Underconsumption Core” is all over TikTok. But does it really make us more aware?
Style Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the rest of the world.
The idea of reducing our consumption, but making it “aesthetic,” is nothing new, from the contemporary minimalist movement to the “disinfluence” trend and the heyday of the Marie Kondo method. Arguably it even goes back further, to the World War II-era mandate to “fix and mend.”
Now a brilliant new variation has emerged. On TikTok and Instagram, where people are more likely to brag about collecting designer brands and unpacking huge purchases, influencers brag about wearing the same ripped jeans from seasons past or using a hair straightener for more than a decade. And since “-core” is quickly added to everything on TikTok, whether we like it or not, the “underconsumption core” was quickly dubbed the next big thing. But is this a fleeting trend considering the life expectancy of last winter’s mob wives? A growing lifestyle movement? Value stolen from the working class? It depends on who you ask.
Aja Barber, author of Consumed and contributing editor at ELLE UK, is an avid repurposer of her wardrobe. She recently began repairing a Moroccan basket she bought at a flea market as a teenager and which she says is more than 35 years old. Today she wears her high school gymnastics leotards again for her ballet classes. On his Patreon, he asks his subscribers questions like, “What’s something old that you started reusing that you’ll enjoy?”
But while Barber’s lifestyle could be considered an example of core underconsumption, she resists the term. “I get a little worried when people [call it] core or trend. No, no, no, no, no. This is called living a normal life,” he says. “They are called regular things that we should all do. The way we lived for a long time and the way your parents lived. But if calling it a trend is what makes people care, then I’m here for that too.”
I get a little worried when people [call it] core or trend. This is called living a normal life.”
She notes that the current online obsession with underconsumption is rooted in disinfluence, which she says “started with, ‘You don’t need this.’ Then people looking to cash in on the trend said, ‘Don’t buy this, buy this instead!’ “I am concerned about how messages are manipulated to benefit the consumerist cycle in which we seem to be trapped.” With the social media cycle and its emphasis on “next, next, next,” he fears any progress will be short-lived. “How do we maintain it? “How do we stop being a trend and start thinking about how it should be normalized?”
Andrea Cheong, author of Why Don’t I Have Anything to Wear and host of the Fashion Our Future podcast, has always emphasized “sustainable shopping, not sustainable brands,” because, as she says, “you can’t really buy sustainability.” .” She believes our relationship with clothing consumption is somewhat broken. “I don’t think anyone has been taught to buy [clothes] the same way we are taught to buy food, by reading nutritional labels.”
Like Barber, Cheong reminds me that what might seem like a completely new trend on her For You page is a long-standing practice in many communities. For example, he points out that in some Asian cultures, used clothing was turned into pajamas or “home clothes.” The only difference is that we now have a broader window into different approaches to consumption. Social networks “have invited anyone who can download an app and upload a video to create content. And before, when you had this elitist hierarchy of influencers or celebrities, now you have a more democratized algorithm,” he says. Also driving the movement is the backlash against excessive transports and the “swipe up for more!” culture of excessive consumption in our feeds.
“This isn’t going anywhere… you’re going to see your fingerprints everywhere.”
“People who have always done this will continue to do it, and maybe people who were unsure or embarrassed about doing it won’t feel as embarrassed. [But] I don’t necessarily think it’s going to cause this big seismic shift in perspective,” Cheong says. What he does find interesting is that “people don’t do this because, above all, they think: ‘I’m very sustainable.’ They do it because it saves them money.” Ultimately, he believes, “it doesn’t really matter how we get there. As long as people follow these more mindful and conscious practices, the goal is the same: slow down, buy less, use your stuff more often.
“Calling it a trend does not mean that it has simply appeared. It means that you are actually super anchored in something. When someone hears the word trend, we think of it as something temporary,” he adds. “This is not going anywhere. “This is going to rear its head in slightly different ways, but you’re going to see his fingerprints all over it.”
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