Nostalgia in trends: The 2014 Tumblr aesthetic has returned | The Stony Brook Press

Graphic by Michael Kearney. It feels so scary getting old The year is 2014. I’m listening to Lorde’s Pure Heroine while waiting for the bus to middle school — anxious about if I’ll make it there on time. As I scroll through my Instagram feed, I’m welcomed with numerous renditions of the “Keep Calm And Carry On” memes, images that glamorize oil spills inches away from Dr. Martens boots, grungy teens smoking cigarettes and an influx of The Fault In Our Stars fan edits. Little did I know that these were glimmers of what defined a short-lived pop culture moment that came and went — the 2014 Tumblr aesthetic.  The 2014 Tumblr aesthetic took social media by storm in the early 2010s. Fostering a whirlwind of photos with moody color palettes and typically edited with high contrast, this beloved yet dark aesthetic depicted the melancholy of everyday life, such as abandoned alleyways and distant cityscapes. It also ignited a nostalgia that felt inborn, with photographs coated in black and white, grainy and overexposed filters reminiscent of Polaroids and old camera effects. At the time, the main pioneers of these pop culture choices were the millennials, paying homage to ‘90s grunge
Read More