About four years ago, I bought a âKickersâ jumper from Urban Outfitters. Since then, it is guaranteed that every time I wear it in public, I will get comments from multiple people about how they remember wearing the brand âback in the dayâ, or about how they find it crazy to see the things that went out of fashion when they were young make a return. When I bought it, I didnât know the history or that it had once been a sought-after brand; I simply needed a new jumper and liked this one. I was wearing my big afghan coat in Norway, and the Spanish man in the shop was telling me about how he had one exactly the same in the seventies. It is obvious that fashion transcends time and borders, but what is it that creates and influences the trend cycle? And has it always been this way, or is it a modern development?
Social media, of course.
Nothing in our world today can remain uninfluenced by social media or technology as a whole. The online sphere is a place in itself, as a country or continent is. There are rules, societal expectations, and subcultures that all exist online in both separate and overlapping sections of the internet, all of which act as drivers of change, though the separation between tangible sites and the online sphere lies in the difference of global influence each place has. We live in a technologically interlinked world that even thirty years ago would have been unthinkable, therefore leading to a greater sharing of ideas, culture, and subsequently, fashion trends.
One primary example of how this global interconnectedness is impacting fashion trends and cycles is through the disappearance (or reduction in importance) of cultural clothing and traditional garments. The internet creates a new, shared international identity where there are no longer boundaries between what we know about how others are living and what we donât, therefore leading to trends that reach a global level, not just regional or national. This creation of a monocultural global society leads to the loss of personal and national identity as people strive to âfit inâ with what everybody is doing.
This monoculturalism is further perpetrated by trends on apps such as TikTok, where influencers promote the brands they are wearing, which then become sought after by the general population who believe they should be following these internet âcelebritiesâ. There are many problems with this, one of which being how once the brand deal ends and the influencer stops being paid, they move on to promote the next thing, whilst the audience has just gone and bought the item of clothing which has now been moved on from. This creates a cycle of micro-trends that stick around for a month before being forgotten about, and therefore the clothes sit in the back of your wardrobe, not getting any more use because you didnât actually like them, and they say nothing for your personal style, itâs just what was popular and you wanted to fit in.
Micro-trends give way to fast-fashion. They create the perfect culture for online retailers like Shein and Temu to grow their brands beyond what would have ever been considered possible, all at the expense of the workers, the environment, and culture. Availability of choice has increased greatly, yet personal style and self-identification have diminished as quickly but cheaply made clothing takes over retail.
Fault for all of this cannot be fully placed on the consumer when it’s the brands and influencers who donât consider the negative impacts of these micro-trends and therefore perpetuate the cycle, but we must be conscious shoppers and hold ourselves to higher standards than we currently are. Besides, fashion is another way to portray your own personality and identity in our everyday lives; we should make use of that and enjoy dressing up again! Tap back in to your personal style and find freedom in shopping and cultivating a wardrobe!