Do you ever get tired of your clothes? Sometimes we just look at our closet and think “Ok I have nothing to wear”. But why does this happen? Nowadays people are wearing mostly fashion trends and that’s because it’s what the industry is offering. However, fashion trends have expiration dates, they are like a bomb: they explode and leave a mark behind, but then they simply disappear.
In this article I’ll discuss and explain a little bit about the life cycle of fashion trends and say my opinion about the question: do fashion trends really go out of style when they become popular?
The life cycle of a fashion trend
The life cycle of a fashion trend is simple. It has five stages: introduction, rise, peak, decline and obsolescence. But before we start, let’s answer an intro question: what is a fashion trend?
A fashion trend is a piece or a style that becomes really popular in a certain period. Starting with introduction, it’s the time when the trend is not yet a trend. A new style is introduced, normally during the fashion week season and by a major designer or brand. It’s important to emphasize that trends start in a small group before it goes to a large scale of production, because mass production only comes once a trend’s relevance is assured by a significant number of consumers. It’s also important to note that not all the new trends will be the “must have” of the moment, sometimes they are introduced and then retracted if enough consumers don’t catch on.
The next step is the rise of a fashion trend, here we’re not talking about the “new style” anymore, but the “trendy”. This happens often with the help of influencers and celebrities whose influence are used to promote the trend, to do it they can be paid or simply share what they truly like. We all know that already but just to get a note: the influence of celebrities and influencers nowadays is undeniable.
Another factor responsible for disseminating the trend is the copycat phenomenon. It’s common to see, especially if the trend is high-fashion, that fast fashion brands do their version of the high-fashion trend. For example: we all remember the Versace’s platform heels trend, right?! Not a long time after, brands like Shein already had their versions, but with a lower cost.
Now we finally got there. We’re in the climax of a trend’s life cycle, the peak. Now the trend that began with a high-fashion brand no longer belongs to them. In this fase, the prices are more expensive, the peace or the style is all over the media, fast fashion do large scale of production, but the time here is unpredictable. Something we can note is that social media makes trends rise and fall overnight and that’s why it is so unpredictable, but there are professionals that make the analysis of the trends and say if it will continue to the next season or will fall.
There is no climax without a decline. Fashion trends must decline. (Fun fact: that fase almost answers the question of this article). That’s because consumers tend to grow weary of seeing the same too much, or just start to feel “mainstream”. A good example is the tube tops, I don’t know about you, but I can’t even look anymore at those (lol). Jokes aside, as soon as that trend got saturated, it got retired from the industry and the last pieces were sold out on sale.
Lastly, we have the final part of the cycle: obsolescence. That’s nothing more than the trend ceasing to be a trend. Now people that “don’t follow trends” can finally use them because they are no longer ones, just kidding. But what’s really happening here is that the people who were wearing the trend are now on the new peak ones and those trends that got in that faze are normally saturated, so we all need a time to kind of recover our memories. Does that mean this trend will be in obsolescence forever? Of course NOT.
Fashion is cyclical. We are living in new trends that were also trends in the 80’s like pencil skirts. On the other hand, is important to say that they don’t came back the same way ‘cos it’s been decades since the 80’s. For example, new references got on, the world have changed a lot, new thoughts got on and the olds out, anyway, the point is that of course they won´t came back the same way, how they could?!
Because of the new technologies, the industry has changed and the way we see and consume fashion has drastically changed. So, if you asked me 20 years ago if I think trends went out of style when they became popular? I would say: no! Because yes, they were popular, but we didn’t necessarily get saturated with the same clothes all the time like we’re now. And nowadays, I say that no, fashion trends don’t really go out of style when they become popular, but they do get saturated, and we need a time to recover all information that we receive from influencers and the media generally.
The next time you see that piece in your closet that was once a trend you may think “Oh that’s so out of style” but actually you are probably just saturated from seeing it. But don’t worry in the blink of an eye you’ll be wearing it again and just liking it as if it’s nothing. Yes girl, I know you wore fringes in the 2010’s and a few years later found it a little tacky and now you are already using or you probably will use because it is a trend that came back this season. In my opinion that’s beautiful, that’s what fashion is, this controversial cycle, especially when we’re talking about fashion trends.
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The article above was edited by Anna Maria Prado .
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