Did you really come up with that outfit?
By Olivia Zambrano | December 4Seasonal fashion is no longer a way to express individual identity for women. Instead, it has largely become a competition to see who can emulate the chic, unique, “it girl” aesthetic the best. Often, this requires rapid accumulation of new clothing. Some pieces and materials are classic: suede, the ‘little black dress’ and ballet flats. Others aren’t: studded denim, Adidas Sambas and leopard print. While the definition of “classic” is fleeting, consumers often use it to label fashion that transcends time and is simple enough to be worn in a myriad of situations. A microtrend is the opposite: clothing that surges in popularity, is rapidly consumed and falls out of the trend cycle mere months later. Large corporations take advantage of microtrends to increase their sales by flooding the fashion market with replications of a few trending clothing items. The latter are the trends that large corporations have commercialized. I would say the popularization of these once-unique clothing pieces is charming, if not for the fact that they threaten to destroy our individuality.
