Origin

Cleanliness in history always has a connection to feeling or being superior. Being unclean has often been associated with lower class. Since they did not always have the means to be clean. Poor health was associated with low income and the other way around; clean is associated with wealth.

'During the 19th and 20th centuries, hygiene was also leveraged as a technique of colonisation. In her book Imperial Hygiene, historian Alison Bashford has shown that “imperial hygiene” (understood as “colonisation by the known laws of cleanliness”) was crucial to British expansion and the colonisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Hygiene discourse was weaponised to justify the so-called “protectionist” policy that segregated Indigenous populations in government-run missions and reserves. These pathologised Indigenous populations as “better off” removed from the settler world." ^1

During Covid themes like cleanlingness and personal hygiene became huge public matters, this probably set off this trend even more.

Within makeup itself there was also already since a few years a reaction on the full face of makeup prevalent during 2010's. With people ditching the dipbrow and cut crease, instead choosing for a more natural look.

The clean girl aesthetic has also really pushed the enormous trend in skincare at the moment, where a big shift has happened in the makeup industry. Skin care is much bigger focus than ever before

Citations

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Reaction

As a reaction on this trend a certain subgroup on tiktok started the trend of 'being a ratgirl'. This was everything opposed to a clean girl. Someone who has not all their shit together and purposefully shows the audience what a mess this person is. It is the other extreme.

Clean girl aesthetic

A trend achieved through living the associated lifestyle – cultivated from the inside out through diet, light exercise, skincare, hair care, nail care and practices of personal hygiene

This highly gendered and racialised aesthetic implies slimness, flawless and dewy skin, plump and glossy lips, smooth and sleek hair, light (or “no makeup”) makeup, a fresh scent, gold jewellery and a highly organised and stress-free lifestyle.

Celebrities, mostly models, like bella hadid en hailey bieber are seen as examples of this aestheti

Interview

Discourse

With the history of cleanliness in mind, you can imgaine that this clean girl aesthetic caters to a very specific group. Espicially since a lot of the elements that are seen as a clean girl, have historically already been a big part of latin and black culture; wearing gold hoops and slickback hair with lipgloss etc.

But this has historically been seen as 'trashy' or 'ghetto'.

So now that white women are doing the sae styles on the internet it is suddenly seen as something superior. This shows how much white privilige this trend maintains

Relation to other trends

The clean girl aesthetic has a lot of connections with other aspects and trend we can see in society today. Nowadays the old money asthetic and quiet luxury is also very prevalent on social media. The clean girl aesthetic is a pretty essential part of these other trends, since being clean has historically been something for the rich.

Both of these trends are also being followed for a big part by a subgroup called 'trad-wives', traditional wives, this is a group who wants to go back to being a housewive. They see that as their honour. The clean girl aesthetic is based on the unrealistic assumption that you are home the whole day, with time to take three bath three workouts and cook every meal from scratch.