In comparison, now, in 2024 we are surprisingly more trendless than ever! Although this is a good thing and more sustainable, could this be the beginning of the death of personal style or has it already been death since before 2020?
Microtrends are fashion trends that last an extremely short period of time. Since the rise of microtrends in 2020 where certain prints would trend for a month max, trends have come and gone so quickly that no one really knows what’s trending anymore. In the “Trends are Dead” article by Vox, it is stated that “No one is sure exactly what a trend is anymore or if it’s just an unfounded observation gone viral.”
Thanks to social media apps like TikTok we now have more content than ever, so much so that most consumers can’t keep up with what’s “trending.” Consumers are overwhelmed by the amounts of microtrends. In the same article by Vox, it is stated that “there are constantly too many micro trends to recognize any overwhelming trends, and therefore, no clear trend cycle.”
Although trends may hurt personal style, unique trends allow people to explore their style by styling those certain trends differently. Now with the intense fear of looking “cringy,” people have stopped doing that and personal style is in decline.
The decrease in personal style may also be a consequence of fast fashion. Fast fashion makes clothing insanely cheap while also decreasing the quality of clothes immensely. When clothing is super cheap, people can do large hauls instead of building up a closet over time. When they do this, their personal style doesn’t get developed.
Fast fashion also steals designs from many places and simplifies the designs in a way that they lose their sense of uniqueness. It mass-produces low quality pieces, all made in sweatshops and somehow the low-quality construction of the piece makes it look like any other piece of clothing instead of fashion.
Fast fashion has also kills “Do It Yourself” efforts, making it unnecessary for people to develop sewing and other DIY skills. When you DIY your clothes it’s like you leave a little piece of you in it, this is now very rare for people to do.
In the online fashion community, people have started categorizing themselves by aesthetics. For example, “clean girl aesthetic,” or “coquette.” Although aesthetics serve a purpose in fashion, constant categorization doesn’t allow for people to explore and try different things.
Even worse, once fast fashion companies find out which aesthetics are trending they immediately try to come up with clothing that fits those aesthetics, but since everything made by fast fashion is made to earn profit it comes out looking cheap and waters down the aesthetic, turning it into something basic like “pink bows on a graphic tee.” Vox summarizes this perfectly by saying “Anything that’s vaguely popular online must be defined or decoded — and ultimately, reduced to a bundle of marketable vibes with a kitschy label.”
The death of microtrends might also be the death of individuality.
