In a culture where every niche aesthetic is commercialized in a TikTok trend, where everyone is trying to follow the next best thing, is there any room for individuality? It seems paradoxical, that at a time when we have so many options, so many combinations of things to be, that it creates a sense of confusion of who we are, or what we like without these oppressive labels. No matter how we dress up, we end up adhering to some current group or trend circulating currently, and subsequently fit into these small, hyper-specific groups, removing any uniqueness.
The emergence of “catholic core” and “ballet core” takes staples to certain groups and strips them down to lose all meaning. While I am not religious, nor a ballerina, I can still understand that something significant to my identity — a rosary, or a ballet uniform — being tossed around as a TikTok trend for likes feels strange and violating.
Catholic core is an especially perplexing trend right now, as it creates a “Lana Del Rey vinyl” innocent “coquette” aesthetic wearing memorabilia belonging to a religion with a rich and complicated history wrapped with ribbon with some Mary Janes. It feels very exploitative and damaging to the meaning the symbols hold and the violence and marginalization of groups that often goes along with it.
It feels like everything is just an aesthetic now. Even real things with real history can get turned into something temporary, something sold in stores and paraded online in unrealistic standards just to convince people to buy more things to make their outfit cuter and to feel “cool.”
Despite the appeal of these aesthetics and micro-trends being the possibility of being “not like other girls,” it ends up creating a culture where the mainstream is despised by the people adhering to it, and nothing is sacred to the individual anymore, but shared and ripped apart online until the idea grows stale and is forgotten about.
TikTok is becoming more than it was created to be. It’s become something that shapes our culture. It shapes what music we listen to, what people we idolize, and everything boiled down to its core — it shapes what we see as cool.
When we continue to view things strictly in terms of what will elevate our status, or what will make us more liked, rather than prioritize our own enjoyment, everything soon loses all meaning, and we adopt a blasé attitude — drifting through motions with no feeling attached to anything, or personal connection because we have become so detached from ourselves.
This is not a public service announcement to tell you to stop watching TikToks, because the issue runs deeper than that. We’ve put too much power in social media, and how it informs our decisions; we need to refocus more on the individual.
Wear something that went out of season last month. Wear that lipstick Alix Earle said was awful. And whatever you do, stop buying from Shein.