In the last few years I've noticed a pattern: many styles and subcultures are becoming more plain and basic. Let's take "clean girl goth" as an example. It's not actually goth, it's a mere "aesthetic" that someone wants to pass as goth. It's basically just normal clothes but in black. This "style" is devoid of any ornaments or elements that make a coord look gothic and it's not just the color black that makes an outfit goth. Not to mention I doubt most of these "clean girl goths" actually listen to gothic rock or metal - the whole point of the subculture.
Which brings me to my next point. Why are all the subcultures gone and aesthetics overtook their place. Some aesthetics, like art hoe, which began as an African American women's art movement, got reduced to a shallow aesthetic. Anyone could be an "art hoe" if they bought an expensive Kanken bag or Starry Night socks. Corporations parasite on grassroots movements and subvert them, even if they are something as "banal" like fashion. There's even a "clean gyaru" trend originating from Tik Tok.
It's important to examine why certain subcultures are prone to corporate hijacking, while others aren't. If the subculture centers marginalized groups, it's more vulnerable to this sort of thing. You may ask "How do they do it?" and well, I don't have a concrete answer. Maybe they invent fake influencers to promote said aesthetic as an attempt to google wash - strip the movement from the original meaning. Or maybe the influencers are generated by some powerful military level AI? That sounds whack and I'm not going to write my post in that direction. But note that most of these famous influencers are not what they seem. Back to the point. Besides subcultures centering around the marginalized - more campy, ornamental subcultures are vulnerable as well. This also applies to vernacular culture, i.e. fast fashion brands stealing ethnic clothing styles and ornaments. But I don't think these are meant to be worn by the normie consumer. The corporations want to reduce them to something "other", something that is meant to be a circus attraction and they try to use "woke" language to justify that. For example they fabulate a narrative that women wearing their own etnic clothing is somehow oppressive and bad, hence why they shouldn't wear it if they want to be seen a certain way. But they still continue to appropriate said ethnic clothing, because it draws attention. Then somehow buying the same piece of clothing from them isn't "bad and oppressive".
Regarding vernacular culture and all that, I could get into Huxley and his philosophy, but that's off topic. Subcultures back then were a form of vernacular, but that quickly changed.