DIYing clothes and why it has stopped

Hey there! It’s Kai again and I wanna talk about one of my peeves which is how DIYing isn’t being used for fashion as much in the past due to shopping becoming more accessible and cheaper due to fast fashion such as SHIEN. This blog will go in order of Why have people stopped DIYing in fashion, The stigma around it, Why DIY is crucial to certain fashion cultures, Why we should start DIYing in fashion again, and some more! 

Why have people stopped DIYing in fashion?

There has been many contributing factors as to why diy within the fashion community has stopped and the main one that I’ve seen is due to trends. Trends are bound to die out but now more than ever, they die out within weeks and if we’re lucky it dies out in a couple of months. This is one of the main reasons as to why people don’t upcycle, they’re interested in fitting in with the trend and and when it dies out, easy disposal of the clothing; by upcycling the clothes it harder to get rid of. People don’t want to commit to a style, they simply want to fit in and it kills the culture (especially with alternative clothing). Another reason I’ve seen why DIY in fashion has stopped is because of fast fashion and online shopping, with the touch of a finger you can buy clothing for yourself for cheap and not have to raise a finger to tailor it to your wants/needs. Fast fashion is an increasingly problem for the fashion community (which is a topic for another blog) as it strips fashion of its originality and it’s uniqueness as it spits out anything that you can think of nowadays which gets repetitive and boring. The ingenuity of fashion has died out due to fast fashion and people not wanting to commit to a style simply to fit in and instead using that style as a trend and killing all its originality and its charm. My last main reason I believe why people have stopped DIYing in fashion is due to classism which brings me to my next point of this topic.

The stigma around DIY in fashion 

DIY in fashion has garnered a lot of hate due to the classism within the fashion community nowadays, which is shown with the latest phenomenon which is being classy when rich but that same thing is seen as bad when poor. In todays society DIY is seen as cheap and tacky due to fast fashion taking over but is seen as elaborative and creative when rich, this is due to people holding double standards to poor people as they’re seen lower than due to their poor financial situation. In the 2000s we didn’t have as much of a technological advantage as we do now which is why DIY wasn’t looked down upon as much because fashion was more harder to access and people, regardless of social standing, had to get creative. In our present era online shopping has grown and as a result so has fast fashion; with the rise of fast fashion and online shopping the need for creativity was gone as everything was very accessible, at least for the more wealthier. With fast fashion trends have become more frequent and last less which means that those wealthy can easily switch between trends and don’t need to DIY while those less fortunate are forced to DIY if they want to fit in, and that is seen as tacky due to the new fashion atmosphere and community.

Why DIY is crucial to certain communities 

In this section I wanted to focus mainly on the alternative community. The reason why the alternative community is suffering and being stripped of its originality is due to the lack of DIY, especially when some communities where founded on DIY (ex: punk). DIY clothing was very crucial and the foundation of alternative culture since being alternative was founded with anti-consumerist ideals. With fast fashion being bigger than ever before, dressing alternative is more accessible and lucrative than ever before as it’s been untouched and trends constantly need something new. With fast fashion you can buy and seem like you are part of the alternative community but not have to subscribe to those ideals or learn the culture/history of the fashion style. DIY is what gives most alternative communities its charm and personality as it’s something only for you and that no one else can replicate, making it unique to you which is what being alternative is all about, it’s literally in its name, the word alternative literally meaning a choice between usually two things and having to reject one and subscribe to the other thing. Being alternative is all about standing out and being defiant and what better way to show that than to dress like it? That’s why DIY in fashion is so important to alternative communities as you show that you reject social norms and choose to do something for you and not give in to consumerism.

Why we should start DIYing again!

I believe DIY in fashion should come back again due to it being cheap and making something that is bland and repetitive one of a kind! DIY can cut back on shopping costs and can also help alíviate the effects of fast fashion (especially within thrifting which is yet another topic for another blog) and bring back the charm of fashion itself! Fashion has gotten boring as of late and I believe the main contributing factor of that is the steady death of DIY as there is nothing unique to make things exciting and fun. People are afraid to commit to styles and by DIYing you basically commit to that style, but by committing you can learn new things and maybe figure out things for yourself! Commitment isn’t a bad thing, it can give you more charm and life more than anything! 

Thank you for reading my blog, let me know in the comments if you have any questions or if you have any future topics you’d like me to discuss, I’ll try my best to reply to all of them, for today this is all!

-signing off Kai, XOXO