The changing aesthetics of aesthetic.

By Anushka

The recent condition of Aesthetics is what happens when you hand what was meant for the philosophers to the current century influencers. A philosophical study of beauty and art has been reduced to a Pinterest board that has an embarrassingly strong hold on our styles and is our whole identity. 

The media slowly turned this concept into a trend and began monopolising it. We are all well aware of the different kinds of aesthetics that are prevalent on social media. It began with it serving as tool for communication that helped people connect with other people through common ideas and styles, fostering a sense of belongingness.

 It didn’t take long for brands to catch on the trend and use it to appeal to a large audience dying to stay relevant and exploit them to drive consumerism. This craze to fit in to a certain aesthetic created demand and increased a product perceived value. The trend of buying a decoration for each and every season to match with its ‘aesthetics’ is a very prominent example. Why do people want to spend thousands of dollars every seasonal change just to feel aesthetic. And let’s not forget the rise of the “clean girl aesthetic” which promotes minimalism on the surface in actuality is promoting the use of too many skin care products and a rise in demand for expensive organic food. I mean people are willing to buy 20$ a smoothie just because it is marketed as ‘good for the skin’. 

 The main purpose of aesthetics, i.e., self-expression started being replaced by the pressure to put on an act to appease people. The different types of aesthetics categorised by the internet are problematic to begin with.  Not only do the so-called aesthetics promote unrealistic beauty standards, they created a platform where people could be easily mislead in doing harmful treatments just to appeal a certain aesthetic. The ‘clean girl aesthetic’ basically promotes the pre-existing notions on beauty standards in a subtle way. The clear skin, minimal makeup and perfect look broadcasts the notion that too much makeup is trying too hard and no makeup is not trying hard enough.  

The categorisation of people in certain aesthetics, can lead to them feeling caged as they struggle to escape from the predetermined standards that were set by social media to ‘fit in’ a certain aesthetic. It makes it difficult for them to try to branch out from that categorisation and leads them to develop an imposter syndrome. Aesthetics not only promote many toxic standards; they disregard a person’s individuality and force them into fixed standards that they are expected to meet. This is not only leading to a rise in many insecurities but also kills their chance of finding their own individual style. This is no different than the traditional beauty standards that we frowned upon, history is repeating itself, but this time in form of more options.

In the end of the day, we are all humans. We can’t even decide what to order during a takeout, so why are we expected to have a fixed aesthetic? Its perfectly normal to not having an aesthetic at all. It’s also alright to change your aesthetic every single week. It’s not the concept that is bad, but the way It is being used and perceived by people. Don’t try to fit yourself in the glorified boxes that the internet builds.