Fitting into a certain ‘aesthetic’ is easier than ever – look it up on tiktok and the inspiration comes flooding in. “Just wear what feels right to you and you’ll find your style!” is perfectly easy to say until what “feels right” is a ratty t-shirt from 2018 and crusty skinny jeans from the back of your wardrobe. That definitely doesn’t give clean girl vibes.
In the age of social media the requirements for fitting into a certain style sub-category is getting harsher and harsher by the day, and so is the pressure to find this so-called ‘personal style’.
Before the time of severe overconsumption, having a personal style seemed much easier. Hearing tales of 40 and 50-somethings in the 90’s having one ‘fancy’ outfit, a few pairs of jeans, and a few funky tops feels like an impossibly minute amount of clothing choice today. Style on the other hand, was a gradual process – you’d buy a piece and you were sorted until the seams burst or the soles of your shoes disintegrated under you. I will admit this may be biased – from someone who still hadn’t grasped the concept of style until a few years ago, but from conversations with our fashion ancestors, consumption trends moved much slower back then than it does now.
“Now why is any of this important to the topic at hand?” you may be asking. It is all due to the speed in which trends cycle. With clothing trends coming and going in the blink of an eye – the production of clothing needs to speed up to match the sheer rate at which things go in and out of fashion. This in turn makes it almost impossible to figure out what clothes you actually like – because the majority of the time what you want your personal style to reflect is just what happens to be on your for-you page. The most important thing is to not give into the temptation to buy that brand new cool thing – it will be in the thrift stores next week and I promise it will not seem as cool then.
What I’m trying to say here is – embrace the clothes you already have, and yes, even the skinny jeans and ratty t-shirts, because they deserve love too. There will come a time in the near future where everything you own will be the new personal style trend.