When Hawaii’s Joan Didion introduced herself to Life magazine readers with the immortal line, “I’d rather be in the middle of the Pacific Ocean than filing for a divorce,” she added a caveat. “I’m not telling you this as some random revelation, but because I want you to know who I am and where I am and what’s going on in my mind during this time…. You’re the man you’re looking for; a woman who’s interested in something.”
This month, I found myself in a similar state of disorientation when I learned about something called “Fridge View” through an algorithmic glitch. I’m late to this combo (although, for people like #freezerton, better late than never), but in case you’re late, allow me to explain. Freezescaping is the eldest daughter of tablescaping, cousin to Virgo, and it involves “decorating” your fake bug with objects including but not limited to: non-burnable frilly tablecloths with wisps of watercress buckets; types (probably family members you only politely admire); and, pumpkins of all kinds that say, “What a wonderful fall!” It’s also been described as a “romance” with the refrigerator, so yeah, that sounds like a rumor that J.D. Vance’s camp should refute.
Of course, it was TikTok that popularized it — but, like most trends created by Girl Dining (and, of course, the Googleplex), refrigerator beautification actually predates Chicken Naikwa. Conventional wisdom (or at least Architectural Digest) holds that interior designer Cathy Sue Purdue first used the term on her blog in 2011 using a flashy Verdana font. (Cathy Sue, like Didion, is a former resident of Brentwood, but as you can imagine, the similarities end there.) However, Purdue’s attempts at anti-wrinkle appear to be more sophisticated than those made from deli meats. The sand mandala is more basic.
So why is “refrigerator beautification” — literally the most annoying buzzword since “phygital” — so popular now? Especially someone like super landscape enthusiast Linzi Judisch — who never meets a woodland gadget she doesn’t like — who has been doing it for months (in terms of geology age on TikTok). This is thanks to Reddit user Icy-Shelter9897, who posted in the platform’s Am I the A**hole thread that his wife had recently joined the SubZero cult, which has put their sex life in jeopardy: “She started decorating our refrigerator, it’s really annoying. In my case, she puts flowers in the refrigerator, in vases, in front of the food, so you have to move things around to get to the food, which I know sounds ridiculous [editor’s note: it is], but if you search for “freezescaping,” you’ll find it.” She eventually angrily revealed that she “thinks the hobby was stupid” and that since then her partner has “become very distant from me and also acts weird like her in an intimate relationship.”
Reddit is divided on whether the Icy-Shelter is actually a blow-out. To be fair to the fridge decorators of this world, humans have always had a craving to decorate for functionality (think the Lascaux caves or the Luminous phenomenon). What’s troubling about refrigerator decor isn’t the space itself (though when it comes to placing an upright cloche next to your little bell, a little self-reflection doesn’t hurt): in fact, conspicuous consumption as clearly posted has now become the norm for the refrigerator decor part. I’m not a marriage counselor, but I don’t think you have anything to apologize for. What if all of this puts you on the verge of divorce? Hawaii is always there.
