Welcome to Amazing Aesthetics, a biweekly column talking about all sorts of aesthetics, their origins, and more! Our second article is on Cryptidcore, a significantly less-known (but still amazing) aesthetic.

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Now, with that out of the way, let’s get into today’s aesthetic!

Cryptidcore is a visual and fashion aesthetic largely focusing on muted colors, cryptids, and styles from the 1970s-1990s.

This aesthetic has many influences from places like Tumblr’s romanticization of cryptids, especially Mothman, as well as shows such as Gravity Falls, Scooby-Doo, and Buzzfeed Unsolved. All of these shows circle around one theme that the Cryptidcore aesthetic uses as well, that theme being mystery. The shows are all focused on a group of people trying to figure out some sort of mystery in town.

It was also lent a helping hand in 2015 by the Regional Gothic aesthetic, which especially is about the uncanny valley. For example, a photo of a deer inside of a diner would be an amazing example of Regional Gothic, and also of Cryptidcore.

The aesthetic itself was started in 2014 by Tumblr user on-a-crescendo (also known as Charlie) in this post, with a short list describing certain aspects of the aesthetic.

It’s rather easy to get into the fashion aspect of Cryptidcore as well. It’s a gender neutral aesthetic, so you need not worry about the usual stress of “what if I’m a girl/a boy/nonbinary and want to match this aesthetic?!”

In addition, it focuses on muted colors, so it’s perfect for those who want to blend into the crowd but who also want to look fabulous while doing it.

If you have some Doc Martens or combat boots, now is the time to grab them out of your closet and sport them at every given opportunity. I’d argue that any sneakers that are in muted colors, especially if they’re dirty, also work. In addition, if you’re getting any graphic t-shirts from your family this Christmas that you’d otherwise cringe at, this is a good chance to match that up with a hoodie, a trench coat, a plaid jacket, or a corduroy jacket. If it’s beyond saving, you could also just put a big sweater on above the t-shirt. Jeans or cargo shorts, depending on the weather, are great pants to further match the Cryptidcore aesthetic.

Being (most likely) a student, you’re also in luck, as backpacks do match with the fashion aspect of this aesthetic, especially if you’ve ironed on patches to them.

If you want to go beyond dressing in this aesthetic, and you want to live, breathe, and eat Cryptidcore, now is the time to interest yourself in aliens, conspiracy theories, and cryptids of every kind. In addition, you might be going out to your local forests a lot, totally not to look for cryptids, just to walk around. A more extensive list can be found at this link.

In conclusion, it can oftentimes seem like aesthetics are things only to be gazed at from afar, with inspiration you’ll never use saved to Pinterest boards and forgotten, but Cryptidcore is different; it’s right at your fingertips.