By Ethereal Violet Reyes October 18, 2022
The social media backflow of fashion has left fashion lovers around the world wondering whether to become fashion victims through trends, harm the environment, or shop sustainably and be seen as fashion of the past. facing a decision.
Social media content such as TikTok videos create a mold of sets that viewers can choose from for their personal fashion expression, devaluing fashion as a form of individualistic expression.
WIRED reports that a quarter of the most-liked videos on TikTok are between 21 and 34 seconds long, indicating our society’s attention span is shorter than ever. It became clear. With this phenomenon, even fashion is accelerating as trends take over social media in an instant.
Two polarizing archetypes in fashion are the trendy fast fashion fanatics who indulge in juggernaut fast fashion companies like Shane, and the rational to invest in archival and designer fashion despite exorbitant prices. I’m a fashion monger who thinks there is.
People like me who can’t quite decide between being a fast fashion fiend or an archival fashion monger are wondering where they fit in the vast art form called fashion. increase. We also ask ourselves why we never feel welcome in the world of fashion.
I’m a self-professed “fashion lover,” but how can I truly refer to myself as such when I can’t afford half the pieces I can spit out my knowledge?
Can I call myself an advocate for fashion as an art form when I buy clothes from fast fashion companies that are having a devastating impact on the environment and fashion reputation?
Fashion is polarizing. It doesn’t matter if you wear old clothes, trendy clothes, designer or archival clothes.
The sad reality that fuels this alienation is that even influencers who have the money to opt for slow fashion and the choice to buy quality over quantity don’t.
Influencers like James Charles talk about repeating the same outfit in YouTube videos and Instagram photos as if it’s unacceptable, and how they revamp their closets every month. I’m talking
Other fashion voices, like Hart Evangelista, wear staples like the nude Lady People Butanes, and even though they’re timeless and expensive designer shoes, they’re not the only ones who love it. He tells the story of being vilified by a Filipino designer who claimed it was unfashionable to wear .
As narratives like this become commonplace, the history of fashion and its dynamics, including couture and individual expression, has been drowned out in the deep waters of social media, whose waves are fast and wild, making us We are washing away the nanoscopic material of what we once knew. Fashion for all disposable trends.
According to The New York Times, more than 60% of the textile fibers are synthetic fibers derived from fossil fuels and will not rot in landfills. Disposable fashion and its fleeting trends will forever affect the planet.
As influencers preach the “trend knows best” mentality, they follow closely and the landfill is growing.
Individualism in fashion expression is fading as TikTok has become the driving force behind fashion trends. increase.
The development of fashion after being chewed up and regurgitated by social media and influencers is strangely dystopian. Because there are very few forms of self-expression that are acceptable and people become more like each other.
Social media has removed all individualism from the masses.
It takes a conscious effort to invest in quality over quantity and prioritize personal style over trends. Environmental problems can be easily avoided by refusing to invest in those companies.
There needs to be a balance between buying second-hand clothes and buying clothes from sustainable brands and boutiques.
Consistency will become the norm if we don’t buck the trends that social media is pushing.
This finally reaches beyond the realm of fashion, and the less privileged get answers about how bodies and faces fit into molds that seem to reject them as they become a trend in plastic surgery. leave behind.
Fashion is just the tip of the iceberg of the dilemma created by capitalism. Sadly, social media is rapidly exacerbating these dilemmas. Disposable trends are a never-ending cycle of doom that only benefit those who brand themselves as “trendy” while amassing pointless Instagram “likes”.
The rest of us are just trying to catch up and fashion’s historical significance and art will soon disappear and be replaced by fast fashion and enormous environmental impact.
It’s up to fashion lovers to stop buying fast fashion for influence and start buying fashion for quality and individual style.
Feature image by Sharon Wu
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