Coquette, the clean girl look, mob wife glamor, maximalism, avant-garde, futurism with eye-catching metallics and more are some of the past year’s many “popular aesthetics”.
Some styles are everlasting, recycled from decades ago, while others may be fresher or evolved from past trends. With the constantly increasing modes of technology, fads spread faster than ever, and with the click of a button, can be incorporated into your closet within days. In turn, both sustainable fashion practices and individualism decrease. That is why we should cease diving head-first into one aesthetic.
Clothing sales have doubled from 100 to 200 billion units a year since 2000, while the average number of times an item was worn decreased by 36% overall, according to Earth.org.
While the obvious culprits for these fast fashion rates include companies such as Shein, Mango, Uniqlo, H&M and more, another significant factor contributing to clothing consumption increases is the growing prominence of short-form social media. TikTok Shop, for instance, opened in September 2023 and was estimated by CNN to earn $20 billion by the end of the year.
Fast fashion is becoming a more apparent problem in our society as it directly affects terrestrial and aquatic environments. But the sociological issue is often overlooked: fully committing to a new aesthetic contributes to the decline in individualism.
In fashion, individualism promotes diversity and expresses one’s ideals to a wider audience. It empowers people to feel more autonomous and powerful in their lives.
Individualist culture is beneficial as it awards social status to personal accomplishments such as important discoveries, innovations or great artistic achievements, according to The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Concerning fashion, an “award” may be as small as a person complimenting you on your thrifted shirt after a two-hour battle to find it.
Individualism is also beneficial for one’s mental health. Let’s Talk About Mental Health says that individualistic tendencies support mental balance by building one’s self-awareness and self-esteem and help one find a greater sense of purpose by being clearer on who they are.
Individualism has many benefits, but it is often hard to highlight them with brief clips on social media stealing our attention and convincing us that we need to change our whole “vibe.” That is why it is crucial to become aware of this individualism-theft epidemic.
If everyone sees the same 10-second video of the top you “need,” we will eventually all fall into the same cookie-cutter mold wearing our $59 Modern Love Corset from Urban Outfitters (I’m sure we’ve all seen this top at some point by now).
To avoid everyone subscribing to one aesthetic, and all of us wearing our matching coquette bows and pastel colors around the Twin Cities, I urge individuals to take a step back before tapping “purchase” on a couple-second video or ad.
If something catches your eye, take time to consider the buy before committing wholeheartedly. Take a few days, phone a friend or go on a walk to think it through. Do you have something similar? How often would you wear it? Will it be “in” after a few months?
After succeeding in our aesthetic subscriptions, maybe we’ll all find our own, unique style, emerging as wiser individuals in both the world of fashion and as global citizens.
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.