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Clare Holden

When it comes to fashion and beauty trends, we have entered an age of hyper-categorisation.
Summer 2023 saw periwinkle manicures renamed blueberry milk nails, and brown lips and sandy eyeshadow dubbed latte make-up.
These are just the tip of the iceberg, and two of the many trends to be labelled by social media users on TikTok and sites like Aesthetics Wiki in recent months.
In fashion, we saw “cottagecore” and “whimsigoth” take over. Even if you got slightly sunburned, you could rebrand as a “tomato girl” and call it a day.

@julianaherzwastaken
And somehow “tomato girl” makeup is now my fav for the summer 🍅
♬ Somethin' Stupid - Frank Sinatra & Nancy Sinatra

But is this categorisation craze just for fun, or is there more behind Gen Z’s obsession with turning everything into an aesthetic fronted by a viral buzzword?
Thanks to fast fashion, social media and online shopping, trend cycles move quicker than ever.
TikTok trendy make-up looks for summer 2023, from underpainting to cloud skin
In a recent YouTube tutorial for latte make-up, make-up artist Lisa Eldridge noted that documented style trends and beauty ingredients used to last for several centuries in Ancient Egypt, and at least a hundred years in the 15th to 18th centuries.
“Cut to the 20th century, where trends are pretty much a decade long … then cut to today, and what’s happening on TikTok and social media, where trends last [a] maximum four weeks before the next one comes along.”
There is a sense, when it comes to fashion and make-up, that everything has already been done before. There are only so many new ways to design clothes or apply make-up, and even colour charts have their limits. But ultimately, true originality is not quite the point.

Los Angeles-based psychologist Dr Jeanette Raymond explains how “most young people want to differentiate from their parents’ generation. One way of doing that is to rename what is already out there as something different so that they can identify with it, and use it as a badge to bind them to their peer group.”
This is echoed by London-based psychologist Dr Raffaello Antonino, who says unique terms help Gen Z create a shared vocabulary and a collective identity. “It gives them a feeling of ownership over these trends, increasing the feeling of community within their generation.”
What may seem frivolous is Gen Z’s way of creating a sense of belonging and tribe building in an increasingly digitised world.
Why Gen Z have embraced the low-alcohol or no-alcohol lifestyle
Jessica Tang, trend and culture analyst at forecasting firm WGSN, tells the Post: “Young consumers today see aesthetic trends as an aspirational lifestyle that offers community and comfort, and turn to aesthetic plurality on social media to discover their identity, build confidence and foster creativity.”
While aesthetics may have replaced some aspects of traditional youth subcultures, can they ever really replicate their authenticity or organic social interaction?
Subculture cohorts such as punks, skaters and hippies emerged out of certain lifestyles, music and geographies. They were, more often than not, born out of a sense of rebellion against a capitalist system and were a way for young people to join together; fashion, hair and make-up looks coming second to the cause and beliefs.

This is the major difference between aesthetics and subculture. As Tang points out: “Gen Z don’t feel tied to any one aesthetic, and bounce between them freely, mixing, matching and creating new variations along the way.”
For some, this is the main appeal of aesthetics: you may dress like a tomato girl but be allergic, and you can tag yourself as cottagecore all while living in a city apartment.
Often, these looks urge users to buy new beauty products, clothes and accessories. While prominent subcultures speak out against capitalism, aesthetics are rooted in overconsumption.
As Guy Debord predicted in his seminal work of philosophy and Marxist critical theory, The Society of the Spectacle, back in 1967: “All that once was directly lived has become mere representation, the decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing.”

There has been some pushback from TikTok users against overzealous trend labelling.
Writer Syd Robinson refers to the rebranding of dark brown hair colours to “smoky espresso” and mousy blonde to “apricot blonde” as the “magazine-ification” of perfectly acceptable terminology. In a now viral post, TikTok user Katie Raymond called blueberry milk nails “dumb”.
It does not end with fashion and beauty. Too lazy to cook? Crackers and cheese at night is actually a “girl dinner”, with the hashtag racking up over 1.4 billion views.

@katiehub.org i will be wearing this nail polish for the rest of my life regardless LOL SO CUTE #fyp #blueberrymilknails #nails #makeup #trending ♬ original sound - katie

While this all seems harmless enough, as YouTuber Mina Lee touches upon in her video about aesthetics, it can lead to forms of self-surveillance where even the messiest and laziest parts of peoples’ lives become a performance.
And while these moments may not be as aesthetically pleasing as a cottagecore get-up, there is nothing carefree and effortless about having to constantly think about capturing every moment on camera.
Romanticising even the most mundane daily tasks can be used as a coping mechanism by today’s youth, who are trying to find their identity amid a number of global crises. At a time when many are facing the bleak reality of never being able to afford their own home, social media can become a creative outlet.


WGSN’s Alison Ho explains that “cute nicknames seem to help consumers sprinkle a bit of imagination into boring aspects of daily life”. And this is not just happening in the West; she raises the culture of nicknaming products and brands in Asia, which can be a way for shoppers to express their opinions and feelings about certain products.
It is not all escapism and fantasy. Unlike previous generations, the open nature of social media platforms like TikTok also allows for greater diversity in fashion and beauty, including but not limited to body positivity.
Antonino takes an optimistic view, saying: “Social media offers an unprecedented platform for challenging traditional beauty standards and promoting a more inclusive definition of beauty.”
And Eldridge, as a make-up artist, encourages users to have fun with trends. “It’s still really interesting, as long as you take it with a pinch of salt. It’s all a combination of marketing and fun.”


Maggie Hewitt’s style picks: the founder of Maggie Marilyn loves her Cartier Tank, The Ordinary skincare and Westman Atelier make-up, and Jane Birkin and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Meet Matteo Milleri, who was married to Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti: the DJ known as Anyma creates NFTs and is dating one of Elon Musk’s baby mamas … but which one?

Cartier blends high jewellery, ancient Chinese artworks and AI in its ‘Power of Magic’ exhibition at Shanghai Museum East – with actresses Mélanie Laurent and Gong Li in attendance

Style Edit: Why Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière, artistic director of women’s collections, chose Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell in Barcelona for the maison’s cruise 2025 show

Fashion

Gen Z trends last ‘maximum 4 weeks’, unlike punk and hippy culture of old: it’s why, on TikTok, things like cottagecore and girl dinner blow up and over so quickly

Hailey Bieber’s latte make-up look is just one of many Gen Z-focused trends that have gone viral on TikTok. Experts examine why Gen Z embrace them and how they differ from those that came before. Photo: Instagram/@haileybieber

A TikTok beauty blogger records herself applying make-up. What may seem frivolous is Gen Z’s way of creating a sense of belonging and tribe building in an increasingly digitised world. Photo: Getty Images

People modelling Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” T-shirts in the 1970s. Subculture cohorts such as punks emerged out of certain lifestyles, music and geographies. Photo: Getty Images

The cottagecore aesthetic can be achieved even if you do not live that lifestyle. Photo: Getty Images

Low-rise jeans are back in fashion, but where did they begin? TikTok-trendy style can thank Kate Moss, Britney – even Barbie – for its original popularity

Britney Spears, Jennie from Blackpink and Kate Moss in low-rise trousers and skirts. The style can thank these stars and others for its popularity. Photo: Getty Images

A model walks the runway in low-rise jeans during the Diesel ready-to-wear autumn/winter 2023-2024 show. Photo: Getty Images

Kate Moss walks the Chloé ready-to-wear spring/summer 1994 show in a low-rise skirt. Photo: Getty Images

Kate Moss walks Alexander McQueen’s autumn/winter 1996 show in the designer’s “bumster” trousers. Photo: Getty Images

David Beckham in low-rise baggy jeans. Photo: Shutterstock

Content creator and model Jenny Tsang in a low-rise Miu Miu ensemble outside the brand’s Paris Fashion Week autumn/winter 2023 show. Photo: Getty Images

Julia Fox in low-rise jeans in March 2022. Photo: GC Images

Model Bella Hadid in low-rise cropped trousers in October 2022 in Paris, France. Photo: GC Images

Watchmakers say they’re going green to appeal to Gen Z customers, with recycled steel and vegan watch straps – but is it enough?

Watchmakers need to improve their sustainability to attract new Gen- Z customers. Above: Chopard’s new Lucent Steel line-up, which is made of 80 per cent recycled steel. Photo: Chopard

Mining accounted for 10 per cent of the deforestation that occurred in the Brazilian rainforest between 2005 and 2015. Photo: Shutterstock

The Watches and Wonders show brings together the leading names of the watchmaking and luxury industries. Photo: Keystone

Recycled steel is fashioned into a watch strap for Chopard’s Lucent Steel collection. Photo: Chopard

Chopard was the first luxury watchmaker to use 80 per cent recycled steel for its watch, The Lucent Steel. Photo: Chopard

What’s it really like to work a ‘big four’ fashion week? A stylist, photographer and model reveal

A model walks the runway for Christopher John Rogers during New York Fashion Week on February 8, 2020. Photo: Getty Images

Eleanor Lambert founded the first fashion week, in New York, in 1943. Photo: Getty Images

Mae Mei Lapres walks the runway for the Marc Jacobs autumn 2017 show at New York Fashion Week. The Paris-based model says she buys plenty of vegetables and fresh fruits in advance of a fashion week and tries to walk to all her castings.

Vogue’s street fashion photographer Phil Oh outside the Paul Smith show during Paris Fashion Week menswear autumn/winter 2017/2018. Photo: Getty Images

New York-based stylist Julie Ragolia, who styles the Milan Fashion Week show for Zegna and is the fashion director of Autre Magazine, during Paris Fashion Week menswear spring/summer 2023. Photo: Getty Images

Ragolia with fashion consultant Nick Wooster during Paris Fashion Week menswear autumn/winter 2022/23. Photo: Getty Images

Lapres during Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2018. Photo: Getty Images

Y2K fashion won’t die: TikTok, Bella Hadid helping to fuel Gen Z love for mesh tops, miniskirts, ‘Barbiecore’ and more

Bella Hadid in New York in 2021. Her outfit choices are often analysed by fashion magazines and other on-lookers. Photo: Getty Images

K-pop idol Bibi in a Y2K-inspired outfit. Fashion trends from the early 2000s are far from dead. Experts explain why. Photo: Instagram/@nakedbibi

Socialite Paris Hilton attends a fashion show in Venice, California in 2003. Photo: Getty Images

Bella Hadid in New York in 2021. Her outfit choices are often analysed by fashion magazines and other onlookers. Photo: Getty Images

Yasmeen Bekhit, a 22-year-old graduate student, gravitates toward looser, flowy trousers, flare-legged jeans and tighter shirts like mesh tops. Photo: AP

Bekhit holds her Y2K-inspired bag. Photo: AP

‘People no longer want to be labelled’: unisex perfumes and genderless scents on the rise among Gen Z and millennials

While men’s colognes and women’s perfumes continue to sell, demand for unisex fragrances is rising among Generation Z and millennial consumers who increasingly reject gender labels, experts say. Photo: Shutterstock

A CK One ad from the ’90s.

A CK One ad from 2022.

Fragrances from Le Labo.

A collection of Ellis Brooklyn fragrances.

Replica fragrances by Maison Margiela.

A perfume by Byredo.

A fragrance by Diptyque.

Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Tomato girl. Cottagecore. Latte make-up. Girl dinner. Gen Z trends for looks and lifestyles have never been hotter – or blown over as quickly as they appear
Experts say young people use them to bind themselves to a community, to build confidence, and foster creativity in a fast-paced world facing crisis after crisis


‘Girl dinner’ and ‘latte make-up’ are two of the many trends to have been labelled by TikTok users recently. Experts examine why Gen Z embrace them and how they differ from the trends of past years and decades.


Social media

TikTok

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