As September, fashion’s holy month, has come to an end, we’ve decided to take you on a deep dive where we discuss some of the trends taking over the Internet. From beauty to fashion and everything in between, whether it be Barbiecore, the return of corsets, thin brows or Y2K — all the trends seemed to happen at the same time. Did you clock that? Trends are trending. Ever thought why? Well, we’re here to briefly discuss what’s been going on.
Laini Ozark posted a video on TikTok which ignited the fire. She said, “I’ve been thinking [about] how literally nothing is trending right now, because everything is trending in the fashion world. I think we’re just going through trends so freakishly fast, that in the past five years, every single thing has been trendy. I was looking at old articles all the way back from the Fifties, and there’s not one thing that people wouldn’t wear today, or like a version of it today. I was thinking of trends that need to come back and there’s literally none because every trend is back, or has been back in the last five years. We’re literally on our way back to seeing skinny jeans again, which is just insane, because I was looking at fall 2022 trend predictions, and [there’s] this horse girl aesthetic with the riding boots and having your skinny pants or jeans tucked into them, I was like, what?!”
I mean, she’s not wrong. I’ve seen the rise of the skinny jeans on TikTok take place over the past few months, and we’ve even discussed it on Pulse, too. We predicted it. So if you’re seeing it out there, you heard it here first.
It’s because of TikTok
Wisdom Kaye, a fashion content creator, who also attended our FTA Prize Ceremony in 2021, stitched Ozark’s video, adding, “I have wanted to talk about this for such a long time. She’s saying that basically, nothing is trendy because everything is trendy all at once and this is no surprise, it’s because of TikTok.” TikTok has in fact accelerated everything, particularly how we consume and see trends. This phenomenon is being described as the “Algorithm Amplification Effect,” where once a video takes off on TikTok, it automatically feeds into the algorithm that people are interested in whatever the video is about, and thus a trend is born. With all the different personalities and individuals out there, who knows what’s going to show up.
Kaye agrees with the sentiment, adding that “because now that we have an eye on what people are doing so frequently and constantly, it’s accelerated how quickly we want to move on to the next thing. I would also factor in people’s individualism complex and how everyone wants to be a main character as well. Essentially, because we move so quickly, everything exists at once. So you’ll go through your ‘For You’ page or you go through whatever side of the Internet and you will see trends that existed, 10 years or 50 years ago. You’ve got bell bottoms, high waisted jeans, lettermen jackets, the horse girl aesthetic, all that stuff.”
“You can go to a thrift store and find it”
With old trends coming back to the main stage, at Pulse, we’ve always encouraged you to go back to the deepest depths of your closets, or find an alternative in a consignment or thrift shop out there. “My hope for how we carry on is that, because we don’t have to worry so much about what is trending right now in this particular time, we as people can actually consume less. This is the way I’ve always looked at it, whatever is trending now or today, was already trending in the past. So the clothes that correspond with that trend, you can find anywhere, you don’t have to find the new versions that are being made. Just because brands make a pair of flares or bell bottoms doesn’t mean you have to buy them brand new, you can go to a thrift store and find it, because it already exists. Trends are circular. But if all trends exist now, we can observe them all and decide what we want to dip our toes into,” Kaye concluded.
Gen-Z are giving fashion companies and houses a run for their money. They just can’t seem to keep up, or cater to every demand out there. Because what’s in today, could be out tomorrow, and what’s in tomorrow, could be out in a week’s time. But if there’s a silver lining in all the above, it’s that we’re moving towards embracing a culture of individualism, which reaffirms Pulse’s ethos, “Be What You Choose To Wear”.
