Fashion trends are nothing new, things come and go constantly. And with the addition of fast fashion apps like SHEIN, Romwe, and more, things trend way faster and disappear quicker. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest have had a major influence on the fashion world.
Fashion trends are not necessarily limited to clothes either, one of the most popular trends right now are Stanley Cups. Instead of being seen as a water bottle, social media views it as an accessory, leading to the overconsumption of the product.
Recently, “coquette” has been a buzz-word for people to use to describe how people dress. Coquette’s origin is from early Tumblr that romanticizes eating disorders, wearing and collecting vintage wear and being invested in Americana. However, it has been used to describe pink, bows, hyper feminine outfits, and Lana Del Rey, which are very different meanings from each other.
Along with coquette, another trend that has risen from social media is the term “clean girl,” an aesthetic revolving around skincare and no makeup-makeup look routines, being model-off-duty, and being polished. It romanticizes the perfect look while doing it effortlessly. People online have pointed out the mildly racist origin of this ‘aesthetic look’, the origin being a copy-cat version of the look many Latina women have. Another problem people have with the trend was the implication of a “dirty girl” opposite.
“I really wish instead of people focusing on trends, people did their own thing. You don’t need to copy the latest fashion trend or buy the newest thing in the name of consumerism. I hate it when people only buy things because other people have it. People lack individuality and fast fashion certainly hasn’t helped,” junior Lexi Radabaugh said.
Fast fashion has major effects on how people dress today, the urge to be trendy and have hundred dollar hauls of clothing, leading to an unreasonable amount of clothing in landfills. Fast fashion has made it way more accessible to participate in micro-trends and overconsumption.
“Fashion trends will always be around but people are too focused on ‘fitting in’. If you don’t want to participate in the latest trend, don’t do it. It’s not illegal to be yourself even if it’s not what the population wants,” junior Milo Bender said.
There are always trends going on and there is no way to avoid it, however, individuality and being one’s-self is not one of those trends. The general population, especially in younger generations and children in middle through high school, have been ultra-focused on trends and fitting in with the latest fashion—which can lead to unnecessary insecurities around appearance.
All over social media are videos, primarily on TikTok and Instagram, of young women asking what the newest trends are and ‘girls, what are we wearing this spring and summer?’ and are completely ready to throw away an entire wardrobe in the name of fashion. These social media influencers are so caught up in what is trendy to wear and what is not, that they do not even seem like their own person.
“Although there might be downsides to fast fashion, the trends themselves I find are personally really cool. It’s nice seeing people wear what they are comfortable with and everyone’s different styles,” junior Alex Dupes said.
There are always downsides to trends, but not all of them are absolutely terrible. Fashion is a way for people to fully express themselves and be comfortable in their own skin. Seeing everyone’s different tastes and styles is always a fun thing to see. Comfortability is one of the most important things when it comes to fashion and some trends promote that.
Trends come and go, but even with trends it’s easy to see how comfortable people are with their personal styles. Being able to fully express and understand yourself is super important in today’s society, even if it does or does not fall under today’s standards of beauty and fashion. What’s truly important is that people can dress how they want, regardless of whenever or not it’s trendy without backlash.