Makeup artist Rachel Rigler, who coined one of summer 2023’s most popular trends “latte makeup”, (which was also co-signed by Bieber) believes that, despite how many trends there are, consumers are still likely to find one that suits their personal aesthetic. The psychological play on wanting to chase the latest viral moment also helps drive the marketing machine. “I hate when I’m behind on current trends, and I feel like so many people feel the same way,” she says. “So, when a new trend starts to surface, people either watch the videos because they want to be educated on the trend or they want to partake.”
Are we reaching peak aesthetic absurdity?
As the summer wanes, how will these aesthetics mature? One of the most recent summer trends is “blueberry milk nails”, a pale blue shade spotted on musician Dua Lipa and influencer Sofia Grainge Richie. The phrase has proven divisive across TikTok, and retaliation to non-trend trends is kicking in.
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“Within marketing it’s always been a thing to give existing products or styles new names that seem different, but are simply being repackaged to fit the cultural zeitgeist better,” says The Digiverse’s Sherbert. Nail trends have followed the glazed donut template, Sherbert says, since that trend first went viral. “But ‘blueberry milk’ just isn’t a widely known food, so it seems like they were searching for two food words that could adequately describe a pale blue and put them together.” As a result, Sherbert believes it felt less tethered to reality, and that Gen Z therefore sees it as crafted from the capitalist cookie-cutter mould.
“It’s like if Sofia Richie and Hailey Bieber fell off the face of the earth tomorrow, would you all be ok?” said one TikTok user @biriyanibby_ in a video that now has over 1.9 million views. Others have trolled the obvious marketing play by creating spoof videos on absurd food aesthetics such as “baked bean girl” or “hard boiled egg”.
“You have to keep whatever your point of view is as a brand, even when you’re participating with viral trends,” continues Sherbert. “Or it’s about having a sense of humour about it. When brands try to engage with it too seriously is when people feel like it’s too much.”
Makeup artist Rigler agrees: “I would love to start seeing brands create some of these trends. Similar to us, each brand has their own aesthetic — so what’s stopping them from getting creative and coming up with their own aesthetic movement that stays true to their core ethos?”
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