Anybody who’s curious concerning the absurd lengths to which the social media-fuelled pursuit of magnificence might be taken, solely wants to have a look at two current tendencies. The primary is the so-called airport tray development, which entails the clever “curation” of 1’s possessions — sun shades, watch, bag and so on, moreover a boarding move and/or passport — on a plastic airport tray. The second is “fridgescaping”, by which, moreover the standard eggs, milk, butter and so on, one locations ornamental gadgets like flower vases and photograph frames inside a fridge. If pictures of those two tendencies have been lapped up by customers and model advertising departments — publishing home Faber, for instance, has used the airport tray development to pitch its season’s reads — they’ve additionally induced many to ask how a lot is an excessive amount of, on the subject of the relentless glamourisation of the banal.
Past what critics see as the plain ludicrousness of those tendencies — does a fridge really want “ornament”? — they’re additionally marked by a troubling prioritisation of social media validation over the whole lot else. The airport tray development, particularly, could seem thoughtless of different folks. Is an airport safety line, one of the vital patience-testing points of journey, actually the place to take one’s personal time to rearrange objects for a photograph? For harried airport workers and co-passengers, it is only one extra irritant, including additional friction to an already irksome expertise.
It could possibly be argued, nevertheless, that there’s something valiant about making an attempt to make room for magnificence within the banal, boring or anxiety-inducing. Going by way of airport safety or opening one’s fridge needn’t contain a course in artwork appreciation, however what’s fallacious with making the expertise, even when just for a second, just a little extra aesthetically pleasing? There’s a lot concerning the world right this moment that’s disagreeable and ugly: Coming throughout a stranger’s photograph of a prettified airport tray within the bottomless scroll of 1’s social media feed may provide a spot of reduction.
