Of all the havoc unleashed on the world through TikTok, gen Z’s inclination to add the suffix “-core” to a word and call it an aesthetic may be the most pervasive. Most of these trend cycles pass faster than you can swipe – tenniscore, balletcore – but some managed to stick around long enough to define the year’s overall vibe.
According to the Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute (Cari), an online community and research server run by volunteers obsessed with documenting consumer aesthetics from the 70s onward, many of 2024’s most popular TikTok trends reflected our election anxiety and romanticized (supposedly) better days. From the resurgence of mid-2000s screensaver graphics to a collective longing for McMansion-style Tuscan kitchens, they offered an escape from our compounding existential crisis.
