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Are Microtrends Destroying Personal Style?

When 2019’s VSCO aesthetic died, 2021’s more elevated “Clean Girl” fell just as quickly as it had risen, being replaced with 2024’s even more elevated “Office Siren”. Trends move at such a fast pace that it’s getting harder and harder to know what’s in style and what’s considered yesterday’s news. Whether you’re interested in a trend or not, it’ll surely be out of mainstream within 2 years so if you want to keep your social media following, you’ll ditch the hot pinks and purples of “indie-core” for the pastel pinks and soft greys of “ballet-core”. It seems like nowadays everyone is just trying to be a trendier version of the person in front of them. Two girls are wearing the same fur coats and the same blue jeans but they’re fighting for the cuter bag for their Instagram post. And while one girl may prefer a black bag, she knows the red bag will get her more likes. So she leaves the black bag behind.

All these microtrends raise the question, is personal style dead? Not necessarily. The issue now is, if someone with a personal style becomes popular enough on social media, their style will become a new trend. Then, once their trend surely dies, they’ll lose their popularity just as quickly. When Sex and The City first premiered people were doing everything in their power to become the real-life Carrie Bradshaw--a character known for her boldness and individuality. People wanted to dress like Carrie to be liked, entirely missing the fact that her personal style is what makes her so popular. Trends are meant to help influence and add to people’s personal style, not take it over completely. If you’re interested in the “mob wife aesthetic”, maybe invest in buying a thrifted fur coat to add to your wardrobe, don’t rob Rosaria Inzerillo’s entire wardrobe just to keep your following. Only wearing microtrends doesn’t make you unfashionable, it just makes you unoriginal. Anyone can pay to be fashionable, but style is in your blood. The next time you go shopping you shouldn’t buy something because it’s on the rise now, you should buy it because it speaks to you. And if you love a current microtrend, you should keep wearing it even when it falls out of mainstream fashion.

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Brie Larson as Envy Adams in Scott Pilgrim vs The World (2010)