Self-expression and the abandonment of trends
Back in April, Grimes spoke on what style and sustainability means to her in the first ad for her current Stella McCartney campaign.
“Anything executed with confidence can be beautiful,” she says after some key comments on friendship and honesty and how the two are connected. And she’s right: in pop culture especially, style has become increasingly less about right/wrong and in/out, and more about individual choice and freedom of expression.
And this is old news. To sit here and pretend dressing for one’s self is unique to 2016 would be ridiculous. Personal style has always reflected self-expression and individuality, but this season is rare in that major fashion labels are operating under the same modus operandi. Now, trends vary from polished to minimalist to ‘90s-inspired, arguably defeating the point of establishing “trends” altogether. Because if fashion is creating room for all avenues of aesthetic creativity, then the fashion hierarchy arguably stops existing. Which forces us to try and answer the question: without a Look Like This™ approach to style, can trends even exist anymore?
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Yes, if we change the way we think about them. For too long, trends have established wearers as either “with it” or not, working to rank individuals as style aficionados on a sliding scale of aesthetic hipness. If you established a trend, your style worth increased, making you a person to watch or one to whom we must all aspire to. But if you picked up a trend too late, you were part of the masses, and your worth diminished. To be consistently ahead was to cement one’s relevance, which meant maintaining a keen eye for up-and-coming trends, styles and designers, and be willing to drop any of the above once they became too mainstream.
Which was and is exhausting. Not just to live, but even to follow. (Plus: expensive. The only people with enough money to pick up and drop wardrobes upon the consensus of a precious few are the precious few who make the rules.) So: trends as a means of determining worth had to be something temporary – even if “temporary” meant “over the course of a few centuries, while styles were dictated by the rich and/or royal.”
But that’s the thing: as access to fashion and to those making and wearing it expanded (thank you, Internet), elitism became more and more passé. Now, as individuals began carving out identities via their online presence, their unique takes on past, present and future styles became a much-needed catalyst (and/or shakeup) in the fashion world. Now, anyone could set rules or break rules or incorporate an it-item into a personal uniform – and nobody could tell them it was right or wrong without seeming dated or even scared. After all, fashion is supposed to be a bit scary. The best kinds of designers take risks and shock audiences and abandon the guidebook established by their predecessors, and the most interesting dressers dress for themselves without consulting the merits or currency of a particular item, piece, or general style.
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So, it’s finally up to us to recognize that trend is no longer a question about right or wrong, but a question of something now made available that could (or could not – it’s your call) fit into your/my aesthetic narrative. Trends are now an indicator of where a label or a designer is, but not what the masses are expected to embrace and then later abandon completely. Trends are now an extension of personal style, but not the maker and/or breaker of it. Trends are no longer a contest for cool, but an option – that’s it.
Which should be a relief. To label one’s personal style as anything but their own (see: “good” or “bad”) is outdated, boring and the fastest way to deplete an industry of all creativity. It isn’t the Tudor era or the 1600s or the 1990s, and we’re existing in a time that’s rich with possibilities as opposed to one hawking a one-size-fits-all approach to self-expression. After all, we know that trends come and go. But this is the first time our own approach to trends can dictate what they mean and what they end up becoming.
And I think that’s exciting. Especially since circa 1998, I let my choker collection fall by the wayside, convinced it was time to let them go. But today? You may have my chokers when you pry them from my cold, glitter nail polished-adorned fingers. Trends aren’t better than me. (Or you, or any of us.) Trends are what we say they are. We’re the captains now.
