TikTok is reviving the 2014 Tumblr-era aesthetic

In 2014, I was 16 and my Tumblr was four years old. There were thousands of posts: reblogged vintage photographs of Paris in the ’70s, of window sills littered with poetry books, of black boots against grunge city landscapes. The occasional indie song lyric (think The 1975’s brooding poetry) made a guest appearance every now and then.

This was the world of Tumblr at the pinnacle of its popularity, as any Gen-Z can attest to. The microblogging site, founded in 2007, swelled with a distinctive aesthetic (as outlined by the skeleton of my own page). By 2014, the Tumblr look was sealed, delineated by indie-pop and indie films, cracked iPhone screens painted in shades of neon, black American Apparel skater skirts and leather combat boots to match. Throw in Polaroid cameras and some dark eyeliner, and you’ve got the Tumblr aesthetic down-pat.

Now, this signature 2014 era Tumblr angst has found new life on TikTok. It seems it’s a year that still resonates aesthetically with TikTokers and very online humans.

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On TikTok, #2014tumblr has 83.9 million views, while its variation #tumblr2014 has 51.9 million views, and #tumblraesthetic is growing with 18.4 million views. The videos that reign are various vibes pulling inspiration from Tumblr’s heyday, from decor to daily outfits to makeup.

This subculture of TikTok has even been labeled Tumblrcore, a final stamp of approval of the new Tumblr renaissance.

Credit: Tiktok/ @kmcrli.

Take TikTokker Kirstin McCarlie, who frequently puts together outfits of this aesthetic, alluding to the Tumblr girl trope. “I think younger millennials and older Gen-Z are nostalgic about Tumblr era fashion and music, so I think TikTok has picked up on this and is promoting it,” she tells Mashable.

McCarlie, like so many others, enrobes herself in sheer black tights, the aforementioned skater skirts, and simple leather shoes, all reminiscent of Tumblr dressing. “I also think these are staple items that never go out of style,” she says.

According to the Aesthetics Wiki, an online encyclopedia for digital and offline aesthetics alike, 2014-era Tumblr is a pretty cemented lifestyle category. But it also encompasses a range of artistic tastes. After all, Tumblr may have had a definitive evocation, but it also offered hundreds of adaptations. The wiki describes the overarching aesthetic as an amalgamation of grunge, hipster, kawaii, and VSCO-girl trends, amongst others.

SEE ALSO: Tumblr died a slow and painful death. Here’s how TikTok can avoid the same fate.

The Digital Fairy, a creative agency and home to internet and youth culture specialists, recently went viral on TikTok for predicting the comeback of wired headphones, an apparently “vintage accessory,” and a component of the wider movement that is 2014 nostalgia. Their analysis, hinged on TikTok culture, Tumblr’s past, and celebrity street style, quickly amassed over 2 million views on TikTok.

“2014 aesthetics, for me, are taking a trope of fashion and culture that is definitely not part of our contemporary language, and removes all the problematic context of that moment in time. I don’t look back at ‘Indie Rock’ or the murky corners of Tumblr fondly, but to reimagine it must be a lot more fun,” says the Digital Fairy’s strategy director, Natalia Christina.

The agency also defined the Tumblr-era look as multifaceted.

“There is no singular Tumblr aesthetic, but the one experiencing the highest level of contemporary interest so far is ‘soft grunge’ — a nebulous aesthetic/subculture popular on the site in the 2010s,” explains the Digi Fairy’s in-house culture specialist, Biz Sherbet. “Aesthetically, soft grunge was defined by a wardrobe of ’90s “grunge” staples like well-worn flannels, band tees and clunky Doc Martens. However, soft grunge had a youthful, bubblegum twist — in the form of cotton candy tinted bleached hair, sporty American Apparel tennis skirts, and pops of pastels throughout. Soft grunge accessories included chokers, wired headphones, and a conspicuous display of cigarettes.”

Trend and fashion forecaster @oldloserinbrooklyn also took to TikTok to predict the resurgence of the “Indie Sleaze” aesthetic, another subculture of TikTok’s fashion scene. In a video, she said there is an “obscene amount of evidence” that characteristics from this era are coming back: “provocative”, grungy, and vintage. “TikTok has singlehandedly brought back [these] mashups into mainstream culture,” she says in the video, which has over 1.1 million views and counting. Commenters on her post are relishing in the return of the “glory days”.

She also mentions the 20-year trend cycle, a ubiquitous term in the fashion industry and digital spheres, referring to the cyclical nature of trends. The rule of 20 refers to the return of trends after a 20-year time period, reemerging as popular once again. If we’re to go off this rule, the Tumblr return is early, but poised to take over once again.

The cultural significance of Tumblr can hardly be denied, but it’s being given more than just a nod of acknowledgement. TikTok has reignited interest in the Tumblr era, pulling the internet back into the vortex of one specific year: 2014. It’s a throwback, yes, but also a sign of the times: nostalgia is rife.

Credit: tiktok / @rxneexx.

Any TikTok user is privy to the fair amount of nostalgia that underpins the app’s content. From reenacting the films of the 2000s to recycling sartorial inspiration from the infamous Y2K period, TikTok is a mecca of the past.

The comeback of Tumblr culture is all the more interesting when you realize that Tumblr itself is not exactly thriving. The platform is far less active today as it was in 2014, while it still hosts 16.74 million active monthly users in the U.S. alone. Despite this, it has fallen in usership as a result of rampant content moderation issues, the adult content ban, and devaluing creators. In 2014, Tumblr was considered the internet’s fastest-growing social platform but currently doesn’t make the top 10 list of social media apps in the U.S. TikTok, on the other hand, has burgeoning numbers when it comes to monthly use, with a reported 1 billion active users globally.

Credit: tiktok / @helen.ros3.

Yet, the decline of the platform has clearly not led to a downtick in its influence. Age-old Tumblr controversies have made their way to TikTok. Discussions about TikTok-Tumblr have trickled onto Twitter. More widespread are the Tumblr-era aesthetics, which are a living testament to its rippling effects on 2021 culture. We’re simply reliving the old days, just via TikTok this time around.

TikTok, however, is a temporal space in itself, with trends emerging and fading rapidly.

“TikTok cycles through aesthetics incredibly quickly, severely contracting the trend cycle that dictates what’s considered ‘cool’ in fashion on and off the app. Therefore, styles from the 2010s, which still linger on in many of our wardrobes, are the last frontier of fashion that hasn’t already been recycled and over-exposed,” says Sherbet.

So is this nostalgia-fueled resurgence just another one of those trends? At the pace it’s going it may be here to stay for a while, but like most homes on the Internet, TikTok is a fickle one. For the Tumblr stans out there, it’s definitely time to enjoy the revival, while you can.