As the fashion industry grapples with the rapid pace of social media trends, the traditional 20-year cycle of fashion appears to be fading, raising questions about the future of individuality and originality in style. Recently, originality seems to have started taking a backseat to the convenience of the fast fashion era. But is everyone now just a copycat, or are today’s it-girls and -boys being drowned out by all the noise?

In this digital age, everything seems to be going at a break-neck pace— fashion is no different. With the rise of fast fashion companies coupled with hyper-individualized social media algorithms, trends seem to come and go in the blink of an eye.

So fast and short is it all that the traditional 20-year trend cycle has been unexpectedly defenestrated, forcing the fashion industry to try and keep up. Unlike the traditional fashion cycle, the typical microtrend lasts only one season.

We’ve reached a point in fashion history where everything is “in” only for it to disappear within a few months, and where aesthetics become increasingly niche and erratic products not of cultural influences, but of algorithmic ones. Such examples include “Barbiecore,” “quiet luxury,” “coastal grandmother,” “cottagecore,” “dark academia,” “old money” and just about anything with the attached suffix “-core.” And while clothes have always been a favorite consumerist commodity, with the dawn of this new era comes the unique risk of fashion losing its cultural significance.

What’s Hot?

Haute couture, a term synonymous with high fashion and tightly regulated by the French government, is the epitome of the expensive, impractical and artistic in the fashion world: a space where brands compete not for profits but prestige. However, many of these ateliers have shuttered in recent years — such was the fate of Balenciaga and Molyneux in 2017 — partly due to the French government’s strict rules surrounding this aspect of the industry.

Yet while it may have been easy to dismiss these cases as just the upper echelons of the designers finally reckoning with their poor financial decisions — these kinds of Paris-based ateliers all lose money for their respective fashion houses — it is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the wider struggles of the industry.

According to fashion magazine “Glossy,” even companies like Macy’s, Saks, REI, Nike and Express have seen layoffs and significant downsizing.

“Macy’s is opting to go higher and compete in the upscale retail space, rather than race to the bottom against affordable fast fashion brands,” said one article.

Indeed, the self-fulfilling cycle of fast fashion and microtrends has the potential to take a wreak irreparable harm to well-established companies, the environment and the creative class, as well as having the potential to redefine “fashion” for the worse. And as with many things, the pandemic only accelerated this problem.

A Fit Full of Problems

In 2021 alone, the World Economic Forum identified the fashion industry and its supply chain as the world’s third-largest polluter, releasing 10% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions annually and contributing 1.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is no wonder the topic du jour has been about sustainability, though it is difficult to materialize any substantive change when the industry disruptors — think SHEIN or Temu — are the most responsible yet the least willing to take accountability.

Notwithstanding the clear and present danger this all poses to the environment and normal companies, it also creates a social problem that is less apparent: the loss of originality.

Franny Collingham, a fashion sustainability expert and owner of the brand Wild Clouds, said in an interview with Vice:

“Microtrends encourage overconsumption when we should be future-proofing our wardrobes and not buying for the short term. Whilst shopping secondhand is better than buying new, we should be discouraging such behavior and looking for durable, versatile and trans-seasonal clothing which can be with us for years.”

In other words, if you can’t imagine yourself wearing it a few months from now, it might be better to just scroll on by and not buy it.

But this might be easier said than done. After all, people are constantly bombarded with post after post on social media platforms of the latest “trends,” which are oftentimes nothing more than corporations using influencers to peddle their newest products in a more targeted way. And since influencers aren’t bound to disclose what is or is not an ad, they can get away with a much more subtle approach, too. This can lead to a lot of people being influenced into indulging their impulses and purchasing another article of clothing they may not need or even want beyond the short term.

Fashion Feelings

University of Miami senior Bingwei Tang says she frequently shops at fast fashion brands like Temu.

“I buy a lot of cute things I like from Temu and SHEIN, and I like styling them together with my more expensive items like from La Mer. I especially like wearing lots of neutrals, especially black,” Tang said. “I’m always hearing about climate change, and I’m pretty worried about it, although I didn’t know fashion was such a problem.”

Miu Matsumoto, a UM junior exchange student, has a similar opinion.

“I regularly purchase from fast fashion brands such as H&M and ZARA. Actually, I think microtrends increases people’s originality,” Matsumoto said. When asked about the environmental impact, Matsumoto responded, “the impacts don’t concern me. I know that fast fashion is causing air pollution and other environmental problems, but I don’t care because I can buy clothes cheaply.”

Fashion designer and past Project Runway contestant Fäde Zu Grau thinks microtrends promote originality, on the other hand.

“That everybody can be part of setting a trend now is actually promoting originality, not killing it, in my opinion,” Zu Grau said. “It’s no longer up to just a few industry players and, therefore, we’re exposed to a much broader variety of creations, which is great. where I see a problem with fashion microtrends is that they will heighten the pressure for everybody involved and the environment will suffer.”

Zu Grau sees flaws in the way that the fashion industry handles the issue of sustainability, mainly because of the nature of “constantly needing something new.”

“The industry itself is not promoting sustainability, in my opinion. It’s a couple of fashion brands and individual clothes makers that try to make a difference in producing more environmentally friendly. But the basic concept of ‘constantly something new’ is the problem,” Said Zu Grau. “I rework my whole wardrobe every couple of years. that way I constantly have something ‘new’ without spending much money, time or resources on it; nobody even notices. I would love to see this becoming a huge part of fashion in the future.”

So, while microtrends offer the convenience of fitting into a prefabricated aesthetic and vibe, the negative consequences severely outweigh the perceived benefits. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with indulging in items that make you feel happy and comfortable, but it’s important to be conscious of what you’re buying.

words_matt jiménez. design_melanie bergunker.

This article was published in Distraction’s Summer 2024 print issue.

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