I’m a mermaid and I stand for something

“I want to be as beautiful as the ocean,” a sultry female voice murmurs in the video, “Because the ocean is strong as fuck, and feminine as fuck. Sometimes I pray to the ocean.” Below the quote are images of a moonlit surf and coral reefs, interspersed with shell bags, earrings like starfish and mother-of-pearl eye shadow. The TikTok video is tagged #mermaidcore.

Mermaidcore is one of many so-called “aesthetics” on TikTok. “Aesthetics” is a broad term on social media that encompasses fashion, hobbies, and lifestyle. It is about consumption, but it often also involves a certain mood or political vision. The ‘-core’ suffix comes from hardcore and is used to classify social media trends.

However, surrender to the sea is a recurring theme

Mermaidcore uses imagery of mermaids and promotes fashion inspired by these mythical creatures. The style is recognizable by a palette of pastel colors and the use of shiny, transparent fabrics with a frayed finish. It is important that the images radiate something dreamy, romantic and feminine. #mermaidcore has now been searched more than 370 million times on TikTok.

That popularity is partly due to the live-action remake of Disneys The little Mermaid, which came out in May. In some TikTok videos, people refer directly to the new film, for example by imitating the outfits of main character Ariel. But other series, films, pop music and books are also used. Like most TikTok trends, it’s a potpourri of popular culture, a remix of existing elements. For example, the aforementioned quote about the sea comes from the popular HBO series Euphoria and videos with the hashtag often sound like a sailor’s song Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Also Tchaikovskys The swanlake and the animated movie Moana are used. To an outsider, the collection of fragments may seem inscrutable, but ‘random’ it is anything but.

Desire

“Aesthetics are always an expression of a political or social undercurrent,” says Marissa Willcox, lecturer in new media and digital culture at the University of Amsterdam. Like subcultures, you can think of a digital aesthetic as a reaction to mainstream culture, she says. “It is more than just wearing pearls and shells. You have to ask yourself: what is the need that a trend is fulfilling for a particular community?”

A clear example of how TikTok trends can respond to social developments is cottagecore. During the pandemic, this was one of the most popular aesthetics and the hashtag has since been viewed a whopping 14 billion times. Just as Romanticism in the nineteenth century was a reaction to the industrial revolution, cottagecore during the pandemic was a reaction to the extremely digital life that was forced on everyone. The result: endless montages of romantic images of meadows, English cottages, baskets of apples, vegetable gardens and long skirts. The videos formed an escapist daydream that connected to a shared sense of alienation and a desire for a simpler, purer life far away from Zoom calls and face masks. Willcox: “It is striking and ironic that digital trends increasingly have an anti-technology edge.”

The idea of ​​escaping to another, more peaceful and natural fantasy world is also central to mermaidcore. There are people who really dress up as a mermaid, plastic fishtail and all. But most of the current mermaid trend is much less literal. However, the surrender to the sea is a recurring theme, with countless images of young women walking into the ocean. Often the relationship to the sea is presented almost spiritually. „Sometimes I pray to the ocean” is the last part of the commonly used Euphoria quote for a reason. The mermaid symbolizes a primeval world in which man and nature are connected in a mythical way.

Dark sirens

However, the central political theme in the mermaid trend is feminism. On social media, young people talk through trends and aesthetics about how femininity and feminism can be shaped in the 21st century. “It doesn’t have to be explicit,” says Willcox. “For example, it could be about adopting unconventional forms of femininity and experimenting with fashion and the image of what a female body should look like.”

Mermaidcore fits in a series of trends in which hyper-femininity is used as a commentary on society. Barbiecore, for example, where people indulge in the traditional image of femininity, inspired by the toy doll (and boosted by a new movie, Barbie by Greta Gerwig). Bright pink clothing, heels and plastic accessories are back, especially among young feminists. “Young women realize that femininity is always controlled,” says Willcox. “No matter what they do, they will always be criticized for their appearance or their clothes. So they say: fuck itI can be hyper-feminine and a feminist.”

It seems inscrutable, but it’s not ‘random’

TikTok just wouldn’t be TikTok if there wasn’t another counter-reaction. In the case of mermaidcore: sirencore, sometimes called sea witch-core. Sirens are portrayed as the dark counterpart to the pastel colored mermaids. Instead of cheerful Disney energy and romantic images of sunsets, tiktokers in these films use the archetype of a dark water nymph, who lures sailors with her song so that they drown. These male devourers also focus on femininity, but the political overtones are even clearer there, says Willcox. “In the siren trend, the anger is much more on the surface. They say: we can be both very feminine and scary. It is an answer to men who confuse femininity with weakness.”

But the activism of the trends should not be overestimated. For many users, trends are mainly that: hypes, for which you have to purchase the right items. You become a mermaid by buying things, seems to be the conclusion in many films. Many of the videos are about “must-have” pieces to get in on the mermaid trend. There are even accounts that provide a shopping list of items to purchase per TikTok aesthetic. This often concerns cheap clothing from fast fashion companies, such as the Chinese SHEIN. This popular company responds to online trends, but has already been discredited several times due to human rights violations and the climate damage associated with production.

Overconsumption

“SHEIN is really a monstrous company,” says Kim Poldner, lecturer in circular business at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. “Companies like this cause a lot of damage to people and the planet.” The global clothing industry already has a large climate footprint, which is only getting bigger, the result of a fashion image that is changing faster and faster, in which social media such as TikTok play a major role.

“But there is also a growing counter-movement,” says Poldner. “Young people may still run to the store to buy pearlescent glitter tops, but there is increasing awareness about sustainability.” Second-hand clothing has been on the rise for years, and it is expected that in 2030 the second-hand market will even be larger than that of fast fashion. And that trend is also partly driven by social media such as TikTok, with videos in which it is extensively discussed how second-hand mermaid outfits not only save money, but also water.

If you look around the mermaidcore world, it is indeed striking how many do-it-yourself videos there are, about how you can make your own jewelry, or how to transform old clothes into mermaid-like skirts and cardigans. Poldner is hopeful: “You will not get away with it in the fashion world if you are not involved in sustainability.” Like Willcox, she emphasizes that the online presence young people should not be underestimated. “A platform like TikTok is part of the problem, but maybe it can also be part of the solution.”

And perhaps it is not surprising that attention is paid to sustainability in the mermaid trend. For young people who fantasize about a different, deeper relationship with nature, the theme of climate change is not far off. “Did you know that the oceans play a crucial role in CO₂storage on our planet?” someone asks, for example, in a video with dancing girls and a rolling surf. “This precious balance of our oceans must be protected!”