5 Types of Fashion Aesthetics

1. Cottagecore

Cottagecore is a fashion aesthetic that was popularized by teenagers and young adults celebrating an idealized rural life. It’s traditionally based on rural English or European life. Cottagecore fashion is a developing attraction for most of us, with its fashionable peasant silhouettes, beautiful flower designs, and earthy tones. Cottagecore dresses are loose-fitting, flowing, and airy. Colors such as brown, baby pink, olive green, ivory, maroon, beige, and ochre, mixed with dusty, faded rose pink, light yellow, and even baby blue are popular for this aesthetic.

2. Grunge

Grunge is all about minimizing the body's shape and appearing "untidy" in an attempt to emulate the cool style of prominent performers in punk and heavy metal rock bands. historically, it was rooted in the 1990s hard rock scene of Seattle, Washington. Grunge fashion was popularized by bands such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, and Soundgarden and was intended to be ageless and easygoing. Mastering the art of strategic layering and knowing proportions is essential for producing a failsafe grunge-inspired look. For some, this may be a striped button-down paired with a tank and loose slacks. Others are fixated on chain-link accessories.

3. Soft girl

The soft girl is an aesthetic that can easily be mistaken for another. As a style, it closely resembles E-Girl, VSCO, and a preppy aesthetic. The soft girl has been described as infantilizing, the Gen Z equivalent of the girl next door, subversive, and empowering as a way of being in the world. It's an aesthetic that is mostly adopted by teens and it rose to popularity with the introduction of TikTok. A soft girl is influenced by so many different things like Kawaii and anime, the Bratz dolls, and Y2K nostalgia. But a soft girl's main defining trait is that it celebrates all things cute and girly.

The Soft girl aesthetic is more than just about cuteness, it is an over-exaggeration of the things that teen girls have been trivialized and undermined for loving. The overt and excessive sensitivity of being soft and publicly appreciating traditionally girly things is a kind of counterattack against the pressures that make women feel humiliated. This is mocked by the creation of several personalities and the performance of many kinds of femininity.

4. E-Girl

E-Girl is a subculture and stereotype of young women who are “online”, which means they are immersed in internet culture, notably anime, gaming, K-pop, cosplay, discord, TikTok, and the twitch communities. The E-Girl aesthetic is portrayed via the use of memes and video formats on TikTok or other social media sites.

E-Girls attire is aesthetically akin to that of many darker alternative trends. Black patterned blouses, chain accessories, pleated skirts, chokers, and platform shoes dominate. Heavy eyeliner, blush over the nose, and little symbols painted around the eyes complete the look. E-girls hair is frequently styled into contemporary hairstyles such as pigtails/ twin tails, space buns, straight bangs, or colored hair/streaks. Hair clips and other accessories can be applied. Furthermore, personality is given equal weight.

5. Streetwear

Streetwear is a casual fashion trend that emerged in the 1990s. It offers comfortable yet trendy clothing such as graphic tees, hoodies, sweatpants, and high-end footwear. Streetwear is influenced by hip-hop culture as well as skater fashion, with the addition of intentional product scarcity. Hypebeasts are fans of the current streetwear trends, and many will go to considerable efforts to obtain limited edition designer baseball hats, sweatshirts, shoes, and other items.

Some of the characteristics of streetwear are comfort, scarcity, menswear/ masculine style, and contemporary art. Styling streetwear is easy, you just need to invest in sneakers, stick to a single logo, play with proportions, and of course, be yourself.