Logging Off to be In
Source: Unsplash
Fashion trends are becoming so quick that we don’t even create them anymore. I firmly believe most trends are created by brands that want to sell clothes quickly. They make a mood board, find creators that match that aesthetic, send them the clothes, and the marketing does itself. A trend is simply a marketing tactic, and now that Gen Z is getting into higher-up roles at fashion companies, they are starting to create the trends themselves.
With the turnaround rate of trends, it’s so easy for us to get stuck in the fashion purgatory. Fashion purgatory is somewhere between our personal style and the dirty cloud of our unconscious that picks up on every single item of clothing we see online. This not only blinds our own ideas of self-expression, but also encourages the capitalist devil to take over our sense of style.
One of my new favorite parasocial friends, Natalia Spotts, best known for her old thrift store, Funny Pretty Nice, is now influencing, or maybe “defluencing,” all the girls on Instagram. Her page is about her vintage thrifted designer items and how to style them. However, she just started a fascinating project on her Instagram page where she documents her style every day for 30 days without going onto Pinterest or Instagram.
It is not just avoiding Pinterest or Instagram for inspiration, but not going on these two apps for anything at all. She’s made an argument around collecting stylistic advice, even when you aren’t looking for it, your creative mind can be flooded so easily.
The first day she posted her outfit, showing what her style is without going on Pinterest or Instagram, people were dumbfounded at the idea. She later explained in her story that we’re always picking up on stylistic inspiration even when we’re not looking for it.
The irony of this experiment is that it really is inspiring me, stylistically as well as mentally. I always come back to the idea that you are a combination of the 5 closest people to you. I feel like this is the idea that your unconscious mind is always picking up on ideas, inspiration, habits, etc., without you ever knowing. It’s necessary for a creative to let their unconscious mind rest, to find a reset in their mind and therefore their art.
Do you feel like you have found your personal style yet? Let us know in the comments below.