Are fashion trends even real anymore?

     Lately I'm trying to spend less time watching short form content on apps like TikTok or Instagram and instead watching long-form engaging content on YouTube. I find that I often can get sucked into mindlessly scrolling for hours on TikTok, and while watching YouTube I can pull away at any moment and maybe at least learn something.

     Anyways, I like to watch all kinds of content on YouTube, and yesterday I came across a video by a fashion YouTuber, who was diving into whether current trends would age well or poorly. As I watched the video, I noticed that most of the trends she mentioned were things I had never seen anyone wear in real life. Like, seriously, who outside of LA and NYC is wearing oversized soccer jerseys with long flowy skirts, split toe Mary Janes, and a slick back? When I then reflected on many things that I've seen labeled as 'trending' on TikTok, I realized that none of it had ever been real, but instead in my screen. For context, I don't live in a small town. I actually live in a fairly large college town. In real life, no one wears bloomers with knee high boots, but instead jean shorts, sneakers, and crop tops. Of course, not everyone is super deep into fashion. But, those I find who are interested in it claim themselves not to be trend-followers, and instead try to have their own unique style. 

     So, is the meaning of the term 'fashion trends' really dead? To me, when something is truly trending, everyone is wearing it—your friends, neighbors, and strangers you see on the sidewalk, not only influencers online. We all are aware of microtrends and the damage they are doing to our environment, but what about the definitely-less-important-but-still-real damage they do on fashion culture? Many fashion influencers often rotate their wardrobe and participate in microtrends because that is what makes money. However, the many average people aren't able to constantly rotate their wardrobe. As a result, what's trending on the internet and what's trending in real life have become insanely out of sync. We can compare this to the 2000s trends we all know and love. Still, after all the research and deep diving I've done into 2000s fashion culture, can name more trends from the 2020s than I can from the 2000s, and we're only half way through the decade! I guess we can attribute that to the fact that an issue of Teen Vogue takes much longer to produce than a TikTok.

     While the death of true trends can be seen as damage to fashion culture, it can also help it thrive. As the trends we see becoming popular with celebrities and influencers become more inaccessible due to how fast they change, we are encouraged to foster our own individual style. Of course, larger trends, such as the silhouette of the boot cut pant, will continue to exist, but everyone could wear them in vastly different ways. In my opinion, the death of trends as we once knew them in the 2000s is a good thing, as people will face less social pressure to completely fit the same mold as their peers.

That's all, let me know what you think!! xx