What is Gen Z aesthetic? (2024)

What is Gen Z aesthetic?

With a keen eye for sustainable products and a love of fads from earlier eras, the Gen-Z aesthetic is both familiar and unique. Why does this matter? Gen-Z is now the largest generation in the world. And these aesthetics, covering fashion, music, design, and more are definitely trending.

There are many more examples like fairycore, goth, Y2K, grunge, and kid core, but they all have one thing in common. All of these aesthetics rely on the personality and vibe aspect to the actual article of clothing.

These aesthetics are defined as "a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty" and include such themes as cottagecore, dark academia, royalcore, and Y2K. ALSO SEE | Five ways parents can help kids avoid gender stereotypes. What does this tell us about Gen Z?

To be a Y2K fashionista is to have a deep love of low-rise jeans. But some of these Gen Z creators acknowledge that many people who wore them the first time around hate them because, as Stephenson told me, the style “was so heavily associated with the toxic body image issues brought about by 2000s fashion.”

Something as niche as an aesthetic is hugely important to understanding this generation. This can be seen in the sheer volume of content about aesthetics that is being created and consumed online. The variability of aesthetics may be the biggest reason for its Gen Z-fueled popularity.

Whereas millennial pink represented gender neutrality, Gen Z yellow represents a need for change. Pressman said that yellow — a symbol of sunshine, warmth, and optimism — reflects a generation with hope for the future.

There finally seems to be something that millennials and Gen Zs have found common ground for – their love for anime! In the last couple of years, the online searches for anime have grown, as has the number of Gen Z youngsters watching popular anime shows like Naruto and Dragon Ball Z.

Green is the new Millennial Pink for the Gen-Z, a dominant color in fashion, beauty and design trends that confirms with its catalyzing power the free associations that bind to both luck and money, contexts dear to kids today. But how can a color acquire cultural value to represent an entire generation?

When designing for this age group, anything and everything goes. Embrace trends like neon gradients and mixed patterns. Be fearless as you experiment with new color combinations and unexpected partnerships in texture and hue. If it catches your eye and makes you look twice, it will do the same for Gen Z.

The word cloud of key terms in this article gives you the more general sensibility: “gentle,” “enticing,” “placid,” “friendly,” and “knowing.” The “millennial aesthetic” favors “chatty positivity”; it likes “blank, clean surfaces” and soft lines; it is “casual, friendly, and impersonal.” It's offbeat but not weird, ...

What is trendy with Gen Z?

Claw clips

Arguably the most practical accessory Gen Z resurrected this year, claw clips were all the rage for young people looking to keep their hair out of their faces while still looking fashionable. Like wired headphones, claw clips have an effortless cool-girl factor that made them the "It" accessory on TikTok.

Social media is a huge trend for this generation. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are, by far, the most frequently used platforms. One-quarter of Gen Zers spend five hours or more per day on TikTok. TikTok continues to soar in popularity among members of Generation Z (99x+ in 5 years).

Pew Research recently defined Gen Z as anyone born after 1996. Gen Z grew up with technology, the internet, and social media, which sometimes causes them to be stereotyped as tech-addicted, anti-social, or “social justice warriors.”

According to a case study by Glossy, the "clean beauty" category is expected to be worth $11.6B by 2027, a 114% increase from 2020. The desire for cleaner makeup and skincare products has continued to surge among the Gen Z demographic. "Gen Z doesn't just care about the product," Popkin says.

Royalcore is a term referring to a group of aesthetics based on the visuals of West European royalty, ranging from Arthurian times (5th and 6th centuries) to the Belle Époque period (late 19th century). The aesthetic revolves around refinement and elegance, featuring intricate detailing, delicate colours and opulence.

The science behind our obsession with aesthetics

The reason we perceive good-looking products to function better is due to emotional response. Our brain forms an unconscious opinion instantly for everything we see, it is beyond our control and known as our visceral response.

It starts with what values are important to Gen Z'ers and moves into what brands and products they rate. “Teens feel that being cool is about just being yourself, embracing what you love, rejecting what you don't, and being kind to others.”

As a result, the survey found that 79% of Gen Z agree that sustainable fashion is incredibly important to them, leading 68% wanting their clothes to be manufactured to the highest ethical standards. 39% would even buy pre-loved clothes thanks to their sustainable nature.

Zillennials have most likely completed their high school between 2012-2016 and transitioned from teenagers to adults during the 2010s. The youngest of them as of 2021 is 22 years old and the oldest will be around 28 years old. Keep scrolling to know more about Zillennials and also if you too are one of them!

The youth become nostalgic when the economy is struggling, seeking comfort and connection. It's why Gen Z is reviving indie sleaze, old-money prep, and Y2K trends of the '90s and early 2000s. Instead of turning to their own childhood memories, they're seeking simpler pre-social-media times.

What generation is 2022 now?

That is why the generations today each span 15 years with Generation Y (Millennials) born from 1980 to 1994; Generation Z from 1995 to 2009 and Generation Alpha from 2010 to 2024. And so it follows that Generation Beta will be born from 2025 to 2039.

Generation Z (or Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the demographic cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular media use the mid to late 1990s as starting birth years and the 2010s as ending birth years.

“As a generation focused on authenticity not conformity—Gen Z views beauty as a way to express their intrinsic value vs. as a tool to achieve external validation.” There's an increased awareness in the younger generation of the connection between mind, body, and skin, Jefferies said.

Gen Z's top beauty brands include Mac, Urban Decay, NYX, Covergirl, Tarte, Kylie Cosmetics, Fenty Beauty, The Ordinary, Glossier, Morphe, Fluide, ColourPop, and Lush. So why are these brands engaging this generation so well? The simple answer is that they understand the Gen Z mindset.

According to a survey carried out in the United States in 2021, Ulta Beauty was the leading beauty destination among American Gen Z consumers in that period, with a share of around 46 percent. Sephora ranked second, with a share of approximately 21 percent.

Lovecore Is The Pink-And-Red Internet Aesthetic That's All About Romance. "It's about feeling the love from the pieces you wear." Whether it's a fashion trend on TikTok or a certain style taking over Instagram, internet aesthetics are always changing online.

Kidcore is an aesthetic that centers around bright colors, nostalgia for icons from the 90s, and kid themes. While its origins can be traced back to the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s, it appears the aesthetic is a nostalgia-based creation of the 2010s.

Fairycore, also known as Fairy Folk, is a fantasy themed aesthetic that centers predominantly around fairy (alternatively spelled faerie) and elf mythology. Visuals include nature, soft pastels, butterflies, magic, flowers, soft animals like bunnies, and the vibe of springtime.

That Girl is an aesthetic that revolves around becoming ones best self in terms of mind, body, and spirituality. It involves a confident feeling in yourself and being kind to others. This aesthetic is for those who want to be the best version of themselves.

What is your aesthetic?

Aesthetic describes a person's style, the clothes they choose to wear, and the way they decorate their homes. The term 'aesthetic' was popularized on Tumblr, and the website features thousands of tags where users show their unique aesthetic.

In design, everything is a matter of consistency and control. Generation Z changes the linear way of thinking. Brands will have to become flexible, visual identities modular, elements changeable. The brand refresh that will follow Gen Z trends will be unsustainable⁠—we will have to switch to a Circular design.

The survey also found that millennials and Gen Z consumers think about logos differently than older generations, preferring monochrome color schemes, with blue, white and black considered the “most trustworthy” for logos.

The science behind our obsession with aesthetics

The reason we perceive good-looking products to function better is due to emotional response. Our brain forms an unconscious opinion instantly for everything we see, it is beyond our control and known as our visceral response.

COLOR PALETTE

The older end of Gen-Z tends to follow millennial trends closely. This includes the muted colors and pastels like “spearmint,” green, and blush pink. Also, like millennial colors, Gen-Zers rely heavily on the 80s and 90s trends; bright and bold colors are typical (including neon).

Social media is a huge trend for this generation. Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are, by far, the most frequently used platforms. One-quarter of Gen Zers spend five hours or more per day on TikTok. TikTok continues to soar in popularity among members of Generation Z (99x+ in 5 years).

The social networks with the most monthly Gen Z users are Snapchat (42.0 million), TikTok (37.3 million), and Instagram (33.3 million). These remain the most popular among Gen Z over the next four years, according to our estimates.

Gothic Fonts

Typography is another great way that designers can connect with Gen Z. This younger generation has no hangups about material that gets playful with type. Indeed, it's often the case that the bigger and bolder, the better.

Gen Z consumers are more likely to buy sustainable, high-quality, products. 73% of Generation Z consumers are willing to pay 10% more for sustainable products, according to a report from First Insight. They value personalised products and are often drawn to brands that share their point of view on political issues.

How do I choose my aesthetic?

Weirdcore is a surrealist aesthetic centered around amateur or low-quality photography and/or visual images that have been constructed or edited to convey feelings of confusion, disorientation, dread, alienation, and nostalgia or anemoia.

That Girl is an aesthetic that revolves around becoming ones best self in terms of mind, body, and spirituality. It involves a confident feeling in yourself and being kind to others. This aesthetic is for those who want to be the best version of themselves.

Aesthetic describes a person's style, the clothes they choose to wear, and the way they decorate their homes. The term 'aesthetic' was popularized on Tumblr, and the website features thousands of tags where users show their unique aesthetic.

Fans of cottagecore argued that they simply fantasize about it and that they do not actually plan to move into rural areas and survive off their own gardens and domestic labor. They incorporate the aesthetic into their daily lives by perhaps creating a few crafts, dressing up, or baking in their free time.