Living in style: Do I really need to have an aesthetic?

Want to reinvent yourself? Well, luckily for you, there are now plenty of options to base your new personality around, ranging from ‘office siren’ to ‘fisherman core’. Whether you want a new wardrobe, room decoration, or make-up look, picking an aesthetic to align with is now the way to do it.

While the idea of having an ‘aesthetic’ ultimately means something visually pleasing, this does not conform to a single idea. Apps like Pinterest can help us curate our ideal identities: there will be a ‘core’ aesthetic recommended for almost anything you can think of. Although we have always found ways to categorise our identities, such as with the classic ‘goth’, ‘jock’, ‘nerd’, or ‘prep’, the rise of social media and fast fashion has branched off into more directions than we can imagine. Rather than developing organically as they used to, niche aesthetics can now be determined with quizzes or TikTok slideshows, with all our preferences used to categorise us into a specific category. If you’re into matcha and pilates, you’re a clean girl. Enjoy baking and gardening? That’s cottagecore. Wear headphones and a leather jacket? Downtown girl. If you’re lucky, you may even be a coastal grandma.

We want to know how to establish a sense of self, for which aesthetics provide a golden ticket

But do we really need to arrange our lives to adhere to some coherent vision? Or is this just another push to make us conform to unrealistic standards, disguised as the illusion of choice?

Boxing our personalities to align with an overly specific aesthetic trend isn’t necessarily a positive, despite it presenting a representation to the world of what we enjoy. Aesthetics can definitely be invaluable in providing inspiration for our fashion identity or helping us join a community of people interested in the same things as us. It is when it extends beyond inspiration to engulf your lifestyle that having an aesthetic can be damaging.

Most of us want to understand our identities in relation to other people. Choosing an aesthetic enables us comfort in categorising ourselves within a group, while still allowing us to maintain a sense of individuality. We want to know how to establish a sense of self, for which aesthetics provide a golden ticket.

It feels almost impossible to stay consistent with a single aesthetic

The issue is, it feels almost impossible to stay consistent with a single aesthetic. No matter the values that the aesthetic promotes, even if it is just a ‘cosy’ or ‘crunchy’ vibe, they all ultimately require a lot of time and money to keep up. You can’t just wake up and suddenly be a ‘vanilla girl’: it requires props. You’re going to need to revamp your wardrobe and edit your hobbies. Say goodbye to playing The Sims – now you’re into lighting candles and journalling. The issue becomes clear: if having a shift in aesthetic as we change and grow necessarily means redesigning our whole personalities, there is clearly too direct a link between the aesthetics that we promote and our sense of self.

Though I am definitely a Pinterest fan, aesthetics place reality at yet another remove from social media. Posting only things that are aesthetically pleasing and Pinterest worthy leads to a misrepresentation of people’s lives, as we are hesitant to be seen doing things that do not align with our aesthetic. It’s a bit like the status quo mindset in High School Musical – aesthetics restrict the scope of our interests if we want to stay within that group.

It’s not a religion, just a preference

People obsessing over which aesthetic they are seems like a bit of a big deal when most of us actually fall in between. Liking bits and pieces from a few of them can make us feel disorganised, or like we don’t know who we are, but isn’t it the opposite? Making all of our actions fit into the same range can be exhausting and potentially mean that we cut ourselves off from other things that we enjoy.

Ultimately, aesthetics aren’t the be-all and end-all. If having a wellness girl aesthetic means limiting sweet treats, or being dark academia core means always bypassing the romance section, it’s probably time to question if you are being ruled by your aesthetic. It’s not a religion, just a preference; you can still be in the aesthetic of your choice without it putting unnecessary weight on everyday actions.

It can be fun to glamorise our lifestyle choices in a specific way. I know the pull of wanting a definable identity, something we can safely brand ourselves by. But if you find yourself being controlled by the aesthetic, the rigidity can be suffocating. If a clean girl wanted to play electric guitar, it doesn’t have to be a contradiction: maintaining your own interests is more important than making sure that they all align into one unified image.