“This political instability is not my aesthetic,” says my 20-year-old sister, as we discuss the flip-flopping of prime ministers in the UK and the unstable structure of our current government. As interested as I was in the core subject (politics), I was more fascinated by the fact that my sister’s idea of political apathy and distrust in the system was reduced to simply “aesthetic.”
Aesthetics are becoming wildly popular concepts for Generation TikTok, and I (sort of) understand people's criticism of trends being popularised as “cores” or “eras.” But does that mean they're inherently bad?
Think: soft life, cottage core, barbie core, emo girl era, regency core, HASHTAG Women In Tech, Hot Girl Summer, the girlies, and most recently hard-boiled egg girls — which (although an unusual name to attribute to an aesthetic), represent the girls that love pink pastels and whites, glazed nails and broderie Anglaise) — the list goes on. These are all popular aesthetics that people have adopted to better reflect themselves and their interests.
This is how trendy human aesthetics work. Think of a trend, be it fashion, beauty or lifestyle, now stamp a label in it and group people together so that they can all showcase and celebrate said aesthetic for an unpredictable finite or infinite time scale.
I suppose the idea of being ‘somebody’ for a short period of time and then being ‘somebody’ else may seem flippant, but is it really? Aren’t we ever-evolving human beings in a society that is still learning to be more accepting of people – no matter what their differences?
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I personally love the idea of an aesthetic. For me (and many others) the idea of finding yourself and ‘fitting in’ is one of the most nuanced and confusing parts of growing up. We all had to experiment to find exactly what we wanted out of life, and more often than not, it was by trial and error.
Growing up as the only Black girl in my school, life meant that I often longed to meet someone that looked like me – someone I shared cultural familiarity with; who I could be myself around. We could enjoy the same taste in music, the same liking in TV Shows (Black sitcoms defined our childhoods), a similar style of clothes and general aesthetics in a judgement-free zone.
“As I've grown older, my aesthetic is ever-changing: It has matured, it has relaxed, and it has become unrestricted, limitless and unapologetic.”
As I've grown older, my aesthetic is ever-changing: It has matured, it has relaxed, and it has become unrestricted, limitless and unapologetic. Aesthetics and cores may be based loosely on trends, but they allow room for growth and change. Those two things are a key part of what allows society to evolve. Not only that, they create communities, and – as we know – society is built on communities, evolving together.
“I genuinely do not think that adding the suffix ‘core’ is a remotely important aspect of contemporary patriarchy. Focusing on discourse (or worse, policing discourse) blinkers us to existing inequalities between men and women,” says Dr Alice Evans, a senior lecturer in Social Science of Development.
Like Dr. Alice, I do think that too much emphasis is put on policing women’s lifestyle choices, and somehow adding an aesthetic to your lifestyle has been a cause for negative and unnecessary discourse, which is distracting us from bigger issues in society and gatekeeping movements in youth culture. This will only suppress and further marginalised young people looking to find themselves and to grow.
Much of this criticism comes from people who find the terms ridiculous or people that don’t understand the nuances of certain colloquialisms. However, allowing people to just be, is a good start to getting to a place of mutual understanding.
“Women engaging in aesthetics is a positive because it's all about freedom of expression. Having so many trends happening simultaneously means that women have the authority to choose and have the option to engage in whatever interests them. There isn't ‘one strict way’ to be a woman or to be in touch with your womanhood.
“Women and femmes are using the ‘cores’ and ‘aesthetics’ to reclaim them and showcase them in a more individualist way.”
“All of these ‘aesthetics’, ‘eras’, ‘cores’ happening concurrently prove that we can adapt and switch out stylistic identities, and this naturally allows us to be more confident,” says creator Mikai McDermott.
Like Mikai, I too believe that womanhood can exist in many forms and adapting these highly malleable artistic tastes generates a positive environment of creativity. She adds, “Women and femmes are using the ‘cores’ and ‘aesthetics’ to reclaim them and showcase them in a more individualist way.
"A lot of them are stereotypically feminine, like ‘barbie core’, or ‘cottage core’, which in the past, society has associated with being ‘weak’ and ‘passive’. Women are showing us that just because they've adopted them, it doesn't mean that they're limited to what could be seen as negative stereotypes that patriarchy set upon us.”
“I cannot come and kill myself, but also, I’m Black.”
We simply need to stop policing women’s choices. If I’m in my soft life today, but tomorrow I decide to fight for everything, I should be able to do that. The idea of aesthetics is that they’re not full personality traits that you have to commit to for a lifetime, because who’s to say your taste won’t change tomorrow? Core, eras and aesthetics create room for inspiration and for people to find and build community – when they might otherwise have felt alone in their journey of discovery.
“The idea of building a community around whatever your aesthetic is at any given moment in time is one that we should applaud, not suppress or sneer at.”
If we didn’t evolve, or if we were riding solo without a support group or a community with mildly similar interests then we would be criticised for that too, and perhaps even called ‘weird’. There is something warming and reassuring about the idea of aesthetics and I am so here for it.
The idea of building a community around whatever your aesthetic is at any given moment in time is one that we should applaud, not suppress or sneer at. You should be able to switch it on and off, whenever you feel like it because ‘Hello, hi!’, that's your prerogative. Sure, putting labels on every interest, aesthetic, or lifestyle choice can be superfluous, and I can accept that some labelling may take the mick sometimes. I mean, hard-boiled egg girls? Really?
However, most of these terms are coined by other women who simply want to create a safe space and community for others to be able to feel a sense of belonging. More often than not, they're fun, harmless, tokens of appreciation for your peers and people alike.
So, please, (labels, tokens, cores, eras and aesthetics aside), can we just let the girlies live?
For more from Glamour UK Beauty Writer Shei Mamona, follow her on Instagram @sheimamona.
