As the new semester begins, many of us are vowing to reinvent ourselves and finally take on the challenge of adopting that “clean girl aesthetic” – flawless skin, gold hoop earrings, matching gym sets, hydroflasks in hand. However, if the pressure of constantly looking put-together proves daunting (or if, like mine, your forehead just can’t cope with being exposed by a slicked back bun) then may I suggest an alternative trend to build upon: the frazzled Englishwoman aesthetic. It appears TikTok cannot get enough of recycling Y2K, as this latest aesthetic continues to bring noughties nostalgia into the new year.
The frazzled Englishwoman aesthetic appears to derive directly from Richard Curtis rom-coms; think Bridget Jones, or Keira Knightely and Laura Linley’s characters in Love Actually. Outfits consist of an array of clashing colours and patterns, mis-match stripes with florals and red with burgundy. The key to achieving this look is layering lots of individually useless items together to build something resembling a practical outfit for British wintertime. The epitome of such pieces is the skinny scarf, something purely inconvenient neatly disguised as a necessity. The overall look, featuring opaque tights, skirts, sweaters and claw clips, should come together in a cosy yet chaotic fashion.
Unlike its predecessors, such as Barbiecore and cottagecore, this trend focuses on what Rian Phil has coined “true-thousands”, meaning it is about rediscovering the clothes that real people actually wore in the early noughties. The benefit of this is that many of the items central to the trend are things we already own, or at the very least can be found easily in our mother’s wardrobes or charity shops. The result is a truly sustainable TikTok aesthetic rather than one that can be commodified by brands such as H&M and Shein. This aspect of the look lends itself perfectly to students, as clothes can be borrowed, shared, upcycled or thrifted for a fraction of the price of updating an entire wardrobe. In St Andrews in particular, charity shops have a huge selection of appropriately Y2K accessories to add the perfect level of ‘I just threw this on’ to any outfit.
Whilst the muses for this aesthetic are predominantly middle class, skinny white girls, the revival of this trend and the “anything goes” attitude it encourages allows it to be reclaimed by a wide range of women. In many of the films in which featured this aesthetic women of colour, plus size women or those from a lower income are either cast as highly put together or as completely falling apart, rather than as romanticising the fine line between them in which ‘frazzled’ falls. Its growing success on TikTok might make the aesthetic more inclusive, allowing women who have previously been denied the chance to look like any order in their life is hanging on by a thread the chance to let loose.
The trend can be colloquially known as ‘Islingtoncore,’ emphasising its predominantly middle class privileges of a Marlboro Gold addiction and a taste for Merlot, but it could easily be transferred to St Andrews. The emphasis on layering and cosy sweaters or tights (if you can brave a skirt in the Scottish wind) perfectly match the St Andrews coastal, small town backdrop and the ever chaotic schedule of being a student here. All that’s needed to fully embody an appropriate level of ‘frazzledness’ is a tote bag filled with coffee stained notebooks, a large wool coat to engulf your mismatched outfit and a habit of being late or in the wrong place entirely. If this second semester has crept up on you without a chance to start that New Year kick, then this trend might be the perfect way to embrace and romanticise the constant chaos of being a student.