On Trend vs. In Style
What you see is what they want you to want. And congratulations, everyone wants the same thing. Everything is a trend, aesthetic, or social wave.
Representation determines who sides where or purchases what. If all you watch are massive hauls from Zara, Shein, and Temu, all you will remember is what they display. You buy what you see because it’s in the front of your mind. We’re all full with belly aches from CoconutGirl, GoblinCore, and MobWife and so many other viral aesthetics.
The reason everyone looks the same and hates their style:
Characters from the big screen: Some examples of iconic characters or media that trailblazed unique fashion are Fran Fine, Cher, Mary-Kate and Ashley, Rachel Green, Blair Waldorf, Totally Spies, Winx Club, Barbie, Bratz, Polly Pocket, Euphoria, and of course every Disney child-star ever.
Celebrities and their styling teams: Zendaya + Law Roach is the best current example I can give to explain the importance of a great stylist who understands your body and vibe. We recently saw the styling of Selena Gomez shift from safe and gamine outfits to more mature and sexy looks, as she changed her stylist to fit her current perspective and career goals. Grimes, Rihanna, Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Paris, the Hadid’s, the Kardashians/Jenner clan, Lady Gaga, Kanye - it’s all custom of course.
Fast fashion: Plot twist: unless you’re buying something small batch or intentionally ethical and sustainable, you’re buying fast mass produced fashion. It’s almost inescapable these days with small businesses technically falling into the fast fashion category if they are using print on demand services or drop-shipping. (Shein, Zara, F21, H&M, Asos, DollsKill, Walmart, Target, Amazon)
Social Media and the Advertisement Algorithm: For us Gen Z (ages 12–27) and Millennials (aged 28–43) we already know that the accelerant to a lot of concepts is social media sharing. What started early on with printed ads and catalogs, soon turned to tv commercials, online ads, product placement, and social media reviews. Now everything has an afixed a sign saying “Look, buy me at this link for that discount!” (targeting the tender mentality behind body confidence, interests, hobbies, bias, wealth, etc). The approach to ads have changed with the times and we can see the benefits and pitfalls fairly clearly.
Tailors, Size Charts, Fabrics, Oh My: We are living in the first and only period in history where we have access to premade, mass produced and distributed goods. This ‘easy time-saving’ idea of off the rack convenience took hold after the Great Depression and the industrialization of the US, specifically. Before fathers were drafted for war and mothers were called in to the workplace, it was expected for kids to learn how to sew and mend. Most of human life was spent crafting our own shoes and personal needs. It was only those with wealth who had the option to get custom made garments from notable designers or tailors. Even into the 70s/80s, families had a handy person who would craft out clothing for the other members throughout the year. When I was a kid in the early 2000s, my grandmother and mom kept up our habit of maintaining clothes for as long as possible. (My mom had a lot of her clothes made by my grandmother’s hands to the instructions of a pattern.) It’s not until commercialization of pre made fashion that cheap alternatives became available during war times and recessions.
Plastic Surgery: I’m looking at you, Baddie Aesthetic. While the mission to cater toward the curvy is absolutely needed, it’s not being done in the right way. In the beginning, a lot of my friends were able to find better fitting therefore more flattering items from shops like Fashion Nova, PrettyLittleThing, and Boohoo. But in the past 2-3 years I’ve had more friends get plastic surgery in order to “fill out” certain outfits. Please hear me. If you can’t be happy without double Ds in a blingy rayon crop top then do you. But the whole idea of fashion and tailoring is to make YOURSELF look the best for you. The top is a bit baggy? You get it taken it, hopefully you don’t go under the knife. If you’re claiming self esteem, it’s understandable if your motivations aren’t based on external validation. To change yourself permanently because that’s what men want, what fits into a brand, or that’s what gets your content a like - is just a toxic mindset to settle into. You buy clothes to fit you, not the other way around!
Money: Designer products are a walking ad or status symbol, pointless and not always flattering. Everyone knows that an Hermes Birkin is hallmark of someone who has extreme disposable cash. Even the lower end of luxury goods still run 1k-2k per piece. Think Jaquemus - the tiny handle bags which often hold next to nothing are around $600-$800 in price. These days, the pressure that people are under to be seen as elite is so widely felt that you can now access designer goods for a limited time and a moderate rental fee from places like Rent the Runway. While I think having the option to make use of what is typically one and done clothing is much more beneficial to wearers and fashion houses alike, it still doesn’t make it worthwhile to majority in the long run. Knowing this, stay on the lookout for quality pieces that you can afford and that will last a long time or can be repaired if needed.
Marketing: The phone ad you just got for something you only said to a friend? Marketing. It’s involved in basically everything in our free-enterprise capitalist society. The methods behind marketing can create amazing results in profits and branch reach, but with great power also comes great responsibility. If you love your life and yourself and everything around you, well you probably won’t be a very good consumer. That’s what businesses think. In order for them to be making a large profit off of everyone, they have to tell you why you need what they offer. “You aren’t perfect, you don’t measure up. If you did this or ate that or wore this or bought that, then you’ll be worthy. Worthy of money, worthy of a lux life, worthy of friends and worthy of love.” Well here's the message they hope you don’t realize. You already are. You are worthy of every good thing, blessing, compliment, bit of praise, and happiness that is out there. Many marketing schemes have targeted discriminated communities or gained success from the strategic ruin of others.
For a celeb style example: Ariana Grande’s video girl styling in 2019 brought her viral attention, when for decades women of color were attacked and shamed for their displays of identity.
Another example from Hollywood: The Barbie movie marketing team needs their own award show with how perfectly everything came together across every part of the movie launch. The way they pulled the focus back to the movie release was flawless. From Margot Robbie’s red carpet costumes to the giant pink dreamhouse on a Progressive commercial, there was no escaping the Mattel corps movie.
Read more about how they induced ‘Barbiemania’ here: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/barbie-movie-marketing-campaign-1235534537/
How to develop your individual style:
I like to think of myself as the main character from TV, movies, and anime (hush now with your Main Character mantras). Style is an overlap of many things about a person and their life. In the early life of humans we used clothing as a necessity for warmth or protection. Certain things became the norm, such as boots or belts - most carried tools, weapons, and other supplies which were incorporated into the design of clothes or accessories. It’s not until ancient Egypt that we can clearly link the aspects of clothing to more than functionality. In this time period, items were made for spiritual significance and to be used in major ceremonies or politics. Colors, metals, patterns, and artwork begin to appear in much more polished forms of design. For the majority of human civilization after this era, clothing and accessories have been used to express personality, interests, affluence, familial heritage, and status. Up into the modern age of fashion we have seen preferences shift from that of tight laced practicality to that of casual whimsy. Most people nowadays use their style to tell people something about who they are or what they do with their lives.
Fashion is an expression of yourself and what you like to do or who you are at your core.
Determine what your body type is - and then try a bunch of styles to see what you feel like in them. Don’t worry about too much beyond what emotions you have in a certain piece. Sort of like applying the Marie Kondo method to your wardrobe. As she would say, “What sparks joy?” I know I have a few baggy cargos that I thought were the coolest 90s bottoms, but to be honest with myself, when wearing them I feel like my little brother.
Survey your skin and features in the natural sunlight to determine your best personal colors. Even if someone has found the most flattering pieces, the area of focus that many people lack awareness in is their color palette. Colors play a huge role in human psychology and make our brains feel or think things without us even noticing. This reaches back into our human ancestry, when the colors of things could often mean the difference between life and death. Base your palette on where your skin tone falls between dark and light, and see if your undertones are warmer or cooler. The right colors accentuate your features and can really elevate a look from drab to dramatic. If you’re not familiar with the Personal Color Analysis services that are offered in the cosmetics industry, let me introduce you. These offices are equipped with amazing lighting, endless shades of fabric swatches, professional grade makeup mixing kits, and aesthetically trained individuals to help you find your tonal palettes. They can offer visual examples of your “best” hair, make-up, clothing colors - based on the Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter color groupings. Of course, different practices have varied methods applied as well, but this is the most commonly offered since the earl ‘80s.
Do you have a favorite time period or historical setting you can look back on? Looking at the popular fashions of our past can help inspire you into new silhouettes or fabrics in this current scene. Some notable periods in fashion development have been in the Victorian era, the roaring 20s, the free loving 60s, and vampy grunge of the 90s, to name a few. I am in major love with the 60s/70s decades and have found ways to incorporate things like bell-bottoms, hot-pants, and bell sleeves into my style that feel authentic and modern. Pull ideas from the accessories, the runway, the workplace, or even technology. Remember the clear and hardware exposed landlines or floppy disks that used the advancements in internet as their design inspo? No? Imagine an iPhone, with a transparent outer shell, and the computer inside visible…sounds freaking cool right? Use whatever catches your fancy to solidify your style.
Fabrics are a biiiiigggggg deal. Like huge. Most people will never know the reason that slip dress or babydoll top didn’t fit right was becuase it was made with a much higher blend of plastics than they used to be. When clothing first became a major practice, we were working with the raw materials we found organically. Wool, cotton, jute, silk. The height of fashion can never return so long as we’re forced to buy tops from Zara that are 96% polyester and 4% elastane. Ever gone to a bar to get your usual drink, only to take a sip and find it’s 96% simple syrup and 4% of tequila? Would you be happy paying the same price when you didn’t get what you were expecting? Yeah, me neither. Almost all of our fashion bought today is made with a synthetic blend that not only destroys the look the garment was made to achieve, but it also causes long term health problems that most people ignore and then suffer from later on. It’s all in the favor of cheapening production costs and supplying more product to the demand.
The crowning glory, hair. In any style, from any time period, hair is imitate and personal. Intricately braided, pinned, decorated, it has been long used as a sign of purity, faith, celebration, status, and heritage. I recommend finding a youtuber or vlogger with a similar hair type as you and then see what advice they offer or how they use their routine to get the best results for their hair. Practice makes perfect, but it’s only from playing with the range of looks that you select your best. As a curly girlie, the process to learn how to care for my hair has been long and tedious. I did a big chop at 17 and then stopped using heat and chemicals for around 2-3 years. I wore a wig daily in order to go basically hands free and give my hair a chance to recover from all the bleach, Splat dye, and an awful razor cut that killed my growth for nearly 4 years while in high school. Beware current emos with curls, the razor cut that achieves that fringe bang we went crazy for will ruin the shaft of the curls, opt for a wig when playing with dramatic changes.
Making the most of what you have:
Start with looking at your favorite pieces in your closet - what are your most re-worn items and why? Are you returning to a comfort zone in your clothes? Give yourself an honest assessment. I recently discovered that while I love cozy sweater weather, I fall into a low effort outfit rut in New York winters due to the off-putting cold. Knowing this, I’m working against my desire to hang in hoodies and feeding my love of aesthetic looks but figuring out how to style my fav summer pieces for lower temps.
Next, look at your favorite brands or fashion icons - why do you love them? People value honesty and they want to know that a business takes care of their employees and doesn’t kill the environment in order to deliver our products. Balenciaga lost lots of love recently as their questionable brand morals are under scrutiny and Shein has had some of the worst working conditions seen today for factories. They both have lost a lot of loyal buyers who are conscious of brand marketing and ethics. A big winner for me, Klassy Network is a wave maker in the current practical needs and want to be stylish at the same time. She designs her pieces with built in bras and padding to allow clothes to feel more flattering and less restrictive. Another brand specializing in inclusive underwear is Proclaim. Based in LA, they have some of the most transparent manufacturing and sourcing information I’ve seen from fashion companies, and utilize natural materials like cotton and hemp.
Learn to mend or sew. It’s way easier to hand stitch than you think and you can get a tiny kit from your local dollar shop. Find one of the thousands of tutorials out there and practice. Next time your button pops off your shirt, you won't be so quick to give it up. Thrift at resale shops and flea markets or online if you don’t have access to one nearby. I’ve gotten some of my best staples for my dream wardrobe off of Depop or ThredUp. Swapping pieces with my friends or sister also helps to save and recycle without adding to consumption.
Some fashion creators I just can’t stop watching are: Body& Style by Ellie-Jean (she has the BEST body typing and color analysis videos), Amy Serrano, Mina Lee, Andrea’s Choice, StealtheSpotlight (such great TV or movie character outfit inpso), Micarah Tewers, Laini Ozark, and Nava Rose (our super chic DIY queen).
In short, trends will come and go and always be guided or affected by the face of society and the desires of the consumers. If you desire cheap and quick things that look exactly like every single other person in cyber space or real life - then that is all you’ll continue to see and purchase. I see the comments online that will lose it over where someone got one specific item and the idea that you have to have only that exact thing is what is ruining good personal style. Love your uniqueness. Celebrate the fact that you found a top that’s different from the one you saw on Instagram. Savor the way you show up in yourself and in your looks.
If you desire these unattainable bodies, and the newest thing, the most shocking, the craziest thing then all you will continue to see on main platforms, magazines, and advertisements are these kinds of unattainable or undesirable standards. Demand better and we’ll see it happen by refusing to support that which we want to change. If you value quality and individuality, then you need to demand these changes from our ignorance or denial. I challenge you to uninstall your Shein or Boohoo apps and get out to a thrift or resale or craft store. Pick up a sewing kit and learn a new life skill that comes in handy way more than you think. Take a chance to see what happens when you become and leader and not a follower. We have the power, and I think when people remember that, we’ll be able to finally repair these slacking systems.
Thanks for reading and if you have any tips of your own, then leave them in the comments!
