Brand me Baby: why is aesthetic so important?
Millennials are the sofa when it comes to personal branding, where that’s in your career path, style, art, or even day-to-day activities. But it’s our Gen Z that has managed to make the 360 spin and in bed the meaning of branding into the life identity and fricking CV. 2025 is no longer about what your interests are, but how you display them on and off the grid. Whether it’s accessorising your water bottle to your outfit or posting that sunset picture on Instagram. Gen Z have managed to make ANYTHING look like the Dolce Vida lifestyle, baby.
Your entire social media presence is your resume in everybody’s eyes. Instagram grids? An entire vault of life and emotional experiences someone can examine in as easy as a scroll. Or perhaps your Pinterest boards. That’s your dreams, ambitions and milestones packed into carefully curated pixels all made by you. And in a world where imagination is everything. A first glance at your TikTok account or LinkedIn link is crucial to survive and push through the leaderboard. Your Aesthetic is your brand. It even goes as far as to your dating appeal and future job prospects. That screams to the creative industries, who almost always look over your online footprint before your professional resume.
(Images sourced by Unsplash)
But why the intense obsession?
The importance of visual stories is one of his most powerful things that Gen Z hold the ability to design their own identity. Anaesthetic is what empowers you and gives you control in dictating how you live and appear. The power of displaying identity is so fluid and widespread that it has the ability to dictate everything you say without having to actually say it.
An example of this to understand Clara could be a simple as punk culture forming the connection of enjoying aesthetic style and the music industry to how it determines your political views and ideologies. You don’t just enjoy minimal makeup long runs. You’re in your “clean girl era” every. single. Action and interest are a part of your algorithm and creating your character.
Now, many are going to say that this all equates to how shallow Gen Z can be, and this is NOT the case. Being obsessed with aesthetics and style is expressing each and every individual is different errors and versions of themselves, whether it’s through their mood, current path in life, etc, which is all dictated by the media. Almost like journaling it with the entire world on your journeys and chapters in your own life. Bring the crowd along with you.
So, do you feel that your brand is you, or does it subsist as your alter ego? Either way, the aesthetic you curated consciously or not is real and tasteful. And maybe strategic, which isn’t a bad thing, honey. Just make sure to make it “Aesthetic”. It’ll get you further than you think in 2025.
By Emily Ayse Jemal.
