Personal style, as the name suggests, is personal, and as much as one can take inspiration from others, be it different eras, different cities, or any of the above, they still need to find their own unique spin on it to truly make it personal.
Through our quest to inspect the currents, and out of our love of people watching, we couldn’t help but ask ourselves: in the age of social media and Pinterest as the ultimate moodboard for the majority of society, or at least for those who want to develop their style, how can one differentiate their own idea of it? And based on what? Plus an extra question from our editors: how much does societal pressure affect one’s choices when it comes to garments and the overall essence of their personality? All that and more in today’s essay, courtesy of the company of course…
Style is something that is bred by circumstances, often as a response to a landscape or a belief placed on society and its currents, at least per our definition. One belief can change a whole wardrobe, and yes, style in this essence is what you wear. We understand it also includes the music you listen to, the art you consume, films and all of them, but please, today we are talking about garments.
Human beings move in packs, so it’s not that weird to see a group of people dress the same way, simply because that’s how they identify themselves within a larger conversation. Yes, you want to genre-ify it? You can do so by cities. People in Paris don’t dress like people in New York, the same way people in New York don’t dress like people in London. Now apply it to every other city. They are all differentiated by circumstances and beliefs that have been distilled through different eras, shaped by sounds and social moments that are equally, if not more, important.
Still, through it all, when social media entered the conversation, it practically eliminated the distance that was once required to be part of that style conversation.
Now the moodboards on IG, TikTok, Pinterest and every other platform can give you 10 sub-styles for each city, and break it down by neighborhood even, which is insane. Depending on how it’s used, it can be good and bad.
When people are trying to find their own style, especially if they are not sure of their own unique way of seeing things, they will naturally gravitate toward what they think is nice and cool at the moment. It’s an inevitable act, because everyone has to start from something, but it doesn’t mean we have to end the conversation in the same place.
It’s like that weird timeline where everyone was wearing those baggy jeans with cropped tees and doing GRWMs just to show the same outfit with a different hat. Where do you think this idea came from? That’s the conversation we are trying to have here, and that’s why evolving is important. Evolving can only happen once one decides to research and understand why certain styles are the way they are. You can’t buy your way into a culture because you saw it on the feed.
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Style is something that is bred by circumstances, often as a response to a landscape or a belief placed on society and its currents, at least per our definition.
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