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Blog 24

10 AUG 2022

Majority of social media efforts are now more than ever focused on younger generations, particularly Gen Z. I wanted to investigate the trend of maximalism and how one brand at its forefront has so captured the hearts of Gen Zers. 

 

It’s been no secret that Gen Z has a preference for maximalism, also sometimes dubbed “cluttercore”.  The movement has been heralded as a sort of revolt against minimalism with its celebration of mess and the (feminine) urge to gather items of “character” (read: often borderline ugly, yet strangely cute). While an alarming number of articles surrounding the topic are determined to pitch Gen Z against millennials (à la the outrage over skinny jeans), the movement is far more than just petty rebellion. So what does cluttercore say about Gen Z, and how does a key brand in that aesthetic appeal that?


First, we have to understand the “look”. Characterised by its penchant for colour and hypermaximalism, one viral tweet describes this as the “weird-girl” aesthetic. As a tribute to Gone Girl’s iconic  “Cool Girl” monologue: weird girl is cool. Weird girl is hot (literally, she layers everything). Weird girl is likely an art student (probably somewhere in New York). Her outfits reference early 90s Harajuku and the Y2k era so she loves things like chunky jewellery, low-waisted jeans, fuzzy bags, baby tees, and even tinier skirts. Most importantly, weird girl has one thing and one thing only that she holds so closely to her heart: the Marc Jacobs Heaven Collection.

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The origin of the subsidiary line Heaven by Marc Jacobs and its chokehold on this Gen Z subset can be traced back to 2020 when people were yet to emerge from a post-quarantine, post-athleisure era. It’s important to note that Heaven didn’t start this style, rather it’s closer to a catalyst or a signal of a change in culture. Simply put, it caught the trend cycle at the perfect time, something British Vogue’s fashion features editor Laura Hawkins calls “having a finger on the pulse” of the nostalgia driving the market.

 

The weird girl aesthetic existed pre-Heaven, with brands like UNIF capitalizing on the 90s grunge nostalgia even before Tumblr’s demise in the Yahoo takeover. However, Heaven can be credited for launching the look into the mainstream by using stars with a massive Gen Z fanbase to model their collections. It takes a thorough understanding of the indie, artsy, mildly grunge Gen Z audience they served to figure out artists like Beabadobee, Rex Orange County, and Lil Uzi Vert were all it took for this subset to fall in love. For the wider Gen Z audience, it was it-girl Bella Hadid and the universally-beloved rapper and meme icon Nicki Minaj.

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But it isn’t just star power that keeps kids so hooked on Heaven. There’s one key thing that sets it apart from a lot of brands: authenticity. Yes, an authentic persona is significant to market to Gen Z, but more than that, the aesthetic of Heaven seems genuine. It’s believably a product of Gen Z culture, and not some overdone attempt at it. According to its art director Ava Nirui, there isn’t a purposeful attempt at getting into the Gen Z mindset, but rather simply fun collaborations and creating what feels cool. Officially, Heaven was launched in September 2020, but the brand takes on the culturally-savvy spirit of the 1993 Perry Ellis collection that famously got Marc fired; in a time of vintage revival, the brand acts as a bridge between archival fashion and current trends. 

 

The curation of Gen Z it-kids and authentic fantasy serves to cement the brand as part of the culture, but its exclusivity also drives demand. Restocks are a rarity for the brand, which some might think would hurt its bottom line. According to Nirui, buy-now culture is far less pertinent to kids these days so Gen Z is perfectly happy getting a piece resale or waiting for the next collection. Surprisingly, idea isn’t to make the pieces inaccessible at all, which was why they brought back the famously difficult-to-attain Kiki boots from Marc Jacobs’ A/W 2016 collection for Heaven’s Spring 2022. The inaccessibility comment might have been in reference to its pricing, which is “priced with accessibility in mind” ($35-$395 at their Fairfax Avenue store in Los Angelos). 

 

Another key aspect of Heaven’s success is the community. This doesn’t refer to just their online community, but offline as well. The storefront feels comfortable, to the point where it feels more like a hang-out spot. As Nirui puts it, kids come in to “grab books, sit on the floor and make new friends”.  At one point, the brand even had internet personality and Youtuber Enya Umanzor working the LA storefront, further boosting whole approachability and “we’re-just-like-you” aspect. 

 

There are two key points in Gen Z maximalism that Heaven fulfills. Gen Z’s penchant for maximalism is rooted in a mix of nostalgia, capitalistic consumption, and the need for curated authenticity. Heaven answered the desire for nostalgia perfectly through its 90s grunge teenage dream style and authenticity was expressed not just through the brand persona, but also in it’s aesthetic. “Weird-girl” is all about with the desire to display the “interesting” and “genuine” self through a careful assembly of aesthetic mess. 

 

It was interesting to learn about Heaven’s success, particularly about the decline in “buy-now” culture for Gen Z. It by no means affects the brands’ exclusivity as the high prices attached to resale often makes it inaccessible to many. In actuality, it acts to make the brand more exclusive by upping the value of items without them(the brand) taking the heat for it. It’s also funny to see how obsessed we are with authenticity in all aspects of our lives. As the need for authenticity in Gen Z culture furthers, cluttercore seems like just another attempt at seeming genuine without actually being it. The more complex our requirements of authenticity, the better we get at curating an image of it.

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References

GEN Z Maximalism, Weird-girl, and Marc Jacobs Heaven

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