In the past 30 years of the digital age, it’s safe to say that so much of humanity has been stifled under the mind numbing ease of the doom scroll. Fashion blogging online, once starting as a counter-cultural space for young people to find style advice and inspiration, has fallen victim to the convenience of influencers telling you exactly which clothing item– the exact brand, make, and model– you should wear. Beginning with blogs and youtube channels, the online fashion industry has evolved with the rise of platforms like Instagram and TikTok. Content overload, sponsorships clouding real opinions, and all the top influencers pushing the same clothing products leads to overconsumption, the rapid overturning of microtrends, and ultimately closets that are unsustainable and unwearable.
My own first run-in with fashion and style inspiration online happened when I stumbled onto Bethany Mota’s youtube channel one day in 2013. I was on the verge of tween-dom, and the beginnings of my own individuality were desperate to be let out through any form of outer expression. Bethany Mota– with her skater skirts, chunky knit cardigans, and vans– was the sole proprietor of my (and many other) fashion inspirations. And although I dropped any money I could on her fashion line at Aeropostale (RIP), she also taught me how to make my own gifts for my friends, DIY halloween costumes and room decor, and how to perfect my nighttime routine. Not only was her channel, and the many channels like hers– MyLifeAsEva and Zoella come to mind– style inspiration specifically for teen and tween girls, but there was an emphasis on the “DIY” or “do-it-yourself”. While adults were flipping through magazines, considering which trends Vogue or Elle pushed in print were worth purchasing, young girls were growing up realizing fashion was an inherently creative outlet that was attainable without a lot of resources, all through the magic of the internet.
Another, and possibly the biggest, mogul for the teenage fashion space on the internet was Tavi Gevinson, who founded her blog Style Rookie and ultimately Rookie Mag. Gevinson started blogging when she was 11 years old, becoming influential for her eclectic style that drew on inspiration from the 60s, grandmothers, and Tim Burton movies. Bloggers were just starting to become relevant in the fashion world, providing a more intimate and casual approach to trends and inspiration. Style Rookie then evolved into Rookie, a submission based magazine by teenagers and for teenagers, delving into topics beyond style, like film, advice, and celebrity interviews. Gevinson herself, in her final 2018 submission, said she started Rookie as “a response to feeling constantly marketed to in almost all forms of media; to be seen as a consumer rather than a reader or person.” The fashion tab on the archived Rookie site is still filled with DIY’s and advice, ranging on how to style a larger chest or textured hair, to picking out fashion inspo from large ensemble casts in film. It was truly a celebratory space where young girl’s could express themselves, their joys, and simply just exist. Fashion was so much more than looking a certain way, but branched out into all parts of life. Films, books, advocacy, music, the feeling you get when a slant of light creates golden droplets in the pond by your house. Anything and everything was inspiration, and inspiration was a catalyst to style and expression. That’s what Rookie mag taught me and so many others.
I was certain I couldn’t be the only person who felt this shift in content. Obviously, social media and the internet are no longer teenage dominated spaces– my grandfather now knows how to use Instagram reels– with everyone, adults and children alike, being exposed to the same content. I don’t have to get into why that is not good for young, impressionable minds, but one thing the changing landscape of fashion on the internet has done is perpetuate the notion to people of all ages that they need clothes. All the time. You don’t need style, but clothes. In fact, you need this specific dress, or this pair of shoes, or these jeans. Here is the brand, the colour, and the product number. Link in bio!
I took to the people– the people being r/femalefashionadvice on reddit– who also felt the shift from fashion blogging to fashion TikTok or Instagram influencers. The consensus was that authenticity has been completely lost. Sponsorships make it so that influencers no longer review clothes– dishing out both praise and criticisms– but gush about it because of the extra money going into their pocket. Another user says they miss actual styling inspiration, seeing one item styled a bunch of different ways used to help reuse clothes and aid the feeling of having nothing to wear, where now it seems that influencers no longer wear anything more than once. Another user expressed that everyone looks the same and buys the same thing, creating a spawn of influenced viewers who now walk the streets looking the exact same. The driving force is consumerism once again. Content online is now sponsored and perfectly curated, given to us at the swipe of a finger, without any need for inspiration, research, or individuality. Where is the creativity in that? The fun? No wonder we feel so unfulfilled, with clothes ending up in landfills due to the increased rapidness of fast fashion. When everyone has a platform, and desires the exact same look, the corporations around us can’t help but try to keep up and pump it out cheaper, faster, and poorer in quality.
I have hope for our generation. The ones who half-grew up online, and half-offline. The ones who remember games like Club Penguin and Webkinz, and the ones who remember how impactful genuine online communities can be when it comes to style and expression. I have hope that this overwhelming ennui we feel on social media will invigorate us to bring back intentionality, difficulty, and change the tides of fashion circles online. I know I’m not ready to fully say goodbye to social media, but swapping out scrolling on TikTok for a platform like Substack– a twitter/tumblr/pinterest hybrid that allows you to publish essays– is helping bring back some inspiration beyond the pressure to overconsume.
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