i saw this tweet today and it “triggered” me. that’s not the right term lol but a lot of things clicked like the realization of the passage of time and um it made me want to write this
Vaporwave
late 2016-early 2018
vaporwave did start in the early 2010s but these are the peak years
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Enya Umanzor, and influencers close to her, came to popularity during the mid-2010s using vaporwave/Yung lean aesthetics claiming hold as the humor tied to this era. Their videos, music tastes, and clothes embodied the aesthetic throughout their Instagram posts and youtube editing styles at the time. Making a name for themselves as this aesthetic died, they slowly transitioned into a new rising era of “Cool Underground Teen Aesthetic*” encapsulated by the term “drain gang” This style is also mixed with another aesthetic found popular in CUTA*: cottage core.
Vaporwave was a time stapled by the large decline of people using Tumblr and the incline of .jpeg photo edits popping off on Instagram. The edits were reminiscent of early 2010 and late 2000s scene culture photos and cultivated the 2018/2019s short-lived eboy/ girl trend. It can be categorized by its neo-oriental fashion characterized by random Asian characters and phrases used as a style on Arizona tea type patterns. It felt like a 90s 80s fashion revival surrounded by odd future shirts and Roy purdy glasses.
**Cool Underground Teen Aesthetic isn’t a real term but, I use it as one to define the styles that come out of every generation stapled by mid to late teens who listen to underground yet popular music (later to be recognized as cool and hold cult followings) of that time
ex: scene kids, early fans of odd future, etc
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i feel like vaporwave is dead. but i could be wrong and it can turn out to be a legitamite subculture like goth
i was also only apart of a small part of this subculture and got into around 2017/ the time i found enya so this take isn’t super expansive or well researched.
here are some videos by people who were/ are apart of the subculture and very knowledgable about it talking about the history:
