Navigating the Fashion Flux
Image sourced from umlconnector.com
The modern trend cycle is unconventional today, running at unprecedented speeds and cannibalizing itself to produce more and more.
SHEIN, Zara, Forever 21, etc: Each brand has been pumping out new clothing styles en masse, in some cases having 100-plus new garments listed each day in an effort to appease the ever-fickle internet fashionistas, and to try and take a slice of the newest micro-trend before it collapses and is reabsorbed into some new aesthetic six months later.
Why has the trend cycle completely collapsed in the post-COVID era? Is this the new normal, or are we in a panicked state of consumerism that can be remedied?
Just a few years ago, you could ask any average follower of fashion how long the trend cycle is, and they would have said it was about 20 years. The exact bits and pieces would shift, but the silhouettes, color palettes, and general look would stay the same for each 20-year block. This cycle prevailed from the early 1800s to about 2019, where pandemic lockdown took the reins and hit the nitro boost on the speed of the cycle in the same moment.
I’d argue that the largest factor in this change is the shift from fashion being designated by subculture, to the creation of the ‘-core’ suffix and its detachment from anything outside of aesthetics. The biggest example of this at the moment is the goth subculture vs. the goth aesthetic movement that has been trending in TikTok.
The subculture side is insistent that you cannot be goth without listening to the music – that regardless of how you dress, you can still be goth by participating in the culture. The aesthetic side points to other fashion movements such as ‘Mall Goth,’ a subgenre of alternative fashion popularized by Hot Topic in the 2000s, that held no definite music artists or social views, as their reasoning for why goth can just be a fashion statement.
Funny enough, this exact discourse was brought against mall goths when the fashion first popped up. Many traditional goths were appalled at the co-opting of their name when it had been distinctly attached to the anti-assimilation and pro-diversity sentiments of the original goths.
PANDEMIC EFFECT
We’re seeing the same arguments recycled and rehashed for a new generation, but with the extra layer of complication that comes from the commodification of fashion trends in alternative subcultures as a whole. Microtrends and -core aesthetics are shuffled out every week in favor of the next big thing, and alternative fashions take the brunt of it.
The pandemic opened up a new wave of self-expression and the quarantine insulated people from judgment, allowing for more unique fashion to take center stage. However, the complete disconnect from anything in that time led to a complete detachment of fashion from its associated morals and culture.
While that may seem inconsequential, fashion subcultures prior to the pandemic were often used as a way to signal support and safety for marginalized groups. Ten-twenty years ago, if you were gay, trans, etc. and needed to find someone who supported you in a time of danger, seeing a person with blue hair and piercings was like a beacon of safety. Now you can’t be sure that someone dressing in a subculture that historically supported gay people, trans people, POC, etc. actually subscribes to the morals of the subculture.
Alternative fashion used to be a way to express your views and opinions, but now that everything is fashion devoid of thought, the entire ecosystem of many fashion subcultures has been disrupted, if not outright destroyed.
There are entire communities dedicated to aesthetics that are held together only by the fleeting popularity of the fashions, and when the support leaves the whole group collapses. Unlike when trends would fall out of mainstream fashion previously, there is nothing to hold onto when these trends lose momentum.
UNCERTAIN PATH
There aren’t consistent creators, brands, TV shows, or music to keep you engaged post-culture death, like you might have found even two years ago with the then-trendy E-girl or Cottage-core aesthetics. The aesthetics being promoted now are so specific and yet so undefined: tomato girl, princess-core, weird-core, GORP – none of these have any substance at their center, and the consumers of each can’t even agree on the most basic parts of an aesthetic such as color palette, styling, or even the types of accessories.
Everything is so muddled and listless, and the average consumer has no idea what they’re even trying to be anymore. The structure previously upheld by the trend cycle gave way for a very comfortable and predictable system, and now that it’s been dismantled people are desperate to find another one for someone/something to stand behind.
Your average consumer doesn’t want their fashion to be attached to anything; they want to see something they like in a magazine or on a mannequin and be praised for following the trend so well. They don’t want fashion to require them to understand or acknowledge the social issues attached to the subculture they emulate – they just want to wear clothes.
So where does that leave us? I don’t believe we need to attach meaning to every piece of linen and leather that graces our flesh, but we can’t be ignorant about the history of fashion or unilaterally decide that clothing has no meaning solely because we don’t want the responsibility of it.
The death of the trend cycle disproportionately affects the average consumer who does not participate in subculture, and when the only stable fashions left are subculture-based it would make sense that they begin emulating those with a disregard for what they stand for.
The average consumer does not understand that clothing can have meaning. We’re now seeing what happens when the conventions of spoonfed media fail, and the desperate creations and conversions of those left behind who don’t wish to leave the classic cycle.
I think the 20-year cycle will return, but we have a few more years of discordant and listless fashion ahead of us first. Fashion has been tied to almost every historical movement, and the sooner we as a collective realize its significance, the sooner we can reach a point where clothes can just be clothes.
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