Pictures by Felix Michoud (ArchDaily) and Rudy Burkhardt
By Clara de Oliveira, Staff Writer
09/23/2025
ROCKLAND- Minimalism is a trend on the rise. Multiple aspects of daily life have been simplified to contain fewer details and become standardized. From Arts, to Architecture, all the way to fashion, among other examples.
Since the mid-20th century, designs have been becoming more beige and bland, with little decoration, further solidifying their way into a philosophy and lifestyle. The standardization of style in multiple aspects of life kills individuality and personal authenticity.
The human instinct to follow trends makes humanity quite standardized.
Minimalism is a form of expression that, in its form, can be creative; however, as many Rockland teachers agreed, when blindly followed as a trend, it can strip away authenticity.
Rockland High School English teacher Mr. Chad Bigsby said, “If a kid embraces a minimalist style because it's trendy, they are gonna get bored.”
Minimalism reduces originality.
Rockland High School English teacher Ms. Desiree Cunha confirmed, “If you are following a trend, that's when it goes beyond minimalism; it is not going to be original. If you are doing it just because everybody else is doing it, that is not very original.”
Minimalism in its form allows young adults to feel the urge to fit in and forget the beauty in authenticity, originality, details, and self-expression when a style is limited to simplicity.
Rockland High School Art Department Chairperson Ms. Cheryl Thompson said, “Minimalism was a reaction to abstract impressionism, which contained details and how someone felt, and realistic imagery. Minimalist artists focused more on shapes, color, texture, the material, how colors and light play off each other, but in very crisp edges and void of details.”
This post-war movement created the urge to declare and to simplify aspects of life, including art, design, and fashion. In the 70’s, color became more earth tones. Then, in the late 2000s, there was a great movement to patronize all aspects of design.
Architecture becomes box-like, and fast food chains like McDonald's lose their spark of color and curiosity among their target group, kids.
Minimalist outfits and minimal accessories characterize the clean girl aesthetic. Art becomes a concept where the design is simple, leaving the deciphering to the viewer.
Although Minimalism, if being personal to the person is creative, if it continues on the rise, it can limit life to practicality rather than beauty. An example is car designs; in the 1960s, car designs were unique and colorful, and today there is a push to make designs uniform and simple. making the road standardized and colorless.
Rockland High School Art teacher Kata Madeiros said, “Minimalism would probably see in things from an art perspective; we would see more blocks of colors, more simple patterns, simple textures, probably a more subdued color palette.”
Although Minimalism, if it is a personal style, can be creative to the person, if followed as a trend, it limits human authenticity.
If Minimalism continues on the rise, design will become more standardized, and as a result, things will lose detail.
Therefore, many humans should allow themself to become Maximalist and use self-expression to bring back the detail and the diversity into humanity.
The rise of Minimalism has been shaping the world around us and the perspective of design. It is a reflection of how society is leaning towards practicality rather than beauty, resulting in more abstract concepts that include less color and realism.
It is way more practical to standardize aspects of design; as a result, details and authenticity are lost. May this be a call for humanity to go back to self-expression without limitations and regain the beauty of Maximalism.