It’s Not You, It’s Capitalism: The Frightening Economy of Microtrends

Aesthetics are a tale as old as capitalism. Although the principles of aesthetics can be traced back to the time of Plato, there was no formal name assigned to the subject until 1735. 

But what was once a philosophical discipline intended to be studied by the elite men of society has taken on a life of its own.

Not to be confused with the field of cosmetic procedures, aesthetic principles lie at the intersection of art, psychology, and anthropology. They concern themselves with the appreciation of beauty, especially in an artistic sense. 

Just like art, aesthetics are subjective. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As I say, there’s an ass for every seat. 

An “aesthetic,” in the modern sense, can help us figure out our own personal style. There’s cottagecore, dark academia, coastal grandmother, coastal cowgirl, and coquette, to name a few. 

If none of those words mean anything to you, that might be a good thing. If all of those categories conjure up specific styles in your mind, you’re as chronically online as I am. 

But it’s not all about personal style and artistic expression. What started out as inspiration has snowballed into unsustainable levels of consumerism that we’ve only just begun to reckon with.

Pinterest, & Instagram, & TikTok, Oh My!

We can’t talk about aesthetics and trends without talking about social media. As far as I’m concerned, social media wouldn't be nearly as popular as it is today without the influencers that feed our aesthetic fantasies. 

In my mind, Pinterest and Tumblr were the original offenders of feeding us perfectly curated aesthetics. Is this Pinterest-worthy? became the question we started asking ourselves almost constantly, even if we weren’t fully aware of it. 

If you were a teen in the early 2010s, looking cool on the internet was akin to holiness. You just had to be there. 

The rise of TikTok is a different beast. Some younger members of Gen-Z almost exclusively refer to TikTok for style inspiration, which has caused trend cycles to accelerate even quicker than they were before.

Microtrends: A Capitalist’s Dream

What used to be an avenue to discovering our personal style became a toxic cycle of microtrends. If you blink, you’ll miss at least five of them. And depending on which side of the internet you’re on, you’re missing at least a dozen more. 

The frenzy of microtrends is a capitalist's dream. Capitalism counts on the consumer’s never-ending search for the most beautiful home, the most spotless skin, the least-dimpled thighs, the whitest teeth, and the most curated wardrobe. 

The problem? None of those are possible, but we’re taught to strive for them anyway. Capitalism sells us the idea that we can have it all if we just buy this one, simple product for $9.99 (plus tax). Rinse and repeat. 

As easy as it is to blame Gen-Z, it’s not their fault. Buying into trends isn’t a crime, nor is it anything new. Even though trends moved slower in the past, they were trends just the same. Unsurprisingly, the fault lies with corporations who rely on our insecurity and social media algorithms to sell more. 

New York Times reporter, Callie Holtermann, spent months asking young people how they feel about social media trends: “Many young people I spoke to said they felt stuck in a cycle of chasing, buying and discarding in order to keep up. Others, though, are trying to move beyond it. Some are swearing off fast fashion, or limiting their clothing to a similar uniform every day. A few have deleted social media.” 

The Trend Graveyard

The impacts of microtrends spread beyond the mental health of the American Youth. The US alone produces 34 billion pounds of textile waste each year. 66% of the waste is sent to landfills, some textiles taking hundreds of years to decompose.

Of the 15% of recycled textiles, up to half (2.55 billion pounds) are sent to landfills in countries throughout the global south, primarily to African countries, fueling an already existing textile waste crisis. 

Many of the garments sent to these countries are too low quality to be worn, so they are left to decompose in landfills, or burned—both methods resulting in significant pollution to air, soil, and groundwater. 

The garments themselves aren’t the problem, it’s the sheer amount of garments, which has increased since corporations have started lowering the quality of their pieces. It’s part of a process called planned obsolescence, which forces consumers to buy more and create more waste than perhaps they’d even care to.

Nonetheless, the pressure to “do better” is placed on consumers. We’re asked to consume less by the very corporations whose success relies on us consuming more.

So, What Are We Supposed to Do?

There’s no single solution to the situation we’ve found ourselves in. The roots of capitalism run deep and rely on other deeply rooted systems of injustice in order to thrive. 

Many solutions to injustice rely on hope and the relentless labor of activists. But that isn’t to say we have no control over our circumstances. 

In my mind, reframing our ideas of beauty and success will go a long way in the fight against capitalism. Most of us know that consumption is rarely the answer, but we’re existing in an economic system that tries to convince us otherwise. 

Taking ownership over our individual definitions of beauty and success rather than relying on trends might be the first step.