. I love looking at and talking about them, incorporating parts of them, revisiting them or noticing how it's back and just got renamed.
Hi Alexa, I wish you a happy Easter and hope you can eat some strawberries soon 😊🍓❤️