Living on a paradisiacal island nestled in the Pacific Ocean, Joan Didion once offered readers a deep-dive into her cognitive state. The insightful woman felt a profound disconnect from the world, finding herself estranged from societal interests and norms. This revelation was pierced by an undercurrent of skepticism towards the social contract, human endeavor, and societal principles humans were conditioned to uphold. Her state of mind reverberates precisely with many disillusioned souls who stumble upon superficial trends through a random glitch in the algorithm.
One such trend – fridgescaping – caught our attention lately. It might bring a couple of raised eyebrows or stumped expressions to those unfamiliar with it. So, let us delve into this curious phenomenon for the unversed. Fridgescaping is a somewhat eccentric concept that entails decorating your refrigerator with decorative items that span scented candles, antique doilies, colorful hydrangeas, cherished family photographs, and thematic fruits like gourds during the fall season. It can almost seem like an attempt at romanticizing the otherwise monotonous appliance.
Attribution to the origin of this phenomenon points directly to the high-reaching waves of TikTok that has been the heralding platform for innumerable trends of this sort. However, surprisingly, fridgescaping predates much later trends, the first mention of this eccentric form of decorating dating back to 2011 by interior designer Kathy Sue Perdue. Here, the context was more about maintaining a tidy kitchen and organizing its contents than about decorating your fridge to resemble an art piece. It was more about practicality and functionality than pure aesthetics.
Today, the fridgescaping trend sticks out like a sore thumb. Among its avid followers, a noteworthy scaper named Lynzi Judish, who treats her refrigerator as a canvas to place her whimsical woodland decoratives, has been practicing this art for some months now. It gives one an idea of the rapid change in trend growth within the realm of the internet.
One particular internet user by the name ‘Icy-Shelter9897’, shared how fridgescaping veered him into an unexpected domestic tussle. His wife’s keen interest in fridgescaping started affecting their everyday life, making mundane tasks like reaching food from the fridge a hassle due to the decorative obstructs. His disapproval of her hobby led to change in her overall behavior, affecting their intimacy on all levels.
This forum thread incited a debate – to scape or not to scape? No verdicts were issued, but one cannot deny that humans have had an age-old tendency to decorate and beautify their living spaces since the ancient cave paintings or the more recent vajazzling trends.
However, the grating fact of fridgescaping remains the wave of post materialistic consumption of space that is allowed to torment people’s lives. Fridgescaping shouldn’t become a medium for showcasing ostentation. Rather, it should serve its primary purpose, which is to store food. And as for Icy-Shelter9897, maybe he should consider a trip to Hawaii, as Joan Didion rightly suggests. This suggests sometimes, one needs a change of environment to deal with a cloud of domestic blues and obsessions.
