Gone are the days when individuality and uniqueness were things we actually tried to achieve. Now, it feels like aesthetics are something you can pick up off a shelf at the grocery store and toss back like a pair of jeans you tried on in a fitting room but decided weren’t worth taking home. And I’m using “we” very loosely here because, let’s be honest, some people still put in the effort to live outside the box or even build new boxes or triangles to suit their own style.
I get it—fast fashion is pumping out thousands of clothes daily, and it’s hard to find unique pieces that let you stand out. But subscribing to some aesthetic just because social media said so? That feels like a step too far. From ‘old money’ to ‘clean girl’ to the latest ‘Sade aesthetic,’ these trends are all over TikTok and Instagram. People are bending over backward to fit into these aesthetics or at least capture a piece of them. And look, taking inspiration from online is all good and fine, but where do we draw the line between ‘I like this vibe’ and ‘I’m completely changing my personal style because TikTok said it’s cool right now’? At what point do we realise that jumping on every aesthetic bandwagon shrinks the box instead of thinking outside of it?
Whatever happened to just wearing what feels fun or comfortable? Or picking something alternative instead of buying into what’s trending with millions of other people online?
And it’s not like we don’t see that these aesthetics keep getting repackaged. They dictate everything—from your clothes to your jewellery to your hairstyles. Then, of course, these trends die out (as they always do), and the trend machine starts cranking out another one, leading to another round of “I need this specific item to match this new look.” Yay for consumerism. Not.
It makes me wonder: Is authenticity now a conscious decision? Do we have to wake up every morning and choose to stay true to ourselves instead of repackaging our image every time a new aesthetic drops? It’s kinda like cereal boxes. You know how they change the packaging for every event? For example, with the Euros, they have a football on the front with footballers on the back of the box and with Christmas, it’s a whole different box. It’s kind of like that, except, spoiler alert, we’re not cereal boxes. Our personal brands shouldn’t be that easy to change monthly.
With aesthetics, there’s also this unspoken contest of who can embody the aesthetic the best and loudest. And then those people become the champions of the aesthetic, creating their own little subcultures where others look to them for inspiration and start copying their every move.
Of course, it’s important to draw a distinction between inspiration and imitation. A writer, Jonathan Letham once said: “All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original”. Which I definitely agree with. But authenticity means you’re true to your own personality regardless of the pressure that you’re under to act otherwise.
Social media, of course, has its ways of nudging us in certain directions. Maybe the real issue is how much of it we consume. I think we’d all be a step closer to authenticity if we muted the opinions of everyone else when deciding what our personal brand should be.
And let’s not forget that social media also loves to make you feel like your originality isn’t all that important. Like it’s saying, “Here’s another aesthetic because, honestly, you’re not enough on your own.” And that couldn’t be more wrong. Sure, playing around with aesthetics can be fun in the short term, but in the long run? Originality is what really pays off.
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