a e s t h e t i c

two palms. by me.

Lately I’ve been really into the vaporwave aesthetic. Of course, it’s a hefty part nostalgia, but that’s not it entirely. There’s something about it that’s just, well, aesthetically pleasing. Bright colors, geometry, glitches, electronic. It’s kind of the intersection of all those things which I’ve always enjoyed anyway, but mashed together in one big delightfully fun aesthetic. I enjoy incorporating bits of it into my life where I can. I’ve listened to synthwave for a while now. In fact, here’s one of my favorite synthwave tracks – hit play, it will make good reading accompaniment:

I decided to start incorporating the look into my life. I started small, getting a few accessories that didn’t really scream “vaporwave,” but maybe sort of nudged and winked about it.

Bright yellow journal (yellow is my favorite color, to boot), bright green backpack. Nothing that really says HEY, REMEMBER THE 80s?? but makes me feel a little more in tune with the vaporwave groove.

Since then, I’ve gotten a little bolder. I’d known about CowCow dresses for a while, but never really seriously investigated buying one before. But I decided to check out some styles, and found several geometric styles which tickled my fancy, and settled on one that looked like it could have been a bumper screen for Saved by the Bell:

I happened to have a pink button down which I think complements the dress really nicely. I still haven’t actually worn this getup out of the house yet, but uh.. at least it’s in my closet, right?? Baby steps, haha.

I feel really excited by my recent find. The other day, I was googling around on different online vaporwave aesthetic clothing vendors, and found lots of cool stuff – but all of it carried really high price tags. I thought to myself, well, I could blow $40 on a t shirt, or I could try my luck thrifting. I didn’t ACTUALLY think I’d get lucky. I thought I’d waste my time, and then I’d feel better about dropping so much money on an online find. But then, 4 hours into a massive tour of the Goodwills nearest my house, I found the most amazing little bomber jacket:

LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY. Palm trees, bright colors, vaguely glitched art look with the overlapping geometric shapes. I really could actually not believe I found this. Best of all? Price tag of a mere $5.99. Yaaas. For some reason it was labeled as a shirt and put in with the long-sleeve shirts, rather than in with the jackets. Thanks, random Goodwill employee, for categorizing it wrong! I don’t think this style of jacket is made anymore, but from what I could tell, it retailed for $40 new. I think you can see in my face how JAZZED I was to find this. The highlight of my thrifting trip!! And my backpack is going to look great worn with this. 😀

But of course, now that’s my new goal. I go thrifting regularly as it is, but my trips just got even more intense, as I imagine I’ll be raking the clothing aisles now too, looking for other gems.

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