The Supermarket Aesthetic 🥬
Photoshoot on aisle five
Photos found on Pinterest
Hello dear readers! I hope you had a restful and relaxing holiday season - that your life in general is both of those things - and that your 2022 is off to a nice start. For the first newsletter of the new year, we are exploring the supermarket aesthetic. I enjoy doing these type of social media deep dives, as online trends begin to change and evolve. I am neither praising not negatively critiquing the trend, simply examining it. Please enjoy and let me know your thoughts! 💜
The newest runway is the aisle of your local Acme, Giant, Aldi, or wherever your grocery store of choice is. Search “supermarket aesthetic” or “grocery shopping aesthetic” on Pinterest and you’ll find countless photos of chicly dressed individuals posing between the fully-stocked shelves of hot Cheetos and ranch Doritos (thank god I just had lunch at time of writing this, or else I’d be ravenous typing that sentence).
Outfits in these photos vary from sweats and a crew neck, to pea coats and trendy, going-out ensembles. Creators partaking in the “supermarket aesthetic” are typically facing away from the camera, or are in deep contemplation about their produce selection. But no matter what one is wearing, whether it be a messy bun or elegant chignon, the appeal is the same - to be that girl.
To see if this trend had infiltrated where I live, I geo-searched several local food stores in Instagram. And sure enough, there they were in all of their fluorescent lighting glory.
There is a certain je ne sais quoi, if you will, to this trend. Let’s dive deeper.
I consider the following to be two major influences in this trend:
Chanel’s Fall-Winter 2014/15 Ready-to-Wear Show
Rihanna
The now famous Chanel runway featured models strutting in between aisles of food, condiments and cans, and even interacting with the products, carts in hand. The brand even created a limited lait de Coco bag for this collection. Grocery shopping transformed from a necessary errand to a fashionable outing.
And Rihanna. Yes, there are countless pap photos of celebrities doing their groceries. But Rihanna’s photos are different. She is effortlessly cool, whether wearing a green Yankees hat or a Hawaiian print shirt. When the photos of her shopping in that Chanel black jacket dropped (photo below), I was done for. She was and is the girl many of us would want to be.
If we examine the backdrop, the hues of fruits like oranges, bananas, red and green apples infiltrating the background, it makes sense why it’s become favorable shooting scenery. It is an established backdrop - not unlike Paul Smith’s “pink wall” in LA or Kelsey Montague’s WhatLiftsYouMural in Nashville. Two backdrops which were once considered the pinnacle of social media, now forever in the fault of Internet cringe and the fads that once were. Lush vegetables and sugary cereal are now somehow more appealing. Is it no different than posing in front of a plate of food or overly-priced cocktail?
These images give off the image of wellness, of having our shit together, of “responsibility, but make it cool.” It’s relatable and all too familiar - we all grocery shop! It also speaks to consumerism - the foundation of today’s social media. It speaks to our ability and desire to make the most mundane of daily tasks an opportunity to create content.
Food and fashion have always been connected, whether it be wearing Valentino couture while eating caviar and sipping on Dom Perignon (one can dream), or indulging in scoops of Jeni’s ice cream while wearing our comfiest sweats. As I’m typing this, I’m considering how much food has impacted the clothes that I choose to wear. I’m certainly not going to be wearing white for an Italian dinner knowing my penchant for clumsiness, and I’ll be in a specific oversized-T and sweatpants - and only that specific oversized-T and sweatpants - while enjoying Thai takeout on my couch.
Food is a source of comfort, and perhaps these types of photos are, as well.
Perhaps The Dude is the major influence?
Another influence I would add - maybe obvious, but the pandemic has made it so that any time you leave your house, it feels like an *event* and an excuse to put it some effort. The 30 minute trip to the grocery store may be the most "public" thing we do all week! I also saw a similar sentiment on IG about people feeling compelled to dress up for their doctor's appointments.
love this sooo much and now want to embarrass Andrew forcing him into a Whole Foods shoot