aesthetics (aes·thet·ic | \ es-ˈthe-tik): (noun) a particular theory or conception of beauty or art : a particular taste for or approach to what is pleasing to the senses and especially sight — Merriam Webster Dictionary
Aesthetics are a powerful thing. So often, the word gets tossed around, used as an ironic term, or a tool to compartmentalize groups of individuals into neat boxes. But the word, “aesthetic” is so much more than that. In this article, I’ll explain my view of what an aesthetic is, how to find it, and why it could change your life for the better.
What’s an Aesthetic?
I like to think of aesthetics as a starting point. Rather than providing one word that encapsulates you entirely, an aesthetic gives you a reference point to build from. In this way, there’s no need to limit yourself to one aesthetic — or even to try and conform yourself to a particular one!
In a creativity course that I took in college, we talked a lot about the power of limits. Without limits — i.e., something that helps to guide us — it’s all too easy to become overwhelmed by the endless number of possibilities out there. But the nice thing is that you get to decide your limits and when you wish to expand or restrict them.
In a way, conventional aesthetics are limits themselves. You get to choose one (or many!) and run with it. You make it your own, building up from a template instead of having to start entirely from scratch. Rather than transforming into an aesthetic, you are free to take it and manipulate it to comply with who you want to be and what you want to embody. Aesthetics are tools to help you find (and create) yourself.
Furthermore, an aesthetic isn’t necessarily just the clothes and makeup you can put on your body, though that can be part of it. Oftentimes, there is some lifestyle or attitude factor that is encouraged by an aesthetic. These are typically formed based on the existing habits of the communities that created these aesthetics to begin with. In this way, anything could in theory be made into part of an aesthetic — from your favorite colors to the hobbies you take part in.
I want to emphasize that aesthetics are made. There is no need for you to conform to an aesthetic; rather, your aesthetic is what you choose to make of it.
Types of Aesthetics
There are so many different aesthetics to choose from. I’ll only be listing a few of the most popular ones here, but if you want to learn about the many, many more that exist, there’s an entire Wiki page just for that.
These aesthetics are in no particular order, so read as you please and feel free to skip around! If it feels too overwhelming to see all of these at once, feel free to scroll further down to the “How to Find Your Aesthetic” section, which might help to point you towards a couple of aesthetics to check out first. Also, please note that some aesthetics include gendered terms, but remember: anyone can be any aesthetic, so don’t let words like “boy” or “girl” throw you off from being who you want to be.
Note: The following collages were created by me using the Canva app, but none of the photos or images that appear in these collages are mine. I do not claim these images as my own, and I simply put together what I found easily by using Google Image search and Pinterest in order to help provide a cohesive idea of what these aesthetics embody. With that being said, please continue and enjoy!
1. Light Academia
Light Academia centers around a love for knowledge, books, music, writing, art, etc. combined with light yet neutral colors like whites and tans. A lot of the inspiration for this aesthetic comes from European academia in particular, due to the large numbers of historical schools, libraries, and museums that tend to attract lovers of classical arts. If you dream of living in museums and Renaissance/ Classical libraries, surrounded by books and art of various genres, then this might be an aesthetic for you.
2. Minimalist
The Minimalist aesthetic centers around minimalism, the philosophy that less is more, and that anything unnecessary should not make its way into your physical or mental space. The standard color scheme of minimalism includes a very neutral palette of grays and beiges, which can easily be mixed and matched without much thought or effort. It’s important to note that minimalism does not necessarily mean “going without” but rather emphasizes only interacting with the objects and habits that are most necessary for everyday satisfaction.
3. Indie Pale
Indie Pale is an aesthetic that’s one step removed from minimalism. Although it features a similar palette — with tans, browns, and beiges as the standard colors — as well as encourages a “less is more” living style, Indie Pale is less extreme. Indie is actually short for “individuality” so self-expression is encouraged. Superfluous items and hobbies are simply considered as part of the joys of life and do not necessarily need to be analyzed for any further importance or utility.
4. Softcore Aesthetic/ Kawaii Pastel
The Softcore Aesthetic, also called Kawaii Pastel, is centered around anything that is cute and soft. Pastel colors, especially pink, are staples of this aesthetic, with the goal of cultivating a safe space for viewers. While there are no real lifestyle associations with this aesthetic, anime, stationery, and East Asian pop music are currently trending in this aesthetic community. Please note, however, that if you search for softcore, make sure to add the word “aesthetic” to your query, else you risk coming across unrelated “softcore pornography” instead.
5. Grunge
Grunge is one of the darkest aesthetics, both visually and in terms of lifestyle. The main color of this aesthetic is black, however, unlike the Goth aesthetic (which is centered entirely around black), Grunge allows for other dark colors as well. The standard Grunge lifestyle is very carefree and anti-mainstream culture, and freely depicts (and romanticizes) the pain and loneliness of the human experience.
6. Tomboy/ Skater
The Tomboy aesthetic is one that appreciates traditionally masculine clothing and hobbies. The standard color palette includes a lot of blues and grays (traditionally “boy” colors), however, these are not crucial to the aesthetic. Instead, the most obvious visual feature is the clothing, which tends to be loose and relaxed. Often, this aesthetic is interchanged with the Skater subculture aesthetic, because of the equally baggy and casual clothing that tends to be worn by skateboarders.
7. E-Girl/Boy
The “e” in E-Girl/ Boy stands for “electronic”. This aesthetic centers around heavy usage of online media and apps (TikTok being a popular one), Japanese anime/ manga subculture, and gaming. This aesthetic embodies cuteness and geekiness. and combines them with edgy and sexy vibes to create a fairly unique look. The main colors of the E-Girl/ Boy aesthetic tend to be blacks and whites, paired with very bright and neon accents, along with silver chain accessories in outfits.
8. Dark Academia
Similar to the Light Academia aesthetic, Dark Academia centers around a love of knowledge and arts (e.g. books, music, etc.). However, the visuals of Dark Academia are essentially on the opposite side of the color wheel, with deep browns and blacks as the main colors. Much of the inspiration for Dark Academia comes from European Gothic architecture such as schools, libraries, and alchemy labs.
9. Fairycore/ Ethereal
The Fairycore and Ethereal aesthetics are visually very similar to each other, hence why they’re paired together here. Both of them center around springtime vibes, with a delicate and otherworldly atmosphere, combined with a soft pastel color scheme. The biggest difference between the two is that Fairycore includes the addition of fairies. However, if one simply removes the addition of wings, you are essentially left with the Ethereal aesthetic. Both aesthetics emphasize a love of the magic-like aspects of nature.
10. Cottagecore/ Goblincore
Goblincore and Cottagecore are visually very similar, with rich greens and browns as their central colors. Both center around nature and emphasize interacting with the life around us. This aesthetic often appeals to those who would rather live in a cottage in the woods than in urban hustle and bustle. Picnics and traditional handiwork are popular hobbies in these aesthetic communities. The major difference between the two aesthetics is that Goblincore romanticizes the less glamorous parts of nature, such as toads, mushrooms, etc., whereas Cottagecore is a more general umbrella of love of (European) rural life.
11. Art Hoe
Art Hoe is an aesthetic that has been very popular in recent years. This is a very bright aesthetic — with deep reds, greens, and mustard yellows as the most common colors. The Art Hoe aesthetic centers around a love of making art (e.g. painting, drawing, etc.), and expressing one’s individuality through bright clothing, accessories, and room decor. There is also a strong emphasis on finding inspiration in life all around us, which is why plants are common in both the art and the living spaces of people who identify with this aesthetic.
12. Witchcore
Witchcore is the visual opposite of the Fairycore/ Ethereal aesthetics. Though Witchcore also centers around an otherworldly affinity for nature, it is visually darker (with rich and deep hues of greens and oranges) and places a heavier emphasis on communing with the magical realm via methods like potion-making, healing crystals, tarot cards, etc. Stars and moons are heavily used motifs in this aesthetic lifestyle, and members of this community tend to gather together for the sake of exchanging magic-related information.
13. Indie Kid
The Indie Kid aesthetic (not to be confused with Indie Pale) is very bright and colorful. Similar to the Y2K aesthetic (i.e. Year 2000), it centers around trends that were popular during the 1990s and early 2000s, such as cardigan tops, low-rise jeans, and vintage accessories. Indie is short for individuality, and so encourages just that via fluorescent colors, loud patterns, and tons of accessories. The Indie Kid aesthetic also heavily emphasizes nostalgic youth and the release of your inner child.
14. Vaporwave
Vaporwave is another nostalgic aesthetic and is centered around music produced between the 1970s through the 1990s. The visuals of Vaporwave are very bright and loud, with neons as the main colors, in particular, purples, pinks, and blues. These bright colors are used along with visual elements from the early Internet, which are then combined with more traditional art, such as Hellenistic statues. These visuals are used to comment against modern consumer/ capitalist culture, and to invoke the nostalgic feeling of simpler times (i.e., before the globalization of the Internet). Clothing of this aesthetic tends to include graphic t-shirts paired with holographic accents.
15. VSCO
The VSCO aesthetic is relatively new and originated because of the popular filters used to edit photos on the VSCO app. If the Fairycore/ Ethereal aesthetics embody springtime vibes, then VSCO is the embodiment of summer. Stape colors include light-wash denim blue, pastel pinks, and mustard yellows. More than the colors though, the most recognizable features of the VSCO aesthetic are the (expensive) things associated with it, such as Hydro Flask water bottles, scrunchies, and polaroid cameras.
16. Boujee
The Boujee aesthetic is likely the most expensive of them all and is centered around a glamorous lifestyle involving parties, foreign travel, and lots and lots of money. The main color palette of this aesthetic includes shimmery metallics (e.g., gold, silver, bronze) combined with pink, sparkly, and bedazzled accents. Boujee is actually short for the Marxist term “bourgeoisie”, which refers to the class of people who hold the most wealth. Therefore, the Boujee aesthetic aims to embody this luxurious, Great Gatsby-esque lifestyle.
How to Find Your Aesthetic?
So now you have a couple of places to start. However, the list that I’ve provided is only the tip of the iceberg, and only describes a few of the currently popular aesthetics. It might feel a bit overwhelming to be given so many choices, especially knowign that there are even more choices out there. But not to fear! There are ways to narrow down your options to find a an aesthetic that provides the closest starting point to where you want to be.
1. Find visual inspiration.
Feel free to save the collages made above, but if you’d rather start from scratch Pinterest and Google Images are two really good sites for finding inspiration images. I personally like to create Pinterest boards every few months, because my tastes frequently change. I even have a separate vision board that I create each year so I can really think through how I can use each year to become closer to my everchanging ideal self. You don’t need to go crazy hunting down images like I enjoy doing, but it can be useful to see references of what you like and don’t like.
2. Trust yourself.
Maybe you’re not sure what aesthetic you want to check out. Maybe none of the aesthetics that I mentioned above even struck your fancy, and that’s okay! You know what you like. If you live for the color black and your closet rivals that of the Addams family, then maybe it’s worth just searching “black aesthetic” and seeing where that leads you. If you find that you’re happiest when you’re skiing on a snowy mountain, then maybe you should look further into that. Figure out the things you like and leave behind the things you don’t.
3. Be yourself.
One of my biggest regrets from my journey in finding my aesthetic is that I often felt like I had to change myself to fit into the aesthetics that I liked. Prejudice and stereotypes permeate lots of aesthetics. “Men can’t be cute. Black women can’t be soft.” Blah blah blah. It took me way too long to realize that anyone can be any aesthetic. Find what you like and stick with it. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or can’t be — not even that nasty little voice in your head that tries to say the same thing.
4. Don’t settle.
If there is anything that you take away from this article, please let it be that an aesthetic is a tool to help you become who you want to be, not the end all be all goal that you should be molding yourself to fit into. If you like the fashion of the Goth aesthetic but aren’t a huge fan of the color black, then maybe Kawaii Goth is a more fitting starting point for you. Love academia but can’t stand books? There’s a subculture called art academia that might interest you! And if you’re tired of or just don’t feel like searching for a label or community, then that’s okay to! Because you are your own aesthetic at the end of the day, and maybe having a name for it can more easily help you find groups and inspiration to adopt, but at the end of the day, what matters most is that you are able to live a life that is happy and meaningful to you. Don’t settle for something that does not serve you or your happiness, not matter how in fashion it might be.
Final Words
Once I found the aesthetic that resonated with me, I finally delved into getting to know myself and building a relationship with me. I found that, while I love change and trying new things, I find the most comfort and resonance in a mix of the Softcore and E-Girl/Boy aesthetics. And it’s when I let myself be myself in these aesthetics that I feel the most joy in life. These aesthetics have allowed me to create a safe space for myself, where I can create and write and craft and cosplay as I please; they’ve helped me find communities and friends with shared interests; and they’ve helped me to learn how to radically love myself. Once I discorvered who I want to be and started to bring that into reality, there was no longer any room for unkind words from other people (or from myself). Of course, real-life relationships and therapy helped me along these journeys, but the first step is to ask the question “does this bring me joy or set me up for future joy?”. Run into the direction of whatever answers “yes”.
Now, go forth, my aesthetically educated reader(s). Create some Pinterest boards, take some quizzes, and try out everything that resonates with you. And most importantly, enjoy the journey towards becoming the “you” that you want to be. It’s the very least that you deserve. I am wishing you all the best. Good luck!
