Round 1, Match 69 — Old Hollywood vs. Cyberprep
Old Hollywood is an aesthetic surrounding the movies, music, and fashion popular from the 1930s to the 1960s. Centered around the glamour, style, and cinematic artistry of the American film industry during its Golden Age, it captures the charm of a bygone era defined by elegance, sophistication, and an almost mythic sense of stardom. The aesthetic evokes the feeling of stepping back into a world of black-and-white cinema, polished orchestral scores, glitzy premieres, and timeless beauty ideals. It's meant to draw you into a time before and forget about the current things happening, back into a time where everything felt simpler. Black-and-white or Technicolor film tones, opulent lighting, and meticulously framed compositions are primary parts of Old Hollywood. Cinematography relied heavily on soft focus and diffused lighting to flatter faces, often giving stars a glowing, ethereal quality. Spotlights and dramatic shadows evoke film noir sensibilities, while grand set designs (art deco mansions, velvet curtains, cigarette smoke curling in the light) define the aesthetic's sense of luxury. Iconic imagery includes glittering marquees, vintage film reels, studio cameras, velvet stage curtains, and gold Oscar statuettes. The mood is elegant, nostalgic, and slightly melancholic, celebrating both the fascination and the fragility of stardom.
vs.
Cyberprep is a term referring to a society that has developed in the same aspects of Cyberpunk but towards an Utopian direction, with fair law and no world-controlling corporations. Since society is largely leisure-driven, advanced body modifications are used for sports, pleasure and self-improvement. The word is an amalgam of the prefix "cyber-," referring to cybernetics, and "preppy," reflecting the aesthetic's clean look in common with clothes associated with being preppy. Cyberprep aesthetics apply the visuals often seen in Cyberpunk to a utopia, centering the positives of technological advancement. A lot of Cyberprep aesthetics can carry similarities with both the Y2K Futurism and Frutiger family of aesthetics as well, due to the similarly Utopian outlook those aesthetics have when it comes to the future.
Which aesthetic do you prefer?
Old Hollywood
Cyberprep
