After all, you open your refrigerator every day. So why not add a little decoration? No, you can’t imagine a frame of you as a child in front of the Eiffel Tower next to a turnip? Okay, too bad.
In fact, this trend of adding decorative elements to your refrigerator has a name: the fridgescaping. On social networks, we see more and more users publishing the contents of their perfectly arranged fridge and in which they have a frame, a vase, a sculpture. Helen Coffey, lifestyle columnist for The Independentis clearly not a fan of the concept. Here’s what she says.
This I like gives the feeling that the form, once again, takes precedence over the substance, with this little contemptuous message in the background: “What? Didn’t you take the time to place the carrots next to this wonderful squeezed orange juice, ideal for winter, in the middle of the little improvised art gallery in your refrigerator?! Ah…” No, and we don’t want to see the pot of pesto and the gnocchi placed on top of Nathan Hill’s latest book either.
What’s annoying is that very often, after shopping, it’s already a struggle to put some order in the fridge, especially when you live in a shared apartment or as a couple with children. Yogurt pots pile up on spinach and plastic boxes containing the food that we took the time to prepare over the weekend to avoid eating a bad sandwich at lunch break. So, we ask ourselves the question: where should we find a place for the sunset photo from our last vacation in Costa Rica?
Let’s stop wanting to control everything
Of course, the latest trends are not the result of pure chance. They often result from phenomena that widen the Overton window towards increasingly laughable ideas. Remember when it was cool to put your books upside down, with your back to the bookcase, or when you had to transfer anything and everything into transparent jars. In reality, trends come and then pass. This is what ultimately defines them.
But the real precursor of fridgescaping is undoubtedly the CleanTok movement, which aims to organize and optimize each space of the apartment in which we live, to the point that it resembles those accommodations of which we find royalty-free photos on the internet – or those intended for renting on Airbnb.
More seriously, behind all these fanciful ideas that we find on TikTok and Instagram hides something more unhealthy: control. The idea of watching someone eat, tidy their apartment from top to bottom, or perfectly organize their closet makes it seem like life can be completely controlled and organized. For some, it’s a fantasy. But deep down, they also know it: it’s a big lie. So, a little advice, leave your wooden frames outside your refrigerator in 2025.
Source: www.slate.fr
