Is Personal Style Dead?

There has always been a connection between fashion and self-expression, but does personal style still exist? With the rise of social media and accelerated trend cycles due to fast fashion, how can consumers reclaim personal style and resist the pressure to conform?

Farrah Fawcett in 1976 wearing bell bottoms and other popular styles of the time period. Photo courtesy of ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images. © All rights belong to their respective owners. No copyright infringement intended.

History of Fashion and Personal Style
Throughout history, fashion has been utilized to protest and show beliefs against societal norms. The rise of mass production following the Industrial Revolution allowed more people than ever before to experiment with their appearance, leading to the creation of many iconic fashion pieces still worn today.
This began after the 1920s, when women shed the tight corsets and long gowns of the previous era to favor more practical dresses with shorter hems. This was due to World War II, which left a lack of resources and a significant shift in roles between men and women. Mini skirts were the next big trending piece that was used as a protest, with women wearing them in the 1960s as a form of rebellion to push for women's rights.
Fashion continued to be used as a form of protest and communication of beliefs into the 1970s, with bell-bottom jeans used as a symbol of rebellion for young people against the war and mainstream society. This is also when subcultures became more popular, often associated with different presentations of personal style, think "gothic" style or "grunge." The 1980s introduced the idea of power dressing, with large shoulder pads and more androgynous silhouettes representing the call for equal compensation between men and women.
Runway presentations and clothing catalogs were where trends were previously born, with usually one or two hero items that would rule the trend cycle. Previously, items like the ones mentioned above dominated the fashion world for a decade and were considered fashionable.
However, the rise of fast fashion changed fashion radically, as consumers could quickly access and consume a wide variety of styles at a more affordable price point. As time passed, the traditional trend cycle began to accelerate, and starting in the 2010s, fewer pieces became hero items associated with an extended period. Items deemed "trending" during the early to mid-2010s within the cycle were "out" in less than 5 years and were quickly replaced with new items.
This worsened with the introduction of social media, which accelerated the trend cycle even further. Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube have become meccas for those interested in new clothing trends, with influencers and celebrities promoting certain items and making them "go viral" among the millions of users on these platforms.

Social Media’s Impact on Personal Style
"Microtrends" have significantly shorter lifecycles (a month or two at most) than the previously popular items of other periods, so they fall just as quickly as they rise to popularity. "Cottagecore," "coastal cowgirl," and "Barbiecore" are just a few of the microtrends from the past two years that have gone viral on social media and then disappeared within a few months.
There has been a significant shift within fashion where consumers value quantity over quality and short-term acceptance of others over long-term satisfaction with one's wardrobe. "Personal style" has become homogeneous, with these microtrends reaching many people simultaneously and items becoming "sought-after." It’s all about having the item follow those deemed influential until it becomes mainstream.
Once everyone has it, no one wants it, making consumers terrified of being deemed as "basic" and feeling lost in the overwhelming amount of available options. Shopping is a nightmare; items bought are of fleeting relevance, and where do they go? To the landfill, to the oceans, all to waste away and cause harm to the environment and, by extension, us in the future?
So, how does one reclaim and find their personal style? How can we reform our own sense of identity through fashion and find unique pieces? How can we stray from short-lived microtrends and stop feeding into this ongoing and exhausting cycle of judgment and peer pressure? How do we find acceptance?

How to Reclaim Personal Style
First, define your current style and what you want your personal style to be. This method, also known as the "three-word method," was featured in The New York Times and popularized by stylist Allison Bornstein. You can start with just three words and expand once you get more of an idea. Picking pieces from your current closet that you love and thinking about why you love them can also be very helpful. Looking for style icons that you resonate with and saving outfits that you like can help you curate the kinds of pieces that you are looking for that you don’t already own. See if you can find patterns within the words you wrote down and the icons you chose, and go from there.
Next time you shop and look at pieces you may be interested in, ask yourself if they match the words and icons you picked. Ask yourself if buying this item will help you achieve the personal style you want and feel comfortable in, if you will wear it enough to make it a worthy purchase, and if you will wear it for many years in the future. You can still use social media for inspiration and potential purchases, but ask yourself before you save images from social media if you genuinely like it because it matches your personal style or if you are only considering it because others are wearing it and will continue to wear it once others don’t wear it.
These tips will help you become a more ethical and conscious shopper, which helps with contracting those rapid trend cycles. Of course, shop secondhand when you can, too. Though there are more fast fashion pieces in thrift stores than before, plenty of vintage gems exist that could add to your personal style.
Finally, remember that your style is yours and yours alone. You decide what makes you feel confident and comfortable, what inspiration you choose to take, and what meaning fashion holds for you. Personal style helps us hold on to our individual selves, and just because there is so much pressure to conform doesn’t mean we must. It’s difficult to stop the ever-growing cycle of judgment and consumption, but acknowledging it and consciously attempting to stop it is a good first step.
Although personal style still exists, it's much harder to come by in the traditional sense. Fashion is still often used as a protest and a means to convey important messages, but the context in which it is done is different because the world and personal style have continued to evolve. By being a conscious consumer, connecting with yourself, and remembering you are at the heart of your personal style, we as consumers can reclaim personal style and eliminate the pressure to conform.