Aesthetics & -cores

● Aliven.✎ 3

Global Village Coffeehouse

Woodcut suns, swirling coffee steam, terracotta, ochre and a vaguely Aztec border on a chai latte cup — Global Village Coffeehouse — as CARI's 2020 name for the 1990s aesthetic of Starbucks, Putumayo compilations and every ethically sourced label. The record's entry for the look that smelled of cinnamon.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Kidcore

Primary colours, cartoon prints, plastic jewellery, and the wardrobe of a six-year-old in 1998 on an adult. A lockdown-era aesthetic for people who wanted to be somewhere safe, and the record's entry for nostalgia as an outfit.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Light Academia

Dark academia in cream — the same libraries and cardigans with the lights on and the tragedy removed. A 2020 response aesthetic, and the record's example of a trend defined entirely by being a colour correction of another.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

NicheTok

The self-aware corner of TikTok that makes jokes about being a corner of TikTok — NicheTok — as the 2020 label for hyper-specific humour, in-jokes about other TikToks, and a shared assumption that the viewer is, like the poster, too online. The record's entry for the niche that was proud to be one.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Rawring 20s

The joke, made as 2020 began, that the decade should bring back scene: raccoon-tail extensions, 'rawr xD', neon and a MySpace top eight — the rawring 20s — as a January 2020 Twitter prediction that was correct about the aesthetics and wrong about everything else. The record's entry for the decade's most optimistic pun.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2021

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Scenecore

Neon, coon-tail hair, Invader Zim, checkerboard, a MySpace layout and a 'rawr' — scenecore — as the 2020 TikTok revival of the 2006 scene kid, done by people who were four in 2006 and had the material as an archive rather than a memory. The record's entry for the scene, second time, as a genre.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Straight TikTok

The dances, the Hype House, the point-of-view skits and the lip-syncs — Straight TikTok — as the 2020 name given by Alt TikTok to the mainstream of the app, mostly by people who wanted it known they were not there. The record's entry for the side that did not know it had a name.

▸ 2020peak 2020†2022

● Aliven.✎ 2

StudyTok

The productivity side of TikTok — StudyTok — as the 2020 lineage of the Tumblr 'studyblr', now in video: colour-coded notes, timed pomodoros, aesthetic desks and 'study with me' sessions filmed for people who would rather watch studying than do it. The record's entry for the highlighter as content.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Utopian Scholastic

Collaged globes, dinosaurs, Renaissance heads, planets and children's drawings on a white ground — Utopian Scholastic — as CARI's 2020 name for the look of 1990s textbooks, Eyewitness books, Scholastic catalogues and Bill Nye title cards. The record's entry for the aesthetic of a school library that believed in the future.

▸ 2020peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Angelcore

White lace, wings, halos, Renaissance cherubs and soft light — angelcore — as the aesthetic that turned religious imagery into a mood board, and the record's entry for the look that is heaven as an Instagram filter. Its opposite, devilcore, exists and is less popular.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Bruh Moment

A moment so absurd or disappointing that the only response is 'bruh' — a bruh moment — as the 2019–20 phrase for a specific kind of failure, usually someone else's, and the record's entry for the interjection that became a noun with a timestamp.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Christian Girl Autumn

Two women in scarves, riding boots and long curls, holding pumpkin spice lattes in a leaf-strewn street — Christian girl autumn — as the August 2019 tweet that captioned a photo of blogger Caitlin Covington with 'hot girl summer is coming to an end, get ready for Christian girl autumn', and became a fixture of every September since. The record's entry for the season's official uniform.

▸ 2019peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Clowncore

Harlequin diamonds, ruffled collars, primary colours, painted tears and a deliberate unease — clowncore — as the 2019 Tumblr aesthetic for people who found cottagecore too calm and wanted their outfit to be slightly a threat. The record's entry for the look that was one honk from horror.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

E-Boy

The male counterpart of the e-girl — the e-boy — as a 2019 TikTok type made of chain necklaces, centre-parted curtains, painted nails, striped long sleeves under a black tee, and a rolled eye for the camera. The record's entry for the boy who was soft, online and in monochrome.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Glitchcore

Hyperpop played over a rainbow-strobing, heavily pixelated, emoji-flooded edit of an anime character or a cat — glitchcore — as the 2019 TikTok visual style that accompanied 100 gecs and its imitators, gave epileptics a warning label, and was the loudest thing on the app until it wasn't. The record's entry for the aesthetic that was an assault.

▸ 2019peak 2020†2022

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Grandmillennial

Chintz, needlepoint pillows, scalloped edges, wicker, a skirted table and a ruffle on everything, in the home of a 31-year-old — the grandmillennial — as House Beautiful's 2019 label for the interior style that rejected the grey open-plan for the look of a grandmother's guest room. The record's entry for the pattern that came back before its owner was old.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Hydro Homies

A community devoted to drinking water and being nice about it — the Hydro Homies — as Reddit's most wholesome subreddit, which renamed itself in 2019 to drop a slur and kept the mission: drink water, post the bottle, congratulate strangers. The record's entry for the fandom of a beverage.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Instagram Face

Cat eyes, full lips, a small nose, high cheekbones, poreless skin and an ethnically ambiguous tan — Instagram Face — as the single face that Jia Tolentino described in 2019 as the convergent product of FaceTune, filters and injectables, worn by influencers and now, increasingly, by the people who follow them. The record's entry for the face that is a filter, made flesh.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Lovecore

An aesthetic built entirely of hearts, roses, Valentine's cards and 1950s romance — lovecore — as the internet's most sincere -core, and the record's entry for the look that is Valentine's Day as a personality, worn all year by people who are not, necessarily, in love.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

McBling

Juicy Couture, rhinestones, a Sidekick, low-rise jeans, a chihuahua in a bag and Paris Hilton in 2004 — McBling — as CARI's name, coined in 2019 and popular by 2022, for the mid-2000s celebrity-tabloid aesthetic that the internet had been wrongly calling Y2K. The record's entry for the correction that became a trend.

▸ 2019peak 2022still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Metalheart

Chrome, wireframes, pierced-metal textures and liquid type — Metalheart — as the 2019 name from the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute for the graphic style of the late 1990s that lived on rave flyers, PlayStation manuals and every Designers Republic sleeve. The record's entry for the future as it looked in a Bristol print shop in 1999.

▸ 2019peak 2021still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 2

Soft Girl

The pastel, blushed, clip-in-butterfly opposite of the e-girl — the soft girl — as a 2019 TikTok aesthetic of pink cardigans, heart-drawn cheeks, tennis skirts and a declared sweetness. The record's entry for the look that was a personality, briefly.

▸ 2019peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Cursed Comment

A reply so wrong, dark or unexpected that it curses the innocent post above it — the cursed comment — screenshotted with the original for full effect, and the record's entry for the genre in which the comment is the meme and the post is the victim.

▸ 2018peak 2019still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Gen Z Yellow

The bright, custard yellow declared by the fashion press in 2018 to be the successor to millennial pink — Gen Z yellow — as a colour trend that existed almost entirely in articles announcing it, and that Gen Z, who did not read them, declined. The record's entry for the trend that was a headline.

▸ 2018peak 2018†2019

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Dadcore

Chunky white trainers, a fleece, cargo shorts, a bucket hat, tube socks and the general silhouette of a man looking for the car — dadcore — as the 2017 fashion moment when Balenciaga sold an ugly sneaker for $800 and the internet decided the suburban father had been right all along. The record's entry for the look that was a trend for the young and a Tuesday for the old.

▸ 2017peak 2018†2021

● Aliven.✎ 2

Frutiger Aero

Glossy gradients, water droplets, tropical fish, and unearned optimism. A style that only became visible once it was safely dead, which is how style works.

▸ 2017peak 2023still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Hopepunk

'The opposite of grimdark is hopepunk. Pass it on' — the whole of a 2017 Tumblr post by Alexandra Rowland that became a genre label for fiction in which kindness is a form of resistance, and, by 2019, a Vox explainer and a word-of-the-year shortlist. The record's entry for the genre that was a sentence first.

▸ 2017peak 2019still up

◐ Dyingn.✎ 3

Softboi

A man who uses feelings, records and Bukowski the way a fuckboy uses abs — the softboi — as the 2017 term for the emotionally articulate manipulator, catalogued from 2018 by the Instagram account Beam Me Up Softboi, which posted screenshots of his texts about Radiohead. The record's entry for the boy who was sensitive, at you.

▸ 2017peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Baddie

Contoured, laid edges, long nails, a matching set, a lash and a ring light — the baddie — as the Instagram aesthetic of the late 2010s built on Black beauty culture and popularised by Kylie Jenner's camera roll, later given TikTok's 'that girl' as a rival and 'clean girl' as an opposite. The record's entry for the look that is a full face at all times.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Hygge

Candles, wool socks, a cinnamon bun and a Danish word for cosiness that the British publishing industry sold nine books about in one autumn — hygge — as the 2016 lifestyle trend in which the internet learned to pronounce it, argued about how, and bought a blanket. The record's entry for the word that was a season.

▸ 2016peak 2017†2019

● Aliven.✎ 3

Japandi

Japanese minimalism plus Scandinavian hygge — Japandi — as the interior style that dominated Pinterest and every rental listing from about 2020: pale wood, low furniture, one plant, nothing on the surfaces. The record's entry for the portmanteau that became a whole IKEA range.

▸ 2016peak 2021still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Millennial Pink

A dusty salmon somewhere between Rose Quartz and a Glossier bag — millennial pink — as the colour named by The Cut in 2016 and by 2017 on every direct-to-consumer mattress, suitcase and podcast logo, until it became the most-mocked shade of the decade. The record's entry for the colour that was a business plan.

▸ 2016peak 2017†2019

● Aliven.✎ 2

Pick Me Girl

A woman who performs not being like other girls for the benefit of men in the room — the pick me girl — as the label that emerged on Black Twitter in 2016 with the #TweetLikeAPickMe hashtag and became a TikTok archetype in 2021, complete with impressions, a voice and a list of tells. The record's entry for the girl who says she prefers hanging out with the boys.

▸ 2016peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Wholesome Meme

A meme format used for kindness instead of a joke at someone's expense — the wholesome meme — as the 2016 reaction to a mean year, with its own subreddit and its own suspicion that it was trying too hard. The record's entry for the meme that hugs.

▸ 2016peak 2018still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Art Hoe

Yellow, a Fjällräven backpack, a Van Gogh print, an oversized shirt with a paint stain and a selfie in front of a museum — the art hoe — as the 2015 Tumblr movement started by two teenagers of colour as a way to put themselves into art, quickly diluted into an aesthetic for anyone with a sketchbook. The record's entry for the look whose origin was better than its imitations.

▸ 2015peak 2016†2018

● Aliven.✎ 3

Crossover Meme

Two unrelated franchises, memes or people combined in one image — the crossover — with 'the crossover we didn't know we needed' as its caption, and the record's entry for the format that put Shrek in everything. Also 'crossover episode', for a meme that references another meme.

▸ 2015peak 2019still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Aesthetic (n.)

A look, a mood, a colour scheme and a set of references, treated as a countable noun and something a person can have — an aesthetic — as the 2014 Tumblr usage ('that's my aesthetic') that made the word a category label, gave the Aesthetics Wiki a reason to exist from 2018, and now heads every entry in this section. The record's entry for the noun that replaced 'style'.

▸ 2014peak 2020still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Cassette Futurism

The future as imagined with CRT monitors, beige plastic, chunky keyboards and reels of tape — cassette futurism — as the name that emerged around 2014 for the look of 'Alien', the original 'Blade Runner' and every 1980s console, later the house style of 'Severance' and 'Alien: Isolation'. The record's entry for the spaceship with a coffee machine.

▸ 2014peak 2021still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

-Core (Suffix)

The suffix that turns any noun into an aesthetic — -core — as the fragment that travelled from hardcore punk through 'normcore' in 2013 to a 2020s vocabulary in which cottage, goblin, clown, bloke, tennis, mermaid and 'under-consumption' could each have a core. The record's entry for the most abused four letters in the dictionary, including its own 'corecore'.

▸ 2013peak 2021still up

● Aliveadj.✎ 3

Oddly Satisfying

Video of things fitting, cutting, pouring or peeling perfectly — oddly satisfying — as the genre that turned a physical sensation into a content category, from a subreddit into billion-view compilations of soap being sliced. The record's entry for the pleasure that has no joke in it and needs none.

▸ 2013peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 2

Webcore

Tiled backgrounds, blinking GIFs, visitor counters, 'under construction' signs, a guestbook and a marquee — webcore — as the name given around 2020 to the nostalgic revival of the 1990s personal homepage, practised on Neocities since 2013 by people who mostly were not alive for GeoCities. The record's entry for the old web as a costume.

▸ 2013peak 2021still up

● Alivephr.✎ 2

Me IRL

'Me in real life' — the caption under a picture of a sad animal, a broken object or a cartoon character lying on the floor — as Reddit's most-used way of saying 'this is how I feel' and a subreddit that is, by design, entirely relatable despair. The record's entry for the self as a reaction image.

▸ 2012peak 2017still up

● Aliven.✎ 3

Model Off Duty

The look of a model between shows — jeans, white tee, oversized blazer, sunglasses, coffee — as a whole aesthetic that the internet named and copied, and the record's entry for the fashion that pretends to be no fashion. Its 2020s descendant is 'off-duty' anything.

▸ 2012peak 2016still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Pastel Goth

Lilac hair, inverted crosses, a bat-shaped bag, creepers and everything in pink — pastel goth — as the 2012 Tumblr aesthetic that put the gothic in Easter colours, sold in the same shops as soft grunge and mocked with the same intensity. The record's entry for the darkness that was also a My Little Pony.

▸ 2012peak 2014†2017

↺ Undeadn.✎ 2

Sad Girl

Lana Del Rey lyrics over film stills, a cigarette, a tear, a caption about being tired — the sad girl — as the 2012 Tumblr aesthetic that made melancholy a look, was theorised by artist Audrey Wollen in 2014 as a form of protest, and returned in 2022 with Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski and a TikTok that called it 'sad girl autumn'. The record's entry for sadness as a brand, and the argument about whether that is allowed.

▸ 2012peak 2014†2017

☠ Deadn.✎ 2

Chillwave

Washed-out, reverb-heavy, lo-fi summer pop — chillwave — as the genre named by the anonymous blogger Carles on Hipster Runoff in 2009, half as a joke, for Neon Indian, Washed Out and Toro y Moi, and then taken seriously by everyone including the artists. The record's entry for the genre that was a blog post, and the first one to be born and buried online.

▸ 2009peak 2010†2013

● Aliven.✎ 3

Stealth Wealth

Wealth that does not want to be seen — stealth wealth — as the recession-era phrase for rich people dressing down, revived in 2023 by 'Succession', a Loro Piana baseball cap and a TikTok that decided logos were for the poor. The record's entry for the cashmere you are not supposed to notice.

▸ 2009peak 2023still up

☠ Deadn.✎ 3

Witch House

Slowed hip-hop drums, occult imagery, triangles, crosses, and band names made of Unicode symbols that could not be Googled — witch house — as the 2009 micro-genre coined by Pictureplane, briefly the sound of Tumblr, and dead by 2013 having left behind the typographic habit that ruined a thousand usernames. The record's entry for the genre that named itself out of existence.

▸ 2009peak 2011†2013