Why I’m bored of everything becoming a trend that ultimately leads to consumption.
Anyone on my side of the internet will have seen countless posts of people making their life more “whimsy” using rhinestones, bright colours, glitter and all things that my inner child objectively loves. On my LinkedIn, I’ve seen a lot of fellow social media executives talking about the end of the “beige mum” aesthetic with this new fun, colourful and playful trend.
Now, to my core I am a girly girl (woman but it doesn’t have the same ring). I have pink frilly bedsheets that I’ve had since the start of uni, I still have my tiaras from when I was a kid, I giggle and squeal over my new vintage shoes. I am a lover of all things whimsical, fantasy and creative. And I have been enjoying the shift away from the “clean girl” aesthetic into an era of more fun, play and self expression. But, I am finding myself increasingly more exhausted by all the “whimsy” content, and have been asking myself if all the people feeding into this trend truly like what’s being produced from it, or if they’re just being sucked into the next personality trait that is being capitalised, and what things can be purchased to evoke that .
This piece will unpick the current trend of covering everything with stickers, gems, and rhinestones in an attempt at being “whimsy”, and what this may actually represent in today’s society.
Where did it start?
I can understand where the “whims-ification” comes from and its origins are multifaceted. For one, the world is continually in a state of unrest and we’re all turning to nostalgia as a form of distraction. Secondly, trends have always been cyclical and ever changing (think puffed sleeves and flares), just in the 21st century the rate in which this happens has sky rocketed. Moving through the brat summer, the clean girl era, and now into “whimsy”. A trend by no means pioneered by, but definitely encourage and pushed by the likes of Kylie Jenner. As someone perpetually worried about the state of the world, I can understand the desire to cover anything and everything with stickers, beads, rhinestones and anything shiny. Besides, I did actually bedazzle my lighters in first year university (back in ahem 2023, ahead of the trend, some may say).
But what does “whimsy” actually mean?
As with all language, the meaning of whimsical, or whimsy, will be prone to evolving and changing over time as it moves through social groups and areas of the world. Mina Le made an excellent video on this recently which spoke about internet language and how terms that originated in incel culture (e.g -maxxing) are drifting into mainstream media, which I would highly recommend. Language isn’t fixed, language has always mutated – especially English which (no surprise there) has a habit of “borrowing” from other cultures. If we strip back the word to its meanings, Oxford dictionary defines “whimsy” as a playfully quirky or fanciful idea or behaviour, and “whimsical” as unusual and not serious in a way that is either amusing or annoying. So, in either sense, not bedazzling your sheet face masks.
Is the internet turning whimsy into a capitalist trap?
When searching “whimsymaxxing” up on TikTok, this is the kind of results I found. (This is in no way hate to any of these creators, keep doing what makes you happy).
What stood out to me post about all these images is, this trend will last likely a couple weeks – how the hell are you going to use 20,000 stickers? And what are you putting them on that won’t end up in landfill by autumn?
This is where “whimsy” stops being self-expression and starts becoming a supply chain. Every time a new trend hits the socials and gets a name, a “maxxing” suffix, it becomes searchable – therefore sellable. Temu and Shein storefronts fill rapidly with rhinestone sheet stickers, bedazzling guns, all things fit for a whimsy starter pack. Amazon’s algorithm starts surfacing gem stickers before you’ve even finished typing “whim—” in the search bar. None of this exists to actually encourage you to find more whimsy and joy in your life. It exists because a trend cycle that used to take a season now takes about twelve days, and someone, somewhere, is very happy to sell you the aesthetic in kit form before it expires.
If this really fits your personal aesthetic, and brings you joy then who am I to stop you? But I do want to gently ask, do you actually like this? Or is it just a stop-gap to the next thing the interest decides is in?
My personal view
I think that finding ways to add more fun and play into everyday life is a great idea, because after all joy is revolution and I stand by that. But does this mean you need to cover your matcha cups with stickers? No. Especially when this will just end up in landfill, and lord knows we have enough of that to last all of our lifetimes combined.
If you’ve seen this trend and felt inspired to bedazzle something, maybe look back on what you bought in the last micro-trend before you order anything new. Where is your leopard print phone case from the mob wives trend? Just collecting dust in your drawer or still on your phone? Where is your labubu? What about your Owala waterbottle?
Bedazzle these first. Let something you already own live a longer life before getting chucked. And next time, think twice before ordering off Amazon or temu something you won’t think twice about as soon as kylie Jenner decides to cover her face in face paint, or fruit stickers, or glow in the dark stars – whatever the media decides to capitalise on next.
Closing note
None of this is actually about rhinestones, or glitter, as these are things I actually love. This is about how quickly we’ve let joy have a shelf life – bought, photographed, posted, binned. All in time for the next thing the media collectively decides is cooler.
“Whimsy” at its actual definition, doesn’t have a price tag. It’s a way of looking at the world, an attitude that I think in this current climate we could all do with more of. So pull out your pink frilly sheets, keep your tiaras, but maybe keep the stickers on the shelf. Or at the very least get them second hand.
Thanks for reading! This is also live on my Substack.
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