Aesthetics, or esthetics, are branches of philosophy that deal with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art. Aesthetics are particularly popular amongst teenagers. For example, finding an aesthetic is like finding what vibe a person matches with. Aesthetics are visual trends, so when one “finds their aesthetic,” they are discovering a specific aesthetic that represents the person in some sort of aspect—it can be their dressing style or they may just simply enjoy that aesthetic. There are many aesthetics but below are a few popular ones.
During the pandemic, the Cottagecore aesthetic blew up on many social media platforms, including Tiktok and Tumblr. The Cottagecore aesthetic is inspired by the Western agricultural life, and is typically centered around environment, food, and caring. The keywords to this aesthetic, as stated in the Aesthetics Wikipedia are “cottages,” “farm animals,” “wild-flowers,” “pies,” “crops,” and “gingham.” The key colors to this aesthetic are green, brown, yellow, and cream/off-white. The dressing style of this aesthetic include lace, pastel puffy dresses and hand-crafted accessories.The visuals of this aesthetic include fairies, pressed flowers, crowns, baking, forests, handwritten letters, etc. There also are a lot more aesthetics related to this one aesthetic.
Dark Academia has also always been a popular aesthetic. It centers around classic literature and a passion for learning and reading. Key motifs and visuals include books, history, reading, literature, writing, mystery, art, museums, daggers, fountain pens, antique books, coffee and tea, newspaper and cafes, etc. The colors of this aesthetic are usually dark-ish earth tones, black, brown, tan. The clothing style for Dark Academia comes from old school uniforms, for example light blouses, sweater vests, pleated skirts, cardigans, blazers, simple rings, etc. Like Dark Academia, there are many more aesthetics surrounding the word ‘academia”, for example: Light Academia, Writer Academia, etc.
Another popular aesthetic includes Vapourwave, characterized by the other-extensive use of samples, put in a chaotic and distorted fashion. This aesthetic includes strong nostalgia from the 80s and 90s. It may include 3D graphics, old computer OS, marble statues and just a scientific look in general. The colors include neon colors involving pink, blue and purple. Aesthetics like these may also include the Y2K aesthetic. The Y2K aesthetic centers around the years 1995 to 2003.
There are unlimited aesthetics that exist, and in fact, one can even create their own aesthetic. If you wish to explore further more about aesthetics, you can Google different aesthetics to learn about them, or even try to find your own aesthetic.
