The “Clean Girl Aesthetic”: How it objectifies culture
The "Clean Girl aesthetic" has taken the world by storm throughout the last year, grasping the attention of the masses and integrating into many lifestyles. TikTok has been the trends largest platform cumulating over 750 million TikTok views on videos using the tag "Clean Girl aesthetic" (Resnick, 2022). This artifact might not be identifiable as an item because it is known as a lifestyle that has integrated itself into popular culture by being "well liked by many people" (Storey, 2009, p. 7). Celebrities such as Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid have claimed this lifestyle as their own, causing many concerns about where the style originated. Some might suggest it is a form of cultural appropriation; however, the trend still thrives in the media today without consequences. Before diving deeper into the aesthetics' origins, one must break down what it means to be a "Clean Girl."
The simplest definition of the "Clean Girl aesthetic" is an individual who strives to achieve the everyday look of effortless; in most cases, that would be a glossy lip, slick back buns/ponytails, with minimal makeup while posing yourself as not trying too hard. This trend seems to continue the "#NoMakeup" trend that became prominent in the media in early 2021 (Sternberg, 2021). However, this is an offshoot of what has developed into an entire lifestyle, more than just makeup and hair. Celebrities and influencers closely portray the trend's lifestyle aspect with predominantly high social status. To become the "Clean Girl aesthetic," they must appear to have a trendy but effortless style consisting of name brands and designer items. Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid are essentially at the forefront of the trend, leaving many everyday individuals trying to keep up. While this trend has morphed into a "new" pop culture phenomenon, parts of the movement have been influential within certain cultures for centuries.
Many of the aspects that make up the "Clean Girl aesthetic" initially were dominant by women within the "Black and brown" communities (Mather, 2022). For instance, Black and brown women have been wearing their hair in slick back ponytails/buns for years as a hairstyle that worked for their hair texture and wearing gold hoops as a symbol of their culture before this trend took off (Resnick, 2022). The problem lies within the creators/influencers of this trend who take these cultural styles and claim them as their own. Most of these TikTok creators who post about the "Clean Girl aesthetic" tend to be white women with clear skin and straight hair who can easily portray this "new" lifestyle, taking away from the true cultural meanings.
Their lack of recognition for the origin of the trend is also seen in Gladwell's analysis of "Coolhunting" through coolhunter's tactics of finding trends. In his feature in the New Yorker titled "The Coolhunt," Gladwell focuses on Baysie Wightman and DeeDee Gordon and their ways of discovering trends. Gladwell accounts for moments like when Wightman goes into a South Bronx shopping center grilling black teens for their opinions on sneaker prototypes and talking to them as if she is one of the boys; Gladwell claims "without a trace of condescension or self-consciousness" (1997, as cited in Powers, p. 68). Gladwell also accounted for Gordon's tactics, such as "convincing Converse to market a sandal after seeing 'white teenage girls dressing up like Cholos, Mexican gangsters, in tight white tank tops known as 'wife beaters,'...and shower sandals" (1997, as cited in Powers, p. 68). Wightman and Gordon's tactics as white women culturally appropriated the culture of the Black and brown community without paying any homage or recognizing where the trends started. These exact strategies are used throughout the "Clean Girl aesthetic," where predominantly white women appropriate the Black and brown community and claim it as their own. This form of appropriation does not go unseen by the communities it affects the most. Many TikTokers and micro-celebrities expressed frustration towards this trend and hope for it to recognize its origins in the future.
Despite the "Clean Girl aesthetic" being known as a minimalist style, the emphasis on class within the few items that make up this look is highly prominent. Elements such as designer bags and name-brand makeup highlight the classist structure that forms this trend. Ed Asner's film Class Dismissed discusses ideas on class and its effects on popular culture throughout the decades. In the film, Robin D. G. Kelley discusses Class Politics and its influence on individuals' understanding. He explains class politics to be "based on the idea that people share a common experience as working people" (Asner, 2005, 5:05). This is evident within the influencer community that fails to acknowledge the significant pay gap between white and black creators on various platforms, and instead promotes it as a common playing field (Dodgson, 2021). Kelley also points out that "The fact is they don't share a common experience. Black workers and other workers of color tend to have the worst jobs" (Asner, 2005 5:16). This further highlights the significant problem within the influencer community having a lack of consideration for class and developing trends that exclude predominantly lower income classes. But what is even more problematic is how oblivious these celebrities and influencers are to thinking they share a common experience with their followers as well as marketing products/advertorials that objectify cultures (Abidin, 2018). Which were originally designed to fit their cultural needs, not to be a trend.
The "Clean Girl aesthetic" might seem like a harmless trend that started as a niche style brought to the mainstream by celebrities and influencers; however, it is deeply rooted in racism and classism. The vast majority tend to follow what their favorite influencers say on matters, but this is a time to do your research and listen to the experts. The "Clean Girl aesthetic" has culturally appropriated many different cultures and left no recognition for their origins. One must dig deeper into trends before immediately thinking it's their own.
Works Cited:
Abidin, C. (2018, February 28). Communicative ❤ intimacies: Influencers and perceived interconnectedness. Ada New Media. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://adanewmedia.org/2015/11/issue8-abidin/
Ariane Resnick, C. N. C. (2022, October 3). The clean girl aesthetic is all over social media-but it's not exactly harmless. Byrdie. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.byrdie.com/clean-girl-aesthetic-critique-6744031
Dismissed, C. How TV Frames the Working Class (2005). Asner, co-written and produced with Loretta Alper, executive producer Sut Jhally, directed by Loretta Alper. Northampton, MA: Media Education Foundation.(All of the interview references are from this source.).
https://atlas.library.upenn.edu/media/ClassDismissed.html
Dodgson, L. (2021, December 7). Black influencers make significantly less money than their white counterparts, a new study says. Insider. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.insider.com/study-black-influencers-make-significantly-less-money-2021-12
Mather, K. (2022, September 15). Tiktok breaks down why it's 'frustrating' trends like 'clean girl aesthetic' are so popular right now. In The Know. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.intheknow.com/post/clean-girl-aesthetic-tiktok-appropriation/
Powers, D. (2019). On trend: The business of forecasting the future. University of Illinois Press.
Sternberg, C. (2021, October 7). The rise of the #nomakeup movement coincides with an increase in cosmetics sales. Beauty Packaging. Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://www.beautypackaging.com/contents/view_online-exclusives/2021-10-07/how-nomakeup-natural-looks-fail-to-discourage-the-use-of-cosmetics/
Storey, J. (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture: An introduction. Routledge.
Irene Pak
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your attentive, insightful takes on the “clean girl aesthetic” look that is currently taking over popular culture. I really appreciated the connections you made with relative articles and pieces written by a diverse group of scholars such as Gladwell, Powers, Asner, and many others. An additional piece I find to be an important addition to analyzing this aesthetic is Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment. In their Dialectic of Enlightenment, it is defined that the culture industry refers to the industrialization and commercialization of culture under capitalist relations of production. Connecting this statement to the “clean girl aesthetic,” this co-opting of slick back ponytails/buns by predominantly white/white-passing influencers and celebrities of Black and Brown communities in society is specifically the commercialization of this look. I also recently saw many different sorts of balms and products that specifically white women have created to help facilitate this look and thereby profiting off of these slick back looks. However, a key aspect of these products that I find to connect directly to Adorno and Horkheimer’s piece is “the achievement of standardization and mass production” through their progressively aggressive initiatives to remain relevant in these makeup/self-care industries (Adorno and Horkheimer, 1944, p.1). These products are not diverse nor inclusive enough for those very communities that began and cultivated these looks; the products are not functional with curly, thick, or dark hair and are rather targeting white women, the very influencers who commodified this look. This niche style, as you stated, has profound groundings in objectifying and commercializing Black and Brown culture and communities to remain in the culture industry, as supported by Adorno and Horkheimer.
Hi Bella,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on this post! I am familiar with the “Clean Girl aesthetic” from influencer videos on TikTok that show aesthetically pleasing videos of women’s morning routines, from making their beds to putting on expensive workout sets and slicking back their hair to making coffee and breakfast. However, I did not know that many aspects of this trend are taken from Black and Brown communities with little to no recognition.
Using hairstyles and accessories such as slicked-back buns and hoop earrings without credit made me think of Adorno and Horkheimer’s concept of incorporation, which often leads to appropriation. Adorno and Horkheimer explain that the culture industry observes styles of subcultural groups that differ from the norm, then decides it belongs to the mainstream culture and pulls those objects in without recognizing their origins (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1944). Influencers and other leaders of the culture industry notice Black and Brown women wearing slicked back hairstyles and gold hoops, symbols of their culture, replicate these looks on themselves and share them on social media as a form of self-promotion without crediting their sources of inspiration. Influencers and other culture industry leaders steal credit for the widespread distribution of these looks by teaching their passive audience how to reproduce them and convincing them to wear them themselves (Adorno & Horkheimer, 1944). Consumer engagement could lead to sponsorships from hair and jewelry companies, allowing “clean girl” influencers to monetize off of cultural appropriation. This post caused me to think critically about how popular culture trends could be rooted in aestheticized racism, classism, and cultural appropriation.
- Andie Goldmacher
References
Adorno, T. and Horkheimer, M. (1944). Dialectic of Enlightenment. pp. 1-12.
Hi Bella,
DeleteThank you for this insightful piece on the “clean girl aesthetic.” As a man living in the digital age, this is not an idea that I have been particularly mindful of, however after reading your piece I can see how prevalent this is. Growing up, I always thought that our sense of style changes as we get older developing our own personalities and differences, however the idea of the “clean girl aesthetic” seems to diminish the ability to develop our own sense of personal identity and style.
An article I believe furthers your idea on the effects of the “clean girl aesthetic” is Kellner’s 2007 piece, Cultural theory, classical and contemporary positions. This article relates so strongly to the “clean girl aesthetic” due to Kellner’s view that “mass culture and communications stand at the center of leisure activity, are important agents of socialization, mediators of political reality, and should thus be seen as major institutions of contemporary societies with a variety of economic, political, cultural and social effects” (pp.4). In essence, the way we dress is often a representation of ourselves as clothes, hairstyles and designs can be a proponent of conversation and individuality in the modern world. However, by limiting our range of expression to only outfits that fall under the “clean girl aesthetic” we lose our sense of individuality and clothes are no longer what Kellner describes as an “important agent of socialization,” which is so vital for self expression in the modern age.
Thank you again for your engaging article,
River Robinson
Awesome post. Really enjoyed reading it and loved learning about the connections between the Clean Girl Aesthetic and different cultures. I enjoy articles that articulate thoughts I have had in passing into in-depth analysis because they provide me with more concrete connections and facts to build my knowledge off of. I also wrote in response to prompt two, and had similar connections drawn for my topic. With these similarities in mind, I can transition one of my takes onto your topic.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though the use of black and brown hair styles and accessories by white influencers for clout and financial gain as an example of misogynoir (Bailey, 2021). Moya Bailey (2021) defines misogynoir as “uniquely co-constitutive racialized and sexist violence that befalls Black women as a result of their simultaneous and interlocking oppression at the intersection of racial and gender marginalization” (p. 1). This relates back to white influencers due to their use of black and brown styles functioning as erasure and profiteering off of specifically black women. This form of discrimination, a white individual claiming a style as one's own even though it is the product of black and brown culture, is a historically common action in America. This form of racial discrimination interlocks with sexism when this theft of culture is specifically of black women's hair styles.
Overall, a lot of "new" trends on TikTok start as a part of black and brown culture, and are eventually subverted by white influencers. This subversion undermines, in this case, black women's legitimacy in an act of erasure. This also falls in line with Bailey's idea that black women become hyper visible in media for things like hairstyles or clothing, but are invisible when it comes to urgent needs and actual problems.
- Sean McKeown
I completely agree with your findings of cultural appropriation, racism, and classism embedded in the clean girl aesthetic. Part of what makes the clean girl aesthetic – and other subtler forms of cultural appropriation – so sinister is that they typically survive immediate detection for long enough to become trendy. For a while, these types of trends can thrive in sheltered enclaves until they reach a critical mass of popularity, and people of more diverse backgrounds point out their intrinsic cultural appropriation.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminded me of the broader idea that different possessions and actions are “read” (in terms of race, class, social, and other associations) differently depending on the demographics of the actor (Sender, 2006). Some of the recommendations to “class up” on Queer Eye provide examples of this pattern. One instance is this: white men are encouraged to learn how to cook ethnic dishes and be familiar with elements of exotic cultures in order to seem more respectable, whereas men of color are encouraged to instead dress and participate in activities that make them seem more “white” in order to seem more respectable.
These recommendations imply that ethnic and cultural behaviors are not respectable when done by people of color but, when done by a white person (and often incorrectly), these behaviors create associations of being well-traveled and educated. In this way, culture is appropriated and gentrified, thus made palatable for mass consumption. It is along this same trend pattern vertical that the clean girl aesthetic lives, lifting and sanitizing elements like slicked back hair and hoop earrings from their cultural origins in order to package them into a desirable, “classy” aesthetic.
Sender, K. (2006). Queens for a day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the neoliberal project.
Sender, K. (2006). Queens for a day: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and the neoliberal project.
Delete- Elizabeth Chen
Awesome post about the clean girl aesthetic! You made lots of really relevant points and got me thinking about harm caused by the trend in a way I never had before.
ReplyDeleteI think Moya Bailey’s “Misogynoir” helps to further explain the problematic nature of the clean girl aesthetic. Bailey defines misogynoir as “the uniquely co-constitutive racialized and sexist violence that befalls Black women” as a result of interlocking racial and gender oppression. While white women who choose to opt for simple hairstyles and minimal makeup looks are often praised as effortlessly beautiful, the Black women who partake in these looks are often criticized. For example, just this week I saw in the news that Keke Palmer expressed anger towards comments calling her ugly and lazy in a photo where she wasn’t wearing a lot of makeup. These differences in how women of color and white women who embrace the same style help to illustrate how Bailey’s concept manifests in everyday life: As a result of misogynoir, Black women are rarely seen as “effortless” and “naturally beautiful” in the same way that white women are.
Bailey also emphasizes that while misogynoir leaves Black women hypervisible through poor representation like those which characterizes them as lazy and unattractive, it also leaves them “invisible when in need of attention.” I am familiar with the concept of the clean girl, largely through its strong presence on Tik Tok. All of the clean girl videos on my Tik Tok “for you” page show white, thin women who meet traditional beauty standards. I had no idea that the trend stemmed from Black culture before I read your blog post, and this is another result of misogynoir. The Black creators are “invisible” within the world of the Tik Tok clean girl, not given any credit for the trend that they started.
After reading your blog post, I’ve concluded that the clean girl is problematic in the same way that many other viral Tik Tok trends are: They co-opt creations from marginalized communities, utilizing them for their own benefit without giving credit. Thanks for educating me on the harmful implications of the clean girl!
– Katie Bartlett
Hi Bella,
ReplyDeleteReally interesting read about the “Clean Girl Aesthetic”, which has certainly been taking my Instagram Reels and Tik Tok feeds by storm recently. I was completely unaware of the racial history of the trend and that it could be considered cultural appropriation to some, so thank you for that information and background. While reading your post, I couldn’t help but wonder if the “Clean Girl Aesthetic”, while harmful to marginalized communities, is a way for Tik Tok or Instagram influencers to practice communicative intimacies with their fan bases, to develop perceived interconnectedness as described by Crystal Abidin in one of our class readings this semester.
As you mentioned, the “Clean Girl Aesthetic” is based on an effortful effortless look, featuring slicked back hair, glossy lips, and looking like you didn’t try too hard. It is a more natural look, which to me is a modern spin on the classic #NoMakeupNoFilter trend that was popular around the 2010s. This may be a way for influencers, who used to put on a full face of heavy makeup when it was trendy, to relate better to their followers who are not famous themselves. It is a way for influencers to make it seem like their “back stage and front stage” (Goffman) are closer in nature than is true, therefore making them seem more like everyday, average people, and better connecting with their fans. Abidin writes that “a key feature of lifestyle influencers is documenting the trivial and mundane aspects of everyday life”, and I think the “Clean Girl Aesthetic” is an attempt, albeit a harmful one, at just that.
- Isabella DiCampli