Image of the floods of articles and images on Google concerning “mobwife” and other trending aesthetics.
Instagram Influencer @lovelymiri05 using hashtags and trending aesthetic names to generate impressions on her Tiktok promoting @yesstyle makeup, for which she makes a commission with her discount code.
These female-centered aesthetics are constantly evolving and rotating. Here are some of the current ones taking over apps like Tiktok, Instagram, and Pinterest.
This photo essay below highlights and defines some of the rotating internet aesthetic trends circulating Tiktok, Instagram, and Pinterest. These aesthetics are targeted at women, primarily young women entering adolescence. From coquette to grunge, these varying forms of self-presentation are meant to label and commodify female identities through fashion, beauty, and lifestyle choices. Oftentimes these trends are promoted by influencers, content creators, brand ambassadors, and other digital users aiming to sell something through their promotion of these aesthetics.
Dark Academia: often defined by moody lighting, academic settings, tweed blazers, books, large glasses, and libraries. Dark academia core usually features media depictions of academic life for inspiration, such as Hogwarts in Harry Potter or the boarding school in Dead Poet’s Society.
Coquette: an aesthetic defined by hyperfeminine self-presentation, including lots of pink, pearls, satin ribbon bows, teddy bears, and female beauty products. Inspiration includes singer Lana Del Rey and the shabby chic aesthetic that circulated in the early 2000's.
Downtown girl: a trending aesthetic that revolves around the glamorization and romanticization of city-living, specifically in New York City. The trend aims to embrace ordinary, city-girl lifestyle by emphasizing a more laidback, casual fashion style and less hyper-feminine presentation. Reels and Tiktoks usually include coffee runs, walks in the park with dogs, reading a book on the subway, and other more mundane activities.
Old Money: an aesthetic for women aspiring to exude wealth and luxury. It’s often marked by preppy, conservative apparel such as blazers, headbands, pearls, tights, and mature, chic dresses. Old money videos often showcase Western-centered, wealthy activities such as yacht-sailing, opera, skiing, ballet, and fine dining.
Tomato girl: a trend that appeared in Summer 2023 as the weather warmed up. Tomato girl showcases lots of red; in lipsticks, makeup, dresses, and activities like pizza-making and tomato-picking. The trend has a subtle Italian undertone, with white linens, sparkling beaches, local farmer’s markets, and sun-kissed skin appearing across images and videos of the trend on Pinterest above.
Normcore: an aesthetic characterized by average, everyday girl lifetyle. Unlike downtown girl, there is no emphasis on inner-city living but instead, a more suburban perspective. Normcore embraces everyday, humble lifestyles by using low-key, practical clothing, differentiating itself from the showy nature of Old Money’s ostensible wealth or the hyper-girly, pale pinks of Coquette.
