Buy or save: Thoughts on fashion trends

Fashion trends, from colours or patterns to specific pieces, are constantly changing, often faster than we can keep up with them. We have all fallen into the trap of buying something trendy and then donating or reselling it three weeks later (did someone say the 2020 Tate Langdon sweater?). So, if this is the fate of these garments, should we be trying to follow the trends? Or should we be giving them a miss?

One argument for following trends is the natural aspect of it. It’s human nature to see something you like and to want to own it too, so you shouldn’t be put off buying something purely because no one else will be wearing it in a month. Fashion trends are also handy for inspiration — if you buy into the trend you will likely see many more people wearing it, so you have a multitude of examples on how to style it. It can also help you to understand your personal style by showing you what you do and don’t like to wear, in a trial-and-error sort of way. And if you don’t like it, you can always donate or resell it.

Humans are a social people and it is natural to want to feel part of a collective, which can easily be achieved through outward appearance

Additionally, keeping up with trends brings a sense of belonging. Humans are a social people and it is natural to want to feel part of a collective, which can easily be achieved through outward appearance. Not only this, but following fashion trends advertises your style and possibly your ideals, meaning that other like-minded individuals can easily identify and make connections with you.

In this vein, trends are trendy for a reason, and you are seeing them for the same reason. There are hundreds of trends out there that we have no idea about because they are not in our subcultures. So if you have noticed a trend, this means that enough people you interact with, either online or in real life, have decided that this item of clothing is good enough to rave about. Though of course this doesn’t mean that you should blindly follow all the trends you see because your subconscious knows something you don’t, it just means that it is more than likely something you might actually like.

It is important to understand your own opinions and morals across all aspects of life, and your fashion taste is a great place to start

On the other hand, it is important to think for ourselves because, particularly in this age of AI, it has become too easy to find the answers we are looking for and thus we do not practice our critical thinking skills. I have noticed a surge lately of social media posts asking what is in style so they know what to wear this summer, or even asking to make something trendy or else they will not wear it. It is important to understand your own opinions and morals across all aspects of life, and your fashion taste is a great place to start.

Additionally, it is essential to understand your personal style because it helps you to know if you will actually wear something. Next time you want to buy into a fashion trend, consider whether you actually like it, if you will feel comfortable wearing it, and if it matches clothes you already own. I find that it helps to use Pinterest to browse outfits as it learns what you actually like from what you interact with, and it seems to push trends much less than other social media platforms. It can also help when considering buying a new piece — if you want to buy into the jorts trend for example, search ‘jorts outfits’ and have a quick browse. First of all, see if you like the outfits it shows you, and second of all, see if any of the outfits include other pieces you own so you can recreate the vision you have in your head once you buy the jorts. I also like to keep track of what clothes I actually wear — I have a folder in my phone full of photos of outfits I have worn, which allows me to visualise if a piece goes with my existing clothes when I am thinking of purchasing something. This helps not only you by saving your hard-earned money, but it also protects the environment from the overconsumption that is quickly filling landfills and polluting the planet.

Overall, I personally like fashion trends for the inspiration that they provide and how they can diversify our personal style by putting us on to things that we perhaps would have never considered. However, I do think that trends are changing too fast and people are just blindly buying into them, so it is important to understand your personal sense of style and whether you will wear the piece long-term, even when it is no longer trendy.