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Hi, everyone and welcome back to happy hour. 欢迎回来酒馆. Hi, 安澜.

Hi, Lulu, hi, everyone.

Can I just say something I know this is not in... this is kind of veering off the topic, but I never understand old money aesthetics because you're either old money or you're not. You cannot dress like old money because that defeats the whole purpose of being old money.

Well, I was told that my fashion sense tends to be a bit more old money aesthetic.

Well.

But to be honest that's not because I have money, I really don't have any money whatsoever, but it's just that's the style of clothes that I like.

You like neutral colors.

I like neutral colors, I like just very sort of classical clothes. Shall we say.

Oh, classic, not classical I guess.

Oh, yeah. Classic clothes.

Classical, you have the French collars and stuff.

Yeah.

Yeah, but then nowadays among the it girls, there's the clean girl, aesthetic.

OK.

It's that my skin naturally glows without that much products.

Oh, yeah.

And that requires a lot of discipline, that requires a lot of efforts actually.

Well, exactly. So the difference is quite subtle. Core tends to be a bit more playful, bit more about the culture.

Yeah.

Aesthetic is a bit more polished, more aspirational.

Like fashion trend related more, but they're all part of the same machine really.

Well exactly.

So the question really is, why do we need a name for every single vibe?

The short answer is which is the answer to everything that is happening, the algorithm.

Okay.

Yeah. So platforms like TikTok, Instagram, they love clear visual concepts that can be understood in three seconds, can be... we can slap a hashtag next to it.

So #old money aesthetic, #dreamcore, college core if you can slap a core on something, it becomes searchable, shareable, and endlessly reproducible.

Oh, exactly. And it's also a bit of identity play, isn't it really? Because one day you could be gorpcore, one day you could be cottagecore.

Yeah.

You're essentially like playing different roles.

You are not just wearing these clothes. You are wearing that persona.

Yeah. And this is where the paradox starts because the promise is about being individual. You express yourself, you find your aesthetic, you’re unique. But how it's delivered is in the most conformity-inducing way possible.

Yeah. it's like I'm trying to be different but just like everyone else.

Like everyone else.

Yeah, exactly. Because I mean, like I said again and again and again in the live stream and in our podcast, in this age of social media, everything is algorithm, everything is traffic, and the algorithm rewards traffic. It rewards the same visuals, the same codes and same look.

So that's why everyone ends up wearing the same thing at the same time.

Oh, yeah. So basically you can be any core that you want as long as it's one of the five cores that are trending this week.

En. Have you noticed that probably when we were growing up.

Yeah.

If we ended up seeing people like when we traveled, even when we were in our like late teens, early 20s, when we travel to other countries, people looked different.

Oh, yeah.

But now everyone looked the same.

Oh, yeah.

I remember when I was in my 20s going to Paris and I remember going into shops and like seeing the clothes that were on sale there and I really like them because you couldn't really find those type of styles in London.

So I bought a few of those jackets. For example, and the great thing is that back then you could go to different place and you could see completely different styles, but now it's all the same.

Fast fashion and algorithm really changed that.

Oh, yeah. If you imagine like when we were younger, people had a style of clothes and they stuck to it. You think about all of those TV shows when for example a woman wants to make a big life choice so she completely changes her look. Now that's just called Tuesday.

Exactly. The thing is the core system. This core and that core system creates the illusion of choice. You can be any core you want. As long as it's one of the five cores that are trending this week.

Exactly.

And I think here's the uncomfortable part. The trend cycle has accelerated. I know you don't keep tabs on or you're not keeping up to date with all of the cores, but I do, so much that these trend cycles is speeding up so much that is almost impossible to keep up.

Oh, yeah.

They're not called trends anymore, they're called microtrends.

And it's ridiculous. I just think that all of the waste, really, in terms of clothes and things like that.

But then again I also do like the idea. There's a lot more flexibility in choosing what style you want to dress in.

Well, honestly, I do like the idea of underconsumption core, although the fact they call it a core is weird, but the underconsumption core is basically a rebellion against this system of wasteful spending, wasteful consumption, hoarding, the whole culture.

Yes.

Yeah. I guess the reason why they call it underconsumption core is because social media demands it. You need to slap a label on it.

Exactly.

So we're essentially... when we're talking about cores and aesthetics, we're not even talking about fashion cycle anymore. We're talking about a content cycle and as a content creator myself, I find that exhausting.

Oh, yeah.

A professor quoted in one analysis that's:

Microtrends now last anywhere from a few weeks to 3 months. And this speed is driven by the platforms themselves simply because short form content demands novelty. If users get bored, they scroll away. So the feed always has to have something new.

Yeah, so a look can only stay interesting for so long before it becomes familiar, then over saturated and then just tiresome.

Oh, yeah.

And then it has to be replaced.

Well exactly.

Our attention span is getting ridiculously short.

And the cost though is not just financial, it's psychological. It’s that feeling of burnout, the idea of trend-maxing, exhaustion, the fatigue of taking part in every single viral trend.

So what's the escape? Is there any way that we can get out of this?

I mean you see push backs, although they're also calling themselves core like underconsumption core, right?

Yeah.

Have you heard of earthcore or like hobbitcore.

Being very short?

No, it's more like...as you can probably imagine the natural materials, the earthy tones, the handcrafted texture, so it's all a push back against I guess fast fashion.

OK.

All of these perfectly curated image.

Yeah.

So intentionally unpolished, raw and imperfect.

Oh, yeah.

Em, but I think there is the ultimate antidote. There is a mentioning of the idea of me-core which sounds really narcissistic, but I kind of understand that. So instead of chasing all these microtrends, just find your own personal style.

OK.

This thing doesn't need to have a hashtag. This thing will last longer than 3 weeks.

But cannot even exist though in the algorithm or does it just become another trend?

Er.... Well, I'm sure it's gonna be another trend, but that's the million dollar question, isn't it? Maybe the answer is that you can use the language core without being used by it.

Okay.

You can enjoy the aesthetic play without feeling like you have to buy a new wardrobe, a new set of everything every week. But I know you're not affected by it.

No.

You've been “me-coring” for ages now.

Yeah, I'm quite happy with the clothes I wear and I know that you've been encouraging me to sort of diversify my styles, but I quite like my blue shirts.

It's okay, stick to your “old money”aesthetics.

Yeah.

So hopefully at least you become new money.

Oh, well. Hopefully I get money just in general really.

All right. So jokes aside, let's wrap up today's episode. What kind of cores and aesthetics you have followed or you have heard of, leave us a comment in the comment section.

Come on, guys. I know you don't like leaving comments, but we would really appreciate your comments.

We'd like something to read.

Yeah. And we also like to be encouraged.

Exactly.

You guys are our inspiration to continue this podcast. So leave us a comment in the comment section or put in your request for any other topics that you want us to talk about.

We'll see you next time.

See you next time.

Bye.

Bye.

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