IT'S NOT AN AESTHETIC, IT'S A MICROTREND

The word “aesthetic” has been around for a long time. The word “aesthetics” stemmed from the Greek word ‘aisthētikos. It meant “perceptible things” and “perceive”. The term we know today comes from a German Philosopher in 1735, Alexander Baumgarten, but it wasn't until the 19th century that the word “aesthetics” was incorporated into the English language. However, since the rise of social media the word “aesthetics” has been thrown around a lot more.

Trend cycles have always been around, the difference is that in the 20th and early 21st centuries, a trend cycle would last about 20 to 30 years. Nowadays, with the invention of social media and the internet, the trend cycle has shortened, giving place to the rise of micro-trends. “Before the rise of TikTok and Instagram influencer culture, we looked at models, movies, celebrities, and fashion magazines to set the trends, this group of people was small, and our access to them was neatly curated, this ultimately limited our exposure to potential new trends and kept fashion cycles slower” (Nelson, 2021). However, since the rise of social media, we can immediately see what is trending and what the most popular celebrities and influencers are wearing, causing a shift in fashion every other day.

The different options of aesthetics and styles for teens and young adults have given them a chance to belong to a group and feel identified with other people as well as, given them the opportunity to be creative and express their identity through it. Nonetheless, with the creation of more and more aesthetics, this group of people starts to become more niche, and for the general public it translates as a micro-trend because the moment an aesthetic is trendy they’ll switch wardrobes and even personalities. A clear example of this was in 2019 when the aesthetic “vsco girl” was a trend. It consisted of wearing long t-shirts, scrunchies, Birkenstocks, and a hydro flask with stickers. Then at the beginning of 2020, that style and aesthetic were considered cringe, ridiculous and annoying. Everyone switched to the “alt/indie” aesthetic, which included baggy pants, dark colors like brown and black, colored hair, chains, jewelry, and over-saturated filters. The same thing that happened to previous aesthetics happened to the next one, and everyone abandoned it. But the problem with this is that it encourages consumerism, since the trends change so fast, it doesn't allow people to see what style fits them the most, and what they like or not.

Some people are lucky enough to find their style through some aesthetics, and sometimes they find their style of expression thanks to social media. However, for some people, it can be more difficult, not only because of a lost sense of individuality but also because some aesthetics can oftentimes just be statement pieces mixed with basic hairdos. For example just this year the “clean look” aesthetic, basically consisted of jeans and a white button-up, with a slick bun. How can statement pieces that almost everyone has in their closet, be an aesthetic when they have been around as long as anyone can remember? This is when the issue starts. While past decades of fashion were divided by “eras”, now every piece of clothing belongs to a different aesthetic. In the 70s it was the disco era: flared pants and hippie music. The 80’s were the era of high-waisted jeans, leg warmers, and spandex. Now, instead, we are divided by aesthetics that in reality are micro-trends.

To sum this up, the real challenge for past, present, and future generations would be encouraging people to find creativity and style based on what they like. My point of view is that a true lover of fashion and someone stylish is not someone that has all the money in the world to buy every piece of each aesthetic to suit what's trending, but instead someone whose creativity shines through their clothing and can make statement outfits with few pieces.