People use clothes to express themselves, and that expression can be visualized in many ways, creating sub-genres such as streetwear, preppy, hippie, and more. Thanks to the internet, there are so many different places that people can find inspiration for what they wear.
“I love [utilizing] TikTok and Instagram [to find inspiration when styling my outfits],” said junior Ana Wright. “2000s TV shows like Gossip Girl and Sex and the City also inspire my personal style.”
Decade-based fashion has exploded in popularity due to 2000’s era fashion trends hitting the 20-year mark in the 2020s.
Within the last 10 years, trend cycles have shortened from around 15 to 20 years to as little as 6 months.
Decade-based trends tend to be cyclical, typically becoming popular again after 20 years with new innovations to the look. A major example of this trend was the 1970s pop culture revival in the 1990s with movies and TV shows either set in or inspired by the 70’s like The Brady Bunch Movie (1995), Dazed and Confused (1993), and That 70’s Show (1998-2006).
Many people use TV shows and social media to find inspiration for their outfits.
“[Some cities] I get inspiration from are New York, Tokyo, and Paris,” said senior Vexarai Cox. “[Also] Winx, Monster High, My Little Pony, Hello Kitty, and a lot of cartoon network shows.”
Over 55% of students polled by The SunDevil Times find inspiration for their style from social media, and over 35% use TV shows as inspiration.
“I really like to combine cute with practical. I usually plan my outfits by choosing a piece that I want to base my outfit on,” said Wright.
Sites like Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and more all have influences on the industry, pushing certain clothes into style and pulling others out. The sites encourage everyday people to become involved in fashion, creating miniature trends that popularize a specific style for a small period of time. Then, something else rises into popularity, becomes popularized, and then gets replaced.
This can be seen in a loss of regional styles, where people dress the same across large distances now instead of different cities having different looks. For example, these two photos. One from NY and the other from LA. Can you tell the difference?
Online sites allow for this to happen, and even encourage it. Sites including Shein and Amazon produce a thousand copies of the same piece of clothing for cheap, pushing people from around the world to buy it.
The internet has helped people find new styles of clothing, but has also encouraged cheap, easy to get clothes which has both fashion and environmental consequences.
Where do you get your fashion inspiration? Answer in the poll below.
