How Being To Over Exposed To Trends Is Leading You To Lack Personal Style
The pre-fall season we are entering, while full of changes, could be a critical period for those who are used to shopping online. It has become almost a yearly tradition to take part into the “wardrobe changes” and “full makeovers” that characterise the shift between summer and fall. Therefore those who are more exposed to the new trends on social media are also those that can be easily led to impulsive buys, which in the long term do not create what is to be considered our personal style. Take Dakota Johnson -the actress who recently starred in “The materialist”- her style has always been relevant among young people as it’s not only consistent but it’s also personalized. What this means is that she is able to dress for the occasion without creating disharmony with her overall personal style. She never took on every trend, but she implemented those who fitted her person, for instance we haven’t seen her in polka dots this year, but around 2022 when over-sized blazers were very popular she incorporated them in her everyday clothing. By taking inspiration from her, through this article you’ll be able to learn how to shape your personal style even when you are being over-exposed too fashion on social media.
How micro trends influence us
By definition micro trends are short-living and niche trends that lose popularity just as fast as they gain it. Think about the butter yellow, the mob wife aesthetic or the Labubus. These have been and still are trends that rise in popularity within days and engage with millions of people. What they play on is the fear of missing out rooted in those who see them. When your feed constantly proposes to you a specific item, slowly you may think it’s worth its price, that it’s an investment, that you will use it every day and since other people have it, there must be a reason behind the hype. But the truth is that, while the clothes that fall under the “micro-trend” category can still be cute while not being a necessary part of your style.
Therefore once the highs of the trend have passed you will end up wearing it less to the point where you won’t be sure on why you bought it in the first place. Let’s take as an example the rise of polka dots prints on clothes this summer. From dresses to nails we have seen celebrities like Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner and Dua Lipa popularizing this trend. As a consequence, partially because it’s a fun trend and partially because it’s associated to people we look up to, the trend in question starts raising exponentially. But since this growth is also caused by FOMO people pay less attention to details when it comes to buying. This can lead to purchasing clothes with an unfair balance between price and materials that you will end up wearing only for one season.
When taking inspiration becomes lack of creativity
Clothes tendencies specifically, thanks to the influence of social media, tend to fall under specific categories labelled as aesthetics. From its literal meaning – relating to the enjoyment or study of beauty- aesthetic is a term now used in the search bars of social like Pinterest in order to find visual appealing images that, melted, create the trend. Take the “office siren aesthetic” which was very popular last year and usually comes back in style at the start of fall. Within this aesthetic we are able to find elegant shirts, suits, turtle necks and all the clothes related to a more elevated office dress code. Therefore this concept of office siren is used to promote the specific clothes in a more beautiful way than the classic disposal we see on online stores. And as a consequence people will be drawn to it. Of course this is just one of the many examples used to attract potential customers. Another problem rises when we rely too much on these aesthetics as our style becomes the creation of other people’s ideas alone. It may not be the most dramatic thing but it’s a less personal way to dress and it can lead to buying things we don’t fully like (but of which we like the “concept”) or never feeling satisfied with our clothes. In fact the over exposure to trends and the aesthetics that emphasise them, easily create a sense of lack. We may already have nice things, but we feel like we don’t have enough of them or we don’t have the specific thing in fashion now. The issue is that there will always be a specific thing we don’t have. While social media are a good mean to find inspiration they should not be the only one as they are wired to make us want more and are often over-saturated with information.
The journey of finding your own personal style
Considering the fast dopamine release a lot of our inspiration sources live from, when it comes to your personal style you need to go in the opposite direction. Meaning that the most important skill you need to have is patience. Patience because it’s not something you can change overnight, despite what TikTok makes you think, and it’s definitely something you refine through the years. If you want to create a wardrobe completely catered to you, you need to be able to be picky enough: you don’t like how the material of a top feels? Then it’s not for you. I am not saying you need to be a 100% sure on everything you buy, but little over 50 is not enough. Especially because a lot of the times when you are still unsure you end up realizing that what you liked best was how the item looked in the pictures you saw, not how it felt in real life.
It’s described as a “journey” because you do not have to rush your search: it’s easy to be influenced by the latest trends but once you are able to make the distinction between liking the concept or liking it for your self, your style will massively improve and you won’t feel the need to reset every month.
