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I have something to say about style and how we tend to desperately want to control the way we are perceived by the people around us. I recently watched this instagram video which articulated what I had been feeling for quite some time, lemme link it at the bottom of the page.
And oh my goodness. Pre-made charms is bad, but okay, fine, it's like a keychain, you buy those. I love a good keychain. BUT PREMADE, PRE-PLACED PINS! ON A BAG! SOLD TO YOU LIKE THAT! It's insanity! It perfectly sums up what is so common today, which is buying style! I don't mean style as in individual clothing pieces -- but style, as she said in the video, as in your entire identity, your likes and dislikes, your experience of going to a gift shop and buying a pin to add to your collection of other pins that remind you of certain memories, etc etc etc. You can't just BUY that. You can't BUY "style" all in one go. Style isn't a $200 haul from SHEIN, it's something you cultivate and collect over many years until it becomes a part of you.
"What gen-z really wants is to embody the people who have lived, read, travelled, and taken the time to develop their interests instead of finding their own"
I don't even know if I'd consider this as a gen-z (I am one!) specific issue. I'm not sure. It seems very online-central. I could talk about how this is obviously linked to capitalism and the ways in which people simply do not have the means to "live, read and travel" to develop their interests, so there is a desire to do it now, all at once, and for as cheap as they possibly can. There is something luxurious in a well-worn and well-established style and in the cultivation of items from various different places.
But there is also something concerning to me about this rise in "aesthetic" sub cultures and the need to identify with one. I think it can be linked to the rise in the individualistic-need to be "quirky," "whimsical" and I don't know, all those other terms to show other people how desperately different you are to others. You know what I'm talking about, the whole "oh bla bla you don't get it because you lack whimsy and soul" or the "i'm just a girl" or "this is me" and it's a stupid picture of a bunny or something. It's just another resurgence of the "not like other girls" thing and it's tiresome. Maybe I'm just being too serious, but it bothers me, not only because it is a prejudiced assumption of the other person, but because it seems as though it is a desperate attempt to control the way you are being perceived -- which is a conclusion that I will come to, you don't get to do it for me.
It seems as though this desperation to "buy" an immediate identity goes hand in hand with the desperation to control and convince others of your personality traits (??? Or what is it?) without actually bothering to authentically cultivate it. You possess style because you cultivate it over time, and you possess an established "traits" (there must be a better word for it,) by actually partaking in those behaviours. If you say you are kind, you have to actually BE kind. You have to continuously act in kind ways. You cannot just say it online, pair it with a cute kitten wearing a bow, and expect others to believe it.
Likewise, you can't just buy a "frazzled English-woman" aesthetic (whatever the hell that means, you guys are so weird)...because it's not something that can be bought online from underpaid and overworked children in a sweat-shop. It's putting on your grandmother's hand-me-down sweater with a scarf you knitted yourself, and your 10 year old boots. Do you know what I mean? And it takes time to cultivate these things, not merely a week for your giant package to arrive at your door.
I guess this is just a rant-essay about style. And an exhaustion of over-consumerism. Go to the thrift-store and only buy things you actually like, and then go home and donate the things that you don't. Then repeat. Make your own clothes. Make your own key chains and trinkets and charms if you can. MAKE SOMETHING. ANYTHING.
The video ↑