In the year 2025, the very definition of 'cool' underwent a profound transformation. It was no longer anchored in rarity or refined, exclusive taste. Instead, it became a highly visual, reproducible aesthetic—a public performance of access and algorithmic fluency rather than private ownership. A specific set of objects and experiences coalesced to form the universal Instagram grid of the year, serving as instant cultural shorthand.
The Visual Code of Discerning Taste
The signature items were everywhere: the radioactive green hue of matcha lattes nestled beside laptops, the 'ugly-cute' Labubu monster charms clipped onto luxury handbags from Hermès to Coach, and the spectacle of pistachio-stuffed kunafa chocolate bars being broken apart for the camera. This visual lexicon also included buldak fire noodles, Rhode lip balm, minimalist jewellery, oversized clothing, and unworn Jordans on display.
As Rahul Advani, a cultural anthropologist with a PhD from King’s College London, explains, there has been a significant shift. "For a long time, good taste was associated with looking more refined and polished," he said. Premium coffee once carried that burden, but "matcha unsettled that order." By 2025, matcha had evolved from a wellness beverage into a global visual symbol of discipline and discerning taste, with its explosive popularity straining supply chains and driving up prices.
From Novelty to Proof of Access
If matcha represented disciplined aspiration, the kunafa chocolate bar was indulgence engineered for viral spectacle. Created in 2021 by Dubai-based chocolatier FIX, it gained global fame via a TikTok video in December 2023. By 2025, its journey from niche novelty to mainstream desire was complete, with giants like Lindt releasing their own versions.
The chocolate bar's value was not just in its taste but in its narrative. It served as tangible proof—of travel, of access, of proximity to something once difficult to obtain. It was photographed on coffee tables after international trips, its bright green filling a badge of cultural mobility.
The Doll That Ate the Algorithm
Perhaps the most intriguing symbol was Labubu. Originally a character by Hong Kong illustrator Kasing Lung, it became a global status object through the blind-box economy of Chinese collectibles giant POP MART. By 2025, Labubu drops caused mall queues across Asia, resale prices spiked, and the charms adorned luxury bags worldwide.
Basarat Hassan, Assistant Professor in the Department of Epistemology at Jain University, Bangalore, notes its paradoxical appeal. "These are childish, not even conventionally good-looking," he said. "But they became a marker of good taste. The charm announced that its owner was in on the joke." The doll didn't need to be loved; it only needed to be seen, offering a form of elite detachment.
This phenomenon, as Dr. Mangla Bhardwaj of UILAH, Chandigarh University, points out, operates as an "economy of copies," where cultural capital is performed through imitation. People buy the symbolism attached to elite taste.
The Sensory Experience of Power
For Hassan, the common thread linking matcha, kunafa, and Labubu is novelty and power. He references philosopher Pierre Bourdieu, suggesting that in contemporary times, "the tongue itself is a site of power." Food and consumption in 2025 stopped being primarily about nourishment, health, or intellect. "It's more about aesthetics," he argued. "Aesthetics is a new taste."
This aestheticisation drove the global consumption market. Taste became a theatre of approximation—near enough to resemble the elite visual code, but often never enough to truly belong. The grid aestheticised not just beauty, but discipline and the illusion of access, a sentiment echoed by 18-year-old student Priyanka Nayak from Hyderabad, who laughingly noted, "We are probably the best at feeling rich mentally."
By 2025, the grammar of cool—from K-dramas and skin-care routines to Pilates classes and concert wristbands—had solidified into a stable, recitable code. It was a year where what you consumed, displayed, and posted formed a universal language of aspirational identity, meticulously calibrated for the digital grid.
