During the past year, many new changes have arisen in our society. With some of the highlights of 2020 being the presidential election, the height of activism, and the social media app TikTok, the fashion scene has received its own part in the spotlight as obsolete styles have become more prominent.
Clothing and accessory trends from the 1990s and early 2000s have made a comeback in the fashion of teenagers across the nation. Thrift shopping has been a huge source for finding many of these items. TikTok’s more mainstream presence has many teens using the app as a way of showcasing and expressing their thoughts on style and aesthetics.
Aesthetics are a group of people who share a specific taste in music, style, and hobbies. Aesthetics usually fall under one specific term, like Indie, Y2K, Streetwear, Skater Grunge, Cottage Core, and Dark Academia to name a few. There have been similarities between these different aesthetics like the appreciation for middle-parted hair, baggy clothing, and appealing sneakers.
Overall, the fashion scene has slowly made its way back into the limelight of teenagers as a new outlet for self-expression. The top three most relevant fashion aesthetics are Indie, Streetwear, and Cottage Core. Here is a brief description of them:
Indie: Indie fashion and music have recently been much more popular amongst teenagers. Albums released by musicians years ago like Billy Joel, Nirvana, and The Beatles, are finding their way back into the playlists of many, serving as an inspiration to teenagers across the globe as they attempt to express themselves to the world.
Indie style tends to revolve mostly around vibrancy and eclecticism. Baggy jeans and jackets, crewnecks, sweater vests, and canvas shoes are some of the main pieces amongst both men and women. However, the styles for women and men differ slightly. Women furbish their outfits with baby tees, designed with butterflies or flowers, cat-eye sunglasses, and small handbags. Braiding hair and decorating it with beads has also been a common trend for women in indie attire. On the other hand, men tend to wear sweater vests with a short sleeve shirt underneath or a long vintage graphic tee, while tucking it in the waistbands of their pants. To accessorize, some men wear a bucket hat. The main inspirations for this style resonate within the early 2000s as well as the 1970s; the hippie era.
Streetwear: The Streetwear aesthetic is rooted in fashion, but music and pop culture play a very big role in streetwear as well. Rap, RnB, and Pop music have been a huge part of the people that resonate with this aesthetic. Many individuals look to celebrities that are relevant in these musical genres such as Kanye West and ASAP Rocky, for fashion inspiration. Streetwear fashion can be described as comfort with an edge.
Cities like Los Angeles and New York are known for accommodating this type of aesthetic the most. Some of the more common apparel in streetwear are hoodies, windbreakers, ripped jeans, denim jackets, chains, crossbody fanny packs, and sneakers. These items are usually layered on top of one another, like a zip-up sweater over a hoodie or crew necks over collared shirts. Streetwear has no divide between genders. Although some women might wear more chains than men, there are no real clothing items that differ between both groups.
The main theme of streetwear is minimalism, specifically in terms of color. The clothing of streetwear follows two color schemes. One of them is neutrals, as in black, white, grey, and beige with some pops of color, like neon. These splashes in color, usually in the shoes, belts and beanies, add an additional flair to the outfit. The second color scheme is known as monochromatic apparel, which is where clothing and accessories are different shades of the same color family. The inspirations for these outfits come from the modern-day runways, although the baggy and loose fit clothing are derived from the 1990s.
Cottage Core: The Cottage core aesthetic is a rural way of life. The name itself refers to the small wooden houses that are know from fairytales and folklore. The cottage core fashion is one of the lesser-known and lesser-seen aesthetics.
The main themes of Cottage Core are being very airy and feminine. Clothing items such as dresses, corsets, sun hats, leathers, and cardigans are the most common pieces seen amongst this style/aesthetic. The colors tend to stay within whites, blushes, pastels, browns, sages, and more commonly than anything, floral prints.
Nonetheless, there is a downside to these aesthetics, the major one being the uneasy feeling of not fitting in anywhere. Aesthetics group individuals with common interests together, especially on a large scale, thus excluding other individuals who don’t share that same mindset. This sparks a feeling of not belonging due to specific interests not aligning with a majority of the people.
Although aesthetics have been huge pioneers in the fashion scene, it has caused a lot of outward ideas that are rejected because they do not fit into aesthetic-worthy criteria. However, there are a multitude of different aesthetics in the world. Some of which are very popular and some that aren’t. Overall, each aesthetic is very unique and different from one another. Although some contain a few common pieces, each aesthetic derives from unique surroundings and is able to create a sense of community among teens all over the world.