Personal style is defined as how an individual expresses their unique style and identity through aesthetic choices, particularly clothing and accessories. It is characterized by your experiences, your identity and more than anything, it is about developing a sense of self and figuring out what aligns with you and who you are. With the rise of social media in the last few years, trends cycle quicker than ever, making it difficult to have personal style without someone on the internet telling you that you are not fashionable.
The thing about personal style is that it is less about fashion and more about your unique life experiences and how that bleeds into what clothing you choose for yourself. It should reflect you, not the trends you see online. Discovering personal style is about trial and error, experimentation, memories and exploration.
“The cultivation of exceptional personal style necessitates several crucial elements, which are life experiences, extensive research and the process of self-discovery through countless trials and errors,” says Dionne Davis, NYC-based stylist.
Social media has created the need for instant gratification among young people. You see something you like on a content creator that pops up on your feed, and you need it, then and there. Because of this, fast fashion has become more prevalent than ever. Companies cycle through micro-trends incredibly quickly and inexpensively, to please the young people who will probably wear it for three months, and then decide it is not “in” anymore. Not only is fast fashion negatively impacting people’s ability to develop an original personal style, but it also is detrimental to the environment. According to Earth.org, “clothing sales doubled from 100 to 200 billion units a year, while the average number of times an item was worn decreased by 36 percent overall.” Apps like TikTok, Instagram and Pinterest make people want to wear what they see on their favorite creators, regardless of whether it is a micro-trend, and regardless of whether they think they will like it long term. Oftentimes, the piece is discarded after a few wears and is not deemed trendy anymore.
Influencers are a brand’s favorite way to promote their products in a tasteful, tangible, relatable way. Influencers are as close to the “everyday person” you can get as a public figure, which means consumers are drawn to the lifestyle they promote and the products they use or wear. Influencers are meant to promote things in an approachable way so that consumers are convinced that it is achievable. It is what makes them so persuasive. This, more than anything, drives sales. If you want to be like your favorite content creator, just “buy this and wear this and do this,” and then you will be just like them. Oftentimes, it is not as achievable as it seems and is not easy or feasible at all as a real everyday person.
Influencers also decide what is trending and what is not because they are relatable. They are a large reason that trends cycle so fast; there are so many content creators promoting fashion trends in different ways to their niche audiences, which creates many trends that come and go quicker than we have seen before. As Jose Blanco F. explains, influencers are the new wave of fashion innovators, who “are people who create a new style; they can be fashion designers or individuals with an artistic, unique sense of style.” They lead to a fashion echo chamber, where everyone starts looking the same. Even if they are promoting clothes in different ways, at the end of the day, it is still the same trend, still the same piece. Relatability often leads to sameness, which kills originality.
The reason that personal style is dying is not because of influencers, but rather the lack of individuality and authenticity that social media brings to the fashion world. Apps often cause trend overload because of the algorithm, which thrives on friendly and relatable content that goes viral. Users often dress to “fit in,” rather than go for authenticity, and social media dubs these trends witty names, like coquette, cottagecore, mob wife, old money, coastal grandmother and the list goes on. Most algorithms rely on repetition, which is how trends go viral, and if one aesthetic goes viral, many other similar videos come along, feeding off the virality of it.Style is being reduced to buying the right things as quickly as possible in order to fit in, which masks over consumerism and ingenuity.
We are living in an age where people online are inherently “judgy,” for lack of a better word. If you are not buying the latest trend to fit in, you are considered out of style, and people judge you for it. It can make you afraid to be yourself. You may not want to be the person who is wearing something “cringe” or outdated, but in reality, personal style is about having “cringe stages” because that is what leads you to finding the style that suits you the best and makes you happy. Fashion is messy and utterly personal. Having awkward stages is how you evolve. People are very quick to criticize what is not on trend, which defeats the purpose of fashion as a whole. It is art and expression that you wear. Individuality dies when people are forced to conform to what is trending, rather than going according to their identity and true self. Consumers should not have to feel awkward for dressing the way they want to dress, rather than being pressured into the latest micro-trend.
This is not to say that social media is all bad. It connects people to communities and can certainly help people find their personal style through niches they may not have sought out otherwise. When you immerse yourself in diverse communities and cultures online, it can help lead you to parts of your personal style. It can expose you to subcultures, people and ideas that reflect something real. Personal style thrives on life experience. Your life, not the people’s glamorous lives you see online. When you see something you like online, think to yourself: Is this something I will wear for a long time? Is this something that I actually like, not just what is in style? If the answer is no, it does not belong in your closet or a part of your personal style. It is inevitable to be influenced by social media, and not just for clothing. Wear trends that cater to what you love to wear, not what the internet tells you to wear, or tells you that you like.