French Cookware Brand Le Creuset Is Trending On TikTok And Honestly, I Get It
Photo The Kitchn
By Jasmine Wallis
The social media app, TikTok, has created a plethora of subcultures. From the E-boys (think new-gen scene kids) to last year’s viral VSCO girl, trends move through the app thick and fast. Forget the 24-hour news cycle, TikTok’s trending sounds and aesthetics can change in just 12. It’s literally blink and you’ll miss it.
What’s this week’s latest trend you ask? Zoomers lusting after the nearly 100-year-old French cast-iron homeware brand, Le Creuset.
When you search the famous brand name on TikTok the first video appears to be from user @yuting.shi. The 18-year-old presents her collection of Le Creuset to the camera which includes a pastel pink flower-shaped pot, a white heart-shaped piece, and the popular ocean-coloured pot, all filmed to a soundtrack of ‘Trader Joe’ by Junglepussy. Since the video was uploaded on the 28th of September it’s received over 800,000 views and spawned a Le Creuset hashtag trend of 12.5 million views.
But why are zoomers so enamoured by colourful Dutch ovens used to cook Beef Bourguignon in?
The majority of people engaging in this trend don’t have their own collection of French cookware (Twitter has seen older millennials asking how on Earth teenagers can afford to drop hundreds on kitchenware). TikTok users are either showcasing their parent’s pots or are creating fun videos with Google images that compare the pastel cooking implements to another TikTok trend, current ‘white boy of the month’ Harry Styles.
That’s to say that zoomers are participating in this trend aspirationally.
In the same way that millenials are obsessed with houseplants or Architectural Digest’s celebrity home tours (we’ve all seen Dakota Johnson’s lime bowl, let’s be honest), zoomers know that the chances of them owning their own home let alone a kitchen cupboard to house all their La Creuset pots in is a pipe dream that ended with their parents.
Coming of age riddled with eco-anxiety from inheriting a climate crisis and now, thanks to the COVID pandemic, not even able to spend their money on travel, it makes sense that teens would turn to aspirational lifestyle brands to give themselves something to work towards.
The earth is dying and we’re all stuck in this capitalist hell-scape so we may as well aspire to own pretty cottage-core-esque brands, right?
Although fascinating, this idea is not new and the working class has always looked up to celebrity and wealth. But thanks to fast fashion and now, fast homewares from Ikea and Amazon, you too could own a knock-off version of domestic bliss or save up for the premium stuff like Le Creuset. Create a sanctuary in your (rented) home to escape from the insanity of the outside world of crumbling democracy and a contagious global virus.
This allure of the aspirational brand is why lifestyle companies like Aesop can launch a $135 AUD candle during one of the greatest recessions since World War II.
People want nice things. Young people want to feel a part of something that isn’t thinking about climate change or how the government doesn’t care about them and right now, it’s lusting after a French homeware brand while still living with their parents.
Whether you understand the allure of this week’s TikTok trend or not, let’s just say that the kids are not alright... but they do have excellent taste.