Micro-trends fueled by social media, favoring conformity due to social pressure and corporate greed are leading individual and unique fashion straight to its untimely demise. Not being able to buy new because how expensive different-looking clothes have gotten has led people to pay into the nightmare fast fashion is.
What once was an outlet for self-expression has become a cycle of endless consumption. TikTok and Instagram algorithms now drive trends that last weeks instead of seasons, or even years, pushing users to constantly refresh their closets to stay relevant. “dad-core” and “older brother-core” are nothing but faded memories of trends only a few weeks long.
“Everyone feels a little pressure [to follow trends], whether they’d like to admit it or not,” Junior Xander Scarpino said.
The rise of micro-trends like “clean girl,” “indie sleaze” and “office siren” reflects a growing dependence on corporate marketing disguised as creativity. These aesthetic cycles encourage shoppers to buy more clothes at lower prices, often from fast fashion giants whose business models depend on overproduction and underpaid labor.
Companies such as Shein and Zara prey on people’s emotional need to fit in and appeal to affordability and instant gratification. The constant flow of new styles gives people the illusion of choice, but in reality, most of what’s trending looks the same. Consumers are taught to value quantity over quality, and conformity over authenticity.
The constant chase for relevance has made it harder for individuals to develop their own sense of style.
“I think they do it [shop fast fashion] because of the cost effective aspect,” Scarpino said. “I think it’s more of a desire to fit in for cheap rather than to be different.”
As trends move faster, the line between personal taste and public approval continues to blur. What once made fashion exciting: finding pieces that reflected personality, mood or creativity, is now replaced by a pressure to blend in. Many young people find themselves dressing for an audience rather than themselves.
Social media has turned style into performance, rewarding sameness with likes and visibility.
“You could argue that fashion is less about true self expression and just fitting in now, because if you look around, everyone does wear the same things,” Junior Isaiah McCully said.
As fashion continues to move at the speed of the internet, individuality risks becoming another passing trend- one that might not come back in style.
