Emo, whose participants are called emo kids or emos, is a subculture which began in the United States in the 1990s. Based around emo music, the subculture formed in the genre's mid-1990s San Diego scene, where participants were derisively called Spock rock due to their distinctive straight, black haircuts. The subculture entered the mainstream consciousness in the 2000s, being associated with social networks including Myspace, Buzznet and hi5. During this time of popularity, it faced backlash, including violent attacks on emo teens in Mexico and Iraq, and proposed Russian laws targeting the subculture, due to views that it was dangerous and promoted anti-social behavior, depression and suicide. By 2009, this mainstream attention had largely declined as the subculture continued underground on websites including Tumblr and through emo revival groups.
Windows Aero is the design language introduced in the Microsoft Windows Vista operating system. The changes introduced by Windows Aero encompassed many elements of the Windows interface, with the introduction of a new visual style with an emphasis on animation, glass, and translucency; interface guidelines for phrasing and tone of instructions and other text in applications were available. New cursors and sounds based on Windows Aero design principles were also introduced.
Soft grunge was a fashion trend that originated on Tumblr around the late 2000s and early 2010s. Beginning as an outgrowth of the 2000s indie sleaze fashion trend but with a greater influence from the 1990s, particularly grunge fashion, the style began as a reaction against the glamor fitness culture which was dominant in popular culture at the time. It is characterized by its merger of cute and aggressive fashion hallmarks like chokers, tennis skirts, leather jackets and boots, flower crowns, distressed denim and pastel colors. Soft grunge reached its peak popularity around 2014, by which time it had been embraced by high fashion designers including Hedi Slimane and Jeremy Scott and been worn by celebrities including Charli XCX. Its internet-based merger of subculture, fashion and music made it one of the earliest examples of an internet aesthetic. In the early 2020s, the style experienced a minor resurgence due to videos posted on the video sharing application TikTok.
VSCO girls or VSCO kids emerged among teenagers around mid- to late-2019. Named after the VSCO photography app, VSCO girls are described by some as "dress[ing] and act[ing] in a way that is nearly indistinguishable from one another", using oversized T-shirts, sweatshirts or sweaters, Fjällräven Kånkens, scrunchies, Hydro Flasks, Crocs, Pura Vida bracelets, instant cameras, Carmex, metal straws, friendship bracelets, Birkenstocks, shell necklaces, and other beach-related fashion. Environmentalism, especially topics relating to sea turtle conservation, is also regarded as part of VSCO culture.
E-kids, split by binary gender as e-girls and e-boys, are a youth subculture of Gen Z that emerged in the late 2010s, notably popularized by the video-sharing application TikTok. It is an evolution of emo, scene and mall goth fashion combined with Japanese and Korean street fashion.
Cottagecore is an internet aesthetic idealising rural life. Originally based on a rural European life, it was developed throughout the 2010s and was first named cottagecore on Tumblr in 2018. The aesthetic centres on traditional rural clothing, interior design, and crafts such as drawing, baking, and pottery, and is related to similar aesthetic movements such as grandmacore, goblincore, gnomecore, and fairycore.
Dark academia is a literary aesthetic and subculture concerned with higher education, the arts, and literature, or an idealised version thereof. The aesthetic centres on traditional educational clothing, interior design, activities such as writing and poetry, ancient art, and classic literature, as well as classical Greek and Collegiate Gothic architecture. The trend emerged on social media site Tumblr in 2015, before being popularised by adolescents and young adults in the late 2010s and early 2020s, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The fashions of the 2020s represent a departure from 2010s fashion and feature a nostalgia for older aesthetics. They have been largely inspired by styles of the late 1990s to mid-2000s, and 1980s. Early in the decade, several publications noted the shortened trend and nostalgia cycle in 2020s fashion. Fashion was also shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, which had a major impact on the fashion industry, and led to shifting retail and consumer trends.
Mall goths are a subculture that began in the late-1990s in the United States. Originating as a pejorative to describe people who dressed goth for the fashion rather than culture, it eventually developed its own culture centred around nu metal, industrial metal, emo and the Hot Topic store chain. It has variously been described as a part of the goth subculture, as well as a separate subculture simply influenced by goth.
The Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (CARI) is an online community which is "dedicated to developing a visual lexicon of consumer ephemera from the 1970s until now".
Goblincore is an internet aesthetic and subculture inspired by the folklore of goblins, centered on the celebration of natural ecosystems usually considered less beautiful by conventional norms, such as soil, animals, and second-hand objects.
Indie sleaze was a fashion style popular in the United States and United Kingdom from approximately 2006 to 2012. Characterised by an affordable, messy and lethargic take on vintage fashion styles, especially the 1970s, the style was particularly popular amongst the hipster subculture and indie rock bands.
Soft girl or softie describes a youth subculture that emerged among Gen Z female teenagers around mid-to late-2019. Soft girl is a fashion style and a lifestyle, popular among some young women on social media, based on a deliberately cutesy, feminine look with a "girly girl" attitude. Being a soft girl also may involve a tender, sweet, and sensitive personality.
Corecore is an artistic movement aiming to capture post-2020 sensibilities. A product of youth culture in the 2020s, the corecore aesthetic can largely be found on TikTok, where it juxtaposes various video clips while emotional music plays.
Light academia is an aesthetic and subculture, that emphasizes visually light aesthetics and positive themes, including optimism, joy, and friendship. Accordingly, light academia is often considered to be the visually and emotionally lighter counterpart to dark academia. The term light academia was coined on Tumblr in 2019 and gained popularity during the early 2020s.
Coquette aesthetic is a 2020s fashion trend that is characterized by a mix of sweet, romantic, and sometimes playful elements and focuses on femininity through the use of clothes with lace, flounces, pastel colors, and bows, often draws inspiration from historical periods like the Victorian era and the 1950s, with a modern twist.
Frutiger Aero, sometimes known as Web 2.0 Gloss, is a retrospective name applied to a design trend observed mainly in user interfaces and Internet aesthetics from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s. It succeeded the Y2K aesthetic, which was popular from the late 1990s to the early 2000s. The term Frutiger Aero is derived from Windows Aero, which exemplifies the style; and Adrian Frutiger, a Swiss typeface designer who was responsible for many of the humanist typefaces that were often used in older computing interfaces.
Y2K is an Internet aesthetic based around products, styles, and fashion of the late 1990s and early 2000s. The name Y2K is derived from an abbreviation coined by programmer David Eddy for the year 2000 and its potential computer errors. The Y2K aesthetic can include synthetic or metallic materials, inflatable furniture, computer interfaces of the dotcom era, and parts of the McBling aesthetic.
Thinspiration, also known as thinspo, is recognized as photographic content of women with thin body types promoting unhealthy eating habits and disorders. Thinspiration blends the words “thin” and “inspiration” as to give motivation to people with eating disorders or people who want to be thin to continue to deprive themselves of food.
The "That Girl" aesthetic is an online subculture and fashion marketed as catering to people who seek a holistic emphasis on wellness. It is most often targeted at women, although not exclusively.
