Twitter Is Laughing Over TikTok’s Mid-90s ‘Rare Aesthetic’ Trend

Written by

Arielle Tschinkel
Arielle Tschinkel
Arielle Tschinkel is a freelance pop culture and lifestyle writer whose work has appeared on Shape.com, WomansWorld.com, FirstforWomen.com, Insider, HelloGiggles, and more. She loves all things Disney and is making her way to every park around the world, and is a die-hard…read more
published Dec 8, 2021
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As a hub for all things trending, there’s always something new and intriguing to discover making the rounds on TikTok. One of the most popular trends on the viral video app, however, is steeped in pure irony, with one user’s recent video causing a stir on Twitter for its tongue-in-cheek humor related to mid-’90s architecture vibes.

The #rareaesthetic tag, which features upwards of 5.6 billion views, highlights hilariously ironic phenomena, such as being “part of the first generation to use Facebook” with incredibly important status updates such as “had the best Sunday ever!” (If you were there, you know). One such video, however, has received nearly 3 million views thanks to its “rare aesthetic” being… drumroll please… “‘90s new build.”

Showing off builder-grade features such as basic off-white outlet covers, bisque-colored sinks, showers, and toilets, bathroom bar lighting, wood bathroom cabinets, and linoleum tile flooring, Tiktok @user947459544 was lightly (and rightfully) roasted in the comments of the nostalgia-heavy post, with someone writing, “smells like Herbal Essences,” and others pointing out that this very basic aesthetic definitely still exists in apartments, condos, and houses around the country. Responding to the commentary, the user wrote, “This is my parents’ house built w/ builder grade materials in the mid-90s. They updated most of it but haven’t gotten to this bathroom yet.”

“Rare was the wrong word,” they added. “Anyone w/ builder grade from that era prob has the same fixtures. It is home.” Of course, plenty of commenters noted how bizarre it feels to see a common aesthetic from your childhood now symbolize the distant past, with one commenter writing, “The ’90s to kids today is how I imagined the ’60s when I was in the ’90s. It hurts.”

The photo montage also made its way to Twitter, with user @videodante sharing screenshots and writing that he’s “losing my mind at this tiktok ✨rare aesthetic✨ video that is just “every shitty rental i’ve ever had,” in a subsequent tweet adding, “you can get this rare aesthetic at any $400/mo apartment near the nearest college to your current location. it will have minor mold damage and metal-sided windows.”

Plenty of Twitter users were mildly horrified to discover that they either previously lived in homes with these exact features or still do currently. As one user put it, “At some point during the 33 years they’ve owned it, my parents’ house has had that exact linoleum, those exact cabinets, that exact towel rack, that exact lightbulb row, and that exact mirror.”

So even if it sometimes feels like viral TikTok videos are an attack on your own personal passage of time, take comfort in knowing you’re far from alone in whatever anguish you might be feeling as you scroll through your FYP page.