Fashion victims

Every human looks for a place to belong; enter the homo socius. Since the pandemic in 2020 it's been hard for most people to find it because most of us had no access to their “third place” like cafés, libraries or hobby clubs, with the closing of most public spaces (some had to close down entirely due to bankruptcy). Sure, we could say we still stayed connected to our friends and family online, but this doesn't bring the same fulfilment or relaxation the third place offers. Personally, I had no issue with this since, in real life, I didn't interact with people much outside of work. I spent most of my time playing videogames with my online friends. Final Fantasy XIV and Animal Crossing: New Horizons got a lot more hours added to their playtime. Social media is a place where people share what they want the world to see and for most that's just the best and most interesting version of themselves. During lockdown "normal people" had almost nothing to share besides them honing some new skills, which was pretty impressive. People who didn't suffer financially, mostly (aspiring) influencers, shared haul after haul with mostly garments from fast fashion brands contributing to the dawn of microtrends in fashion.

Victime de la mode by MC Solaar (1991)

Microtrends are trends. The only difference is that their lifespans are really small: they rise very fast in popularity and fall just as quickly, just like "The Emerald City Sequence" from The Wiz (1978). The main issue is that, unlike fads, they don't focus on one type of material or one specific color.  We don't decide the new black every season, but instead we decide what the whole wardrobe should be for the new season. Just a couple months ago people were going ballistic over their "tomato girl summers", which was pretty funny to me since my grandfather was a tomato farmer (I'm a born tomato girl). This trend wasn't limited to just a completely new wardrobe for summer, but people participating in this trend were also encouraged to travel to Southern European countries. Funnily enough, tourism to locations around the Mediterranean Sea had indeed skyrocketed that summer, which meant the trend was actually quite successful. However, the question remains whether people will still be wearing these clothes for their next "tomato girl summer." From what I've seen so far the answer is a disappointing "no." Unfortunately I'm expecting to see a different girl take this year's summer by storm.

My disappointment is actually immeasurable because these microtrends feed the machine powered by modern slavery and polluting polyester. Influencers wanting to participate in these trends do so by purchasing items for these looks from fast fashion retailers. It would be one thing if these people were buying them at traditional retailers (except for Primark: I still don't like them) but unfortunately most opt for SHEIN. With their low prices and daily releases of more than a thousand new pieces they too promote overconsumption. Besides that most pieces from SHEIN aren't made to last since they use low-quality fabric and dyes so if you wash them they will actually be unwearable. And it is no secret that most people will dispose of these clothes after unboxing and wearing them for socials, as it is important to participate in trending hashtags before the next microtrend comes around. Last year everybody had expected the streets to be covered in bright pink and so-called Barbiecore, but only when people went to watch the movie Barbie did they don themself in this hue.

Dua Lipa (2023)

This season a new foe has appeared: the Mob Wife. She is the antithesis of the Clean Girl with her quiet luxury. The Mob Wife has proven that girls on social media just want to play dress-up. This is something Gen Z is actually known for with their democratization of style: one no longer has to be part of a specific social group or subculture to participate in wearing clothes associated with those groups or subcultures, reducing them to nothing more than an aesthetic. Would people still be sporting the coquette aesthetic if they knew its origins lie in Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita? It reminds me a lot of the "Starter Pack" meme from 2014 (the meme reincarnated as "Textbook" on X calling out posers), but people take them seriously nowadays. I understand everybody wants a place to belong except you don't buy your place into them. Loving fashion does not mean you have to be trendy all the time. It means that you care about the garments you cover your body with. It's a way for you to express yourself. It's the polar opposite of a uniform unless you like going for a preppy uniform look.

Even though SHEIN is mostly promoted by and associated with Gen Z, it's mainly middle-class millennials shopping there. These shoppers spend around 100 dollars every month on items from SHEIN. I didn't know what you could buy for that amount of money so I had to check their website. Apparently this translates to ten dresses when sorting by top-rated. This research data from UBS Securities wasn't shocking to me as I've known for years that most fast-fashion shoppers can actually afford to shop elsewhere but they just don't since it'd be an inconvenience. Why is SHEIN so convenient then? Well, they offer you everything for a small price which takes away having to go to different stores and thinking about whether it's a good buy or not because it's so cheap anyway. Some of them just want to keep up with fashion yet don't want to spend the money on it. However, from what I've read these people do their best to make these clothes last one season at least.

In 2015 most of my clothes were fast fashion, second-hand or thrifted, from I Tuck It In (2015)

As a fashion lover it makes me sad to see what overconsumption has done to our planet. Secondhand and unsold clothing just ends up being shipped off to Chile, Ghana, India and Kenya. Since the quality of these items has plummeted over the years not much can be done with them so they are just left to decompose. This process can take up to 200 years and will pollute our water with microplastics. Even recycling these garments doesn't come without a price: a recycled fleece jacket or blanket will still release microplastics when washed. It might seem like we've already messed it up but that doesn't mean we shouldn't even try. We should be trying even harder than before to move to more sustainable ways to consume. Personally I tend to purchase mostly made to order items, second-hand items and items made from natural materials. Unfortunately when it comes to footwear I still own plenty of pleather pairs which can't be repaired as often as my leather pairs (shoutout to my T.U.K. creepers and Dr. Martens boots who've been going strong for more than ten years). This is definitely something I'll be changing in the coming years. Besides that I'm also a sewist which means I can simply make and mend clothing myself. 

Thank you, and take care.