Welcome to the far-right aesthetic
09 July 2025
Ever heard of vaporwave? How about fashwave? The former is a music genre and aesthetic from the 2010s, while the latter is its appropriation by the alt-right a few years later. Most research on the far-right focuses on voting, parties, and policies. In reality, though, the far-right spreads through more than politics.
In Norway, researchers at the Norwegian Centre for Holocaust and Minority Studies study how far-right ideologies manifest in everyday life, from Hungarian fashion brands to Swedish folk music to influencers giving nutrition advice.
They find that many young people, in particular, aren't drawn to far-right circles by ideology, but rather by a sense of belonging that comes from wearing the same things, eating the same things, and listening to the same things. That, or simply out of boredom, curiosity, and being bombarded by extremist videos, memes, and influencers online.
Where skinheads and heavy metal used to signal extremism, "fashwave" is an early example of how modern movements use culture and aesthetics to blend into the mainstream as a gateway to normalise their ideology and recruit supporters. In this case, by wrapping fascist messaging in vaporwave visuals and pastel filters (a long-standing tactic) in fact).
Rather than standing out through shaved heads or fringe music genres, today's far-right movements are harder to spot at first glance, the Norwegian researchers point out. Instead, they adopt more common aesthetics and culturally fluent references to appeal to younger audiences.
It shouldn't be surprising that the far-right has its own culture – any political direction does. But while so much attention is on elections and parties, it's worth being aware of how ideas are spread in subtler ways.
 | Toyah Höher All the talk of memes and music may make the proliferation of far-right ideas through culture sound harmless. I hope you'll remember that it's really not. The spread of these ideas, however it occurs, can ultimately put people's rights and lives at risk. The Norwegian research team is developing a project to help teenagers recognise extremist content online – if you have a little sibling or cousin around, check on them (and their algorithm). |
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