{"id":1139828,"date":"2025-12-18T12:10:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1139828"},"modified":"2025-12-18T12:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T09:10:00","slug":"all-in-white-linen-unpacking-the-glowy-aesthetics-of-tiktok-gurus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1139828","title":{"rendered":"All in white linen: Unpacking the \u2018glowy\u2019 aesthetics of TikTok gurus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cComment \u2018reset\u2019 and i\u2019ll [sic] send you the self-care program,\u201d reads the caption on a <\/span>video<\/span><\/a> from <\/span>Alex Visions<\/span><\/a>. He appears to be on a podcast, outlining how to \u201cunchain\u201d yourself from social media, though it\u2019s unclear whether anyone\u2019s actually sitting across from him. He\u2019s wearing a linen robe with nothing underneath. Alex is just 17, but after dropping out of school and taking ayahuasca over 22 times, he\u2019s become a kind of self-styled spiritual guide.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t always this way. Two years back, Alex wasn\u2019t a quasi-shaman, but a <\/span>professor<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>Scroll far enough down his TikTok, and you\u2019ll see he covered everything from \u201c<\/span>biohacking<\/span><\/a>\u201d to <\/span>AI<\/span><\/a> through formulaic, short-form video content. Dressed in a navy polo and glasses, he\u2019d tell his invisible audience about the power of ChatGPT, occasionally scribbling on a whiteboard. His podcast appearances weren\u2019t lit by flickering candles, but the <\/span>purple-hued LEDs<\/span><\/a> popular with the <\/span>#motivational<\/span><\/a> crowd. Everything was <\/span>maximalist<\/span><\/a>, from the text to the spliced-together stock footage. Linen did make an appearance, but that\u2019s to be expected when <\/span>holidaying<\/span><\/a> in Monaco.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then the <\/span>switch<\/span><\/a>. In November of last year, Alex slipped into a white linen two-piece, stacked his wrists with beaded bracelets and painted his face with vaguely indigenous patterns. And if he gets a bit chilly? He\u2019ll throw an <\/span>Aztec print poncho<\/span><\/a> over top. He might have had an ego-death, but he\u2019s certainly had a rebrand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why the sudden aesthetic switch-up? Because spiritual enlightenment has a look. And if you know the dress code, you can have a go at selling it. By donning white linen and beads, Alex is drawing on a Western image of enlightenment that\u2019s been around for decades. In the late 1960s, after trips to India and experimentations with psychedelics and transcendental meditation, The Beatles swapped their clean-cut Pierre Cardin suits and moptops for a look built around their take on Eastern spirituality: kurtas, grown-out hair and plenty of paisley.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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