A Closer Look at The Aesthetic Jewelry Trend
In This Blog
In the constant evolution of fashion, new generations are finding updated ways to incorporate fine jewelry into their style. The increased prevalence of social media and the constant connection these tools offer has allowed style to evolve, renew and grow into emerging subcultures of fashion.
Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Reddit are filled with revived discussion of an older style movement known as aestheticism. But today, aesthetic style is something quite different from its 1800s predecessor.
If you’re looking to incorporate aesthetic jewelry or pieces that match specific aesthetic cores (more on that below) into your jewelry collection, we are here to help break down what these trendy Gen Z terms mean and help you find the pieces that match your aesthetic.
What Does Aesthetic Mean for Style Today?
The internet’s evolution of the word aesthetic has taken its once academic and historic definition and added new life to the term. Today, aesthetic can mean anything from a simple style choice or vibe to an entire identity. It can represent individualism or a person’s status as a member of a larger community. Aesthetic style is often represented through personal fashion like jewelry.
What is Modern Aesthetic Jewelry?
Today’s aesthetic jewelry is a modern design movement that encompasses a wide variety of different styles. Modern aesthetic jewelry is packed with personality, fitting a specific theme depending on the subcultural or fashion subset being represented. Modern aesthetic jewelry pieces are vastly varied in style, fitting anything from bubblegum pink to more grunge styles.
A byproduct of our constant connection online, aesthetic jewelry is quickly shared across social media. It is often worn as a signifier of a specific style, vibe or lifestyle subculture, with different subcultures bringing their own norms and trends. The result is often playful self-expression with necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets that showcase many different looks depending on the core at hand.
What are Aesthetic Cores?
The fashion and lifestyle trends and subcultures that grip so many social channels, style magazines and online shopping carts are often called cores. Typically, a genre, style or vibe is placed in front of the suffix “core” to create a combination that encompasses an aesthetic. Core is the new chic.
Some popular cores include cottagecore, Barbiecore and royalcore. There are also some aesthetic trends that don’t have core in their names, including dark academia and egirl/eboy.
Cottagecore Jewelry
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The cottagecore aesthetic takes inspiration from countryside homes. The look has ties to nature and coziness. Cottageore aesthetic jewelry often has flowers, mushrooms, teapots and leaves in its motifs.
Barbiecore Jewelry
Normcore Jewelry
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Purposefully understated normcore aesthetics blend in with everyday looks. Rather than standing out, normcore is about embracing similarities and enjoying simplicity. It can often feature influences from the 1990s, with Seinfeld-style at the forefront. For normcore jewelry, this can look like yellow gold jewelry or simple chain necklaces.
Aesthetic Style’s Victorian Roots
While the term aesthetic has new meanings today, it first started as a movement in Victorian times. In the 1800s, the Aesthetic Movement was a push for art for art’s sake in Britain. It was a movement that pushed against the utilitarian design of the Industrial Age, instead creating art, jewelry and other works that were focused on beauty above all else. In the vintage jewelry world, aesthetic jewelry is about antique pieces from the time of the British Aesthetic Movement from around 1860-1900. Vintage aesthetic jewelry was focused on quality craftspersonship and beautiful designs.
Today, Victorian aesthetic jewelry can refer to either these antique pieces or to modern styles that fit new cores of subculture style. Modern Victorian-inspired aesthetic jewelry may fit internet enclaves of dark academia, romantic or vintage-obsessed styles. These pieces are new but evoke old world charm.
Finding Your Aesthetic Jewelry Fit
Modern aesthetic jewelry is a living, breathing style that’s changing moment by moment. There are new cores emerging and others are evolving, but personal style is at the center of it all. When shopping for aesthetic jewelry, it’s best to focus on pieces with style that feels authentic to you. Focus on looks, vibes and aesthetics that you enjoy wearing above all else, rather than simply choosing an aesthetic because it’s the core du jour. When you choose jewelry that matches your own style, you’re picking pieces that you’ll wear time and time again. Explore our online jewelry store to find your newest aesthetic jewelry obsession.
