Every other aesthetic trend is about who girls want to be.

@rachelissan

99.4K followers · usually 1.5K views a post

Views

61.3K

Likes

7.0K

Comments

318

Why it worked

The video succeeds by providing a deep, intellectual cultural analysis of a niche internet trend, validating the audience's feelings of nostalgia and economic frustration rather than just showcasing the aesthetic.

Summary

The creator analyzes the 'Tuscan Mom' aesthetic trend, explaining it as a form of cultural mourning for a perceived lost, attainable lifestyle from the early 2000s. She argues that Gen Z's interest in this aesthetic reflects a desire to escape the pressure of constant self-performance and 'cringe' judgment.

Structure

1Introduction to the Tuscan Mom trend
2Defining the aesthetic and its cultural roots
3Why Gen Z is drawn to this specific era
4The difference between 'performing' and 'mourning' a lifestyle
5Advice for brands on understanding this shift

On-screen text

Tuscan Mom girl yearning for the life that was promised this is your sign to romanticize your life & live your tuscan mom fantasy 2000s TUSCAN MOM OUTFITS the inspo is 2000s tuscan mom this is your sign to romanticize your life & live your tuscan mom fantasy pov you're a rich mom in 2002 in another life i'm a mom in 2005 who wears Juicy Couture to carpool, has a Motorola Razr with a pink rhinestone case, and watches Desperate Housewives like it's a documentary in her Tuscan mansion idk y but somehow Tuscan is so comforting This is the vibe my mom gave off for most of my life Im homesick for this Back when "the life" was obtainable the life I was promised To be an early 2000s Tuscan mom 2000s Tuscan mom style I thought this was peak wealth as a kid In hindsight it's giving Macaroni Grill. yearning for early 2000s tuscan mom core idk y but somehow Tuscan is so comforting I yearn to be a Tuscan mom with a house that looks like Olive Garden Seriously, the life I was ACTUALLY promised but that rug got pulled from right under me. POV your sister says we're dressing like 2000s "Tuscan moms" tonight 2000s Tuscan mom style Outfits I wear as a Tuscan mom who grew up in the early 2000s 2000s Tuscan mom aesthetic Clavicular reveals his method of .TIP-TOE MAXXING whenever having to take off your shoes whilst height-haunting. I mourn this era so so much. The life I was promised This is the life I was promised I feel so 2000s mum wearing this dress while cooking I was cheated Coastal GRANDMA STYLE Capsule Wardrobe Essentials the life I was promised this is your sign to romanticize your life & live your tuscan mom fantasy I yearn to be a Tuscan mom with a house that looks like Olive Garden 2000s Tuscan mom style tops: look for halter blouses and dresses. you can either find them from your moms closet or any thrift store. key patterns: swirl, paisley, cheetah print, squares, peacock, and hibiscus flower patterns Instead now we get cold minimalist pov: you're tuscan mom in 2000's getting ready for shopping while your kids at school im in a very tuscan mom time of my life right now 2000s Tuscan mom style

Original caption

Every other aesthetic trend is about who girls want to be. 𝔗𝔲𝔰𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔐𝔬𝔪 is about who they think were 𝖘𝖚𝖕𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖊𝖉 to be. Terracotta floors. Wrought iron. Olive Garden without irony. Polyester halter tops at Panera on a Tuesday because she could afford it without a second thought. Aspirational wealth that felt believable. A life that was cozy and kind of tacky and completely unbothered by whether anyone on the internet approved. Gen Z women weren't alive for or don't remember much of life. They were just close enough to see it. And now they're grieving a door that closed before they got there. That's what separates Tuscan mom from mob wife or coastal grandma. Those trends were about performing a self. This one is about mourning a possibility. For brands paying attention: the question isn't how to look more Tuscan mom. It's how to make women feel like they can stop performing altogether and express themselves, even if it feels cringe. #brandstrategy #tuscan #tuscanmom #gabriellesolis #careertok career tok, how to spot trends, trends analys, culture analyst, desperate housewives, polyester, insights, brand strategy, brands in culture, Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden

More from @rachelissan

Their other posts in the index, biggest breakout first.

Transcript

Every other aesthetic trend is about who girls want to be, but the Tuscan Mom trend is about who they think they were supposed to be. Let's talk about why girls want to be Tuscan moms, what these sartorial shifts signify culturally, and what I would tell brands who are listening right now. For the uninitiated, Tuscan Mom has been bubbling in culture since at least last year, but it has officially broken containment in the last couple of weeks. And unlike Mob Wife or Coastal Grandma, Tuscan Mom isn't just a vibe that girls are trying on. Silly as the whole trend seems, there is like some vulnerability to the Tuscan Mom. Linguistically references the Tuscan home style that was very popular in the early 2000s. These were homes that upper-middle-class Americans were buying or building when the upper-middle class still felt attainable. Think terracotta floors, suburbia, wrought iron, fake grapes for some reason, warm neutrals that felt like someone actually lived there. Wealthy, upper-middle-class, yes, but not obscenely so. Financial ascension still had a ladder that you could actually see. The Tuscan home felt like a finish line that seemed reachable. Now, at one point, the general consensus might have been that Tuscan homes represented like a cheugy taste, and older generations certainly seemed to think so. But Gen Z women are yearning for it. They find comfort in it, they want to live in it. So the question is, why? I think that's where the Mom of Tuscan Mom comes in. Tuscan Mom is not a real woman. The Tuscan Mom is a composite of a life that was quietly promised to young women and then revoked without any formal announcement. She's hot, but not in an iPhone face way. She's hot in a way that still feels human. She has money, but not in the kind of way that requires a whole personality behind that wealth. It is certainly not quiet luxury, and simply buy lunch at Panera every day with the other Tuscan moms. She buys candles at Bath and Body Works without irony. But yes, Tuscan Mom might be a little bit tacky, but she absolutely does not care because the internet jury did not exist yet and the ick was not a form of social currency. Tuscan Mom could have kids without risking financial ruin. Her husband may not have been perfect, but at least he wasn't height-maxxing in the manosphere. Tuscan Mom's life wasn't optimized, it was simply livable. So I think the superficial read of this trend is nostalgia. But in these social spaces around Tuscan Mom, there is some of this like weird vulnerability to it. Like most culture today, I think it is a collective earnest sigh. Most of the girls obsessing over Tuscan Mom aesthetic were children in 2004. Simply don't remember that life. They might have been just close enough to see it or could still revisit it through their mothers. And from where they're standing, it now looks like a door that shut just before they got there. And now all they can do is long for it ironically. And I think that's what separates Tuscan Mom from every hyper-specific trend on the aesthetic hamster wheel. Mob Wife was a fantasy, Coastal Grandma was a fantasy. Those trends were about performing a self. Tuscan Mom is almost about mourning one. It's like they yearn for her possibility because at one point she felt possible to a lot of women and girls. It's why the part of this trend that feels so salient is the part of it that also feels so like ironic and weird, like the Panera, the Olive Garden, the polyester going-out tops that are halter tops and in weird like animal prints. Because all of that exists, but the aesthetics behind them we deem to be cringe. So it's not just the aspiration of Tuscan Mom, also the ability to be tacky or cringe without judgment. Obviously for the last 20 years, brands have been making their spaces more sleek and cold to signal a sense of premiumness. Tuscan Mom is the market sending a clear reply. The girls are longing for this maximalist proto-Renaissance spaces that we used to mock. The brands who are paying attention aren't going to ask how do we look more Tuscan Mom, that is missing the entire point. The point is to ask how can we make women feel like they have to stop performing. Cringe is a victimless crime and Tuscan Mom is the very essence of cringe.