Why is everyone taking pictures of their bike basket?

Now that on Instagram, cocktails and Starbucks cups from 2016 have been replaced by natural wines and Erewhon smoothies, and the oversaturated 1:1 photos of skinny jeans and Brandy Melville t-shirts have been replaced by videos recorded with a wide-angle lens, even “aesthetic” photos have changed. In the era of post-falsehood, mundane activities become the perfect subject for fashion enthusiasts. With the rise of bike-sharing services in all major cities of the world, like City Bike and Lime (which in Rome is particularly loved by Harry Styles), bike baskets become Gen Z's favorite spot to document the accessories they carry during the day. Designer bags (vintage), flowers, books, and more become protagonists of images framed by that particular Brat green we’ve heard so much about. Some have even tried to apply the trend to trays provided at airport security checks.

Like the “What’s in my bag” video content, the format involving bike baskets could have a long life: it not only represents a simple and effective way to communicate one’s style, between Dior Saddle Bags or canvas bags, AirPods or Walkmans, but also tells something intimate about the owner. After all, we are in the era of personalization, a period when the internet is so saturated with already-seen material, pre-packaged aesthetics, and nostalgia, that the only creators who manage to stand out to the public are TikTokers and influencers who add a bit of their own touch to the copy-and-paste looks we see scattered across the For You page. The first sign of this change was the success of the Messy Bag, which encouraged the fashion public to add charms and other trinkets to their designer bags - preferably ones that are in poor condition like the Hermès of Jane Birkin. The only downside was that, with the explosion of the trend, all of TikTok ended up with a brown bag full of keychains, and so the credibility of the look diminished a bit.

Ten years ago the best thing you could post on Instagram was an image that resembled as much as possible those on Kendall Jenner's profile, with heart-shaped hair, of Alexis Ren, on the beach with a fluorescent colorblock swimsuit. Amalgamation was the trend, difference not even considered, and the most personality you could show on social media was a passion for food (foodie was a buzzword on Instagram) or for travel (and here we mention the overused Wanderlust). Perhaps thanks to the algorithm, which by changing strategy pushed the most peculiar content to the top of users' feeds, or maybe because people got tired of seeing the same shot, the same filters, but the new social networks reward personality. It doesn't matter the brand you wear, the condition of your headphones, or how much you spent on that bottle of wine: everything is fine, as long as what you choose to put in the city bike basket is unique.