The word aesthetic

This morning my students were were synthesizing and presenting about information from a professional fashion trend report. And the topic of aesthetic came up, as a “goth revival aesthetic” for childrenswear. One of the students described aesthetic in this sense as a lifestyle or choices that you make that affect the visual aspects of your environment. Being of a certain age and able to provide perspective, I explained that up until 5 to 7 years ago we would’ve called that a style.