Recently to a friend's house party, after entering the door to see the home is not simple, even some messy furnishings, the guests said: I didn't expect your home to be so messy. Although it is an acquaintance, it is enough to embarrass the owner, so I broke the siege and said: This is not chaos, this is Cluttercore!
Well?
Cluttercore is not a word I made up. "Clutter" is a clutter, "core" refers to a certain type or style, and Cluttercore represents a chaotic and orderly aesthetic style that appears mainly in the home.
"Chaos" can also become a style, which is the mysterious power of the Internet.
If you've seen American teen movies in the '90s and '00s, you're no stranger to this style, and rooms filled with posters and all kinds of ornaments were standard for teenagers of that era.
Juneau Juno (2007)
Bring It On (2000)
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
But back then, perhaps since Instagram became the center of the web, young people's aesthetics have continued to move in the direction of minimalism, from good-looking compositions to every aspect of life.
Translated into various languages and sold worldwide, Marie Kondo has her own reality TV series, e-courses, lecture tours around the world, and thousands of people on social media who want to teach you how to break away.
Cluttercore is being born in these times.
The earliest use of the word comes from a short video posted last July by Tik Tok user billiamthewadford, who summarized his preferences for room décor as cluttercore and gave a set of schematic photos:
Not only have netizens said that they are fans of aesthetics, but the media has also smelled the wind and reported it as a new trend.
Reporting on Marie Claire, The Guardian and i-D
At this point I know you're going to ask:
Not.
The biggest difference is that cluttercore chaos is a conscious, well-crafted mess. First, let's look at some positive examples 👇
@munichjungle
@one.peculiar.home
@layered.home
@thecrimplenequeen
@knitchings
@prettypocketprojects
@zynp
@bestlittlehoardhouse
@brightsun_13
@summer_svenson
Although these complex, chaotic, and beautiful rooms are packed, it is not difficult to see that the placement of these objects has been considered, with a certain pattern or to achieve some kind of harmony.
The choice of these "clutter" is also exquisite, they often belong to the same style or category, and we know that they are not just piled up there, but displayed on the ground. They highlight the personality of the owner, or have an interest or emotional importance to the owner. They are debris, but not waste.
Some netizens described Cluttercore as
"An organized mess. Full of personality, being in it makes you feel satisfied, like a big hug in all aspects. ”
@moreismore__
In fact, messy beauty can hardly be called a new style, and in addition to the films mentioned at the beginning, we can often find similar chaos in the homes and studios of many creators, artists, writers, and studios.
Painter Francis Bacon's studio:
Painter David Hockney's studio:
Writer Will Self's Writing Room:
Writing room by British food writer Nigella Lawson:
Fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent's studio in the Paris Museum:
Photo by Landen Kerr
And Miyazaki is also a master of clutter aesthetics, not only the studio is the standard cluttercore:
Scenes from Ghibli films are also often used by clutercore enthusiasts as a source of inspiration and aesthetic templates.
Hal's moving castle, borrowing something from the little man Aliati
These messes are partly for practical reasons, and the tools needed to create need to be within reach. But for creators, bright colors and diverse objects are also a stimulus, inspiring new inspiration and ideas.
If minimalism calms people down, cluttercore may make you more confusing and complex, but sometimes it may be exactly what we need.
The Internet's penchant for inventing new words, giving a variety of weird hobbies and styles a unique name is not new, and the birth of cluttercore is not surprising, but it is the more interesting place at the point in time it appears.
Why does the chaotic beauty that has long appeared frequently in people's homes and film and television works suddenly have its own new name in 2020?
At a time when minimalism has taken over virtual and real spaces, this may be an inevitability.
Some argue that minimalism is an aesthetic that belongs to millennials, while Gen Z is more focused on personal expression, like the difference between Instagram and Tik Tok.
Gen Z is less interested in the monolithicity of minimalism and wants to show off their hobbies, tastes, and interests with colorful objects.
On the other hand, the minimalist trend is occasionally mixed with elitist tendencies.
Minimalism pursues physical and psychological order and purity, and in the process of propagation and practice, it is difficult to inevitably form a value judgment. We can find a similar narrative in the hype about "healthy eating," where the consumption of junk food is seen as a form of moral corruption, but ignores many of the realities that influence people to make food-related choices.
If having less is "good," then clutter is laziness and lack of self-control, so being tidy becomes a source of anxiety.
Living in an ever-evolving world, but the many problems of history that make it increasingly difficult to have a relaxed and quiet life, Gen Z is always skeptical of elites and authorities, and the minimalist aesthetic that has long become a "mainstream" is clearly not in line with their orientation.
@whatever_happened_to_miss_wolf
The impact of the pandemic has also been fueled.
On the one hand, our lives have more uncertainty, so that the pursuit of the satisfaction of the present is more advanced in the needs of many people, people are no longer so demanding to "be the best of themselves", and chaos becomes an acceptable state.
At the same time, the family scene has also changed. The home has become a place where functions such as work, sports, and entertainment occur outside of family life, and these added functions require more objects and space, and having more "miscellaneous things" has become a solution full of realistic considerations.
@colorful_kimmes
Some people see cluttercore as a long-lost aesthetic mentor, while others feel that this is simply something out of nothing. I asked a circle of friends around me (online), and their opinions were different, but they all seemed to make sense.
Columnist Julia Horvath once wrote a passage in her article on how to practice minimalism that seems to me to be equally applicable to clutter beauty:
The opposite of minimalism is not extreme complexity, but ignorance, the unthinking of the items you own, see, buy, use, and the people you interact with, passively floating in the wave of marketing, algorithms, toxic relationships. Minimalism is not about having or not owning much, it's more about the general attitude of mindfulness, being in control, consciously choosing the environment and objects around you.
The world is inherently complex, and clarity and simplicity are just a fantasy, and perhaps the ultimate meaning of cluttercore is: the next time someone thinks you're too messy, you can finally politely ask him to take care of himself. ☁️
Author: Integrated rotation
Design: Andy