Trends? #unfollow
HISTORY
The first thing to acknowledge is that the concept of a trend, or the idea of changing your look regularly, has been around for a long time.
The thought initially started in the fourteenth century, when original design patterns were utilized by the members of society as a method for showing their money, achievements and status. On the off chance that you were in a situation to purchase new garments often, you had plenty of cash to spend. The lower classes followed this trend in an attempt to demonstrate that they were sufficiently close to see what the upper classes preferred[1].
Material progress and modern capitalism are complementary to the development of fashion. As modern society developed, the need to demonstrate one's status and to parade was conceived. In the increasing urban areas, social life was progressively visible, so the awareness of one's presence was more prominent than any time in the past.
NEW ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA
In the present, society regularly admires famous people or social influencers who share their most recent looks through social media. What they wear is then imitated by the majority who need to be admired and to be part of the style of the majority. Catwalks are not the sole motivation for mainstream trends anymore, they presently react to an open interest. Fashion followers are compelled to be receptive in a manner that never has been required before – the “See Now Buy Now” approach is an example of that.
“See now, buy now” is a development that is interfacing straightforwardly with the shopper who are prone to impulsive buying. This is the craving of the web-based social networking fixated age and the fashion business is attempting to make sense of how best to relate – each trend at a time.[2]
The ascent of the aimless customer with noteworthy spending power, the simplicity of communication and control that accompanies social media and the pervading feeling of status tension that has now been immovably bound to consumerism are symptoms that have a place with the contemporary phase of late capitalism. It is been created a sort of imitation world, where we currently end up in, where individuals buy things not for themselves but for their Instagram feeds.
It is where terrible taste has been pushed to the degree of the preposterous, where the rich spend aimlessly with no respect for context, regardless of whether social or political.[3]
WHAT’S WRONG WITH IT
It is additionally realized that the fashion world would not endure, if everybody wore the same clothes each season, which is the reason you ought to never feel deficient if a magazine reveals a new specific denim style or shoe. It needs you to feel that you are missing out, to then bring in cash.
Recently, the fashion business' unsustainability have soared into the spotlight[4]: unreasonable use of raw materials, ozone harming substance emissions of fast fashion that are higher than those of the transportation business, huge amount of poisonous waste and chemical mismanagement, and dangerous work conditions[5] for the 75 million individuals[6] whom keep the world of clothing industry running. Fashion it's been considered the 'dirtiest' business after oil.[7]
The fashion business represents about 10% of worldwide carbon discharges, and almost 20% of wastewater. Keeping in mind that the natural effect of flying is currently big, fashion sucks up more energy than both flying and transportation joined[8]. While most customer merchandise experience the bad effects of similar issues, what makes the fashion business especially tricky is the excited pace of change it experiences as well as supports. With each passing season (or micro season), buyers are driven into purchasing the most recent things to remain on-trend.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
However, not all is lost, in fact a great deal of innovation is going into crafting lower-impact fabrics.[9]
Bio couture, or style produced using all the more ecologically supportable materials, is a progressively large business. Few organizations are hoping to utilize the waste from wood, fruit and other natural materials to make their textiles. Others are attempting alternative methods for colouring their textures or looking for materials that biodegrade more effectively once discarded.
A basic method to decrease the footprints from online based shopping is to buy only what we truly need and plan to keep.
An approach to not be slave of trends is trying an attempt to disengage ourselves from a fashion fixated outlook, as to keep away from places where we feel the strain to buy, like shopping centres. Additionally, the exchange of clothes with our friends, which not just permits them to refresh their own closets, but it also contribute to feel closer to one another.
Obviously investing money into better clothes, wearing them more frequently and keeping them for longer, is the unmistakable advantage for combatting the carbon footprints caused by clothing.
Purchasing less likewise implies caring about garments more. Sites like Love Your Clothes, set up by UK reusing noble cause WRAP, offer tips on fixing and broadening the life of garments, which can decrease the carbon impression of the clothes.
Finding the hidden purposes behind why we over-buy, yet underuse, garments could also help. In a consumerist society, individuals are prepared to discover fast fashion pleasurable and addictive.
“A lot of the things that we purchase fulfil some kind of function in ourselves – particularly fashion items,” says Mike Kyrios, a clinical psychologist who researches mental disorders at Australia’s Flinders University.
Individuals who have lower confidence or stress over their status are particularly liable to utilize overspending, as a course to feel like they "have a place", he clarifies. As are individuals who are sensitive to rewards – without a doubt the reward centres in the brain are those generally initiated by spur of the moment[10].
One further tip may be to just proportion the time you spend looking at clothes on the web, however, maybe a even better solution is to discover better methods to satisfy the feeling of remuneration that over-spenders are looking for. Standard purchasers can scratch their tingle for new garments by purchasing from vintage and used dress shops.[11]
References
[1] Nature, C. C., 2018. The price of fast fashion.
Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-017-0058-9#citeas
[2]Ryan, R., 2017. See Now, Buy Now And What It’s All About. Available at: https://www.launchmetrics.com/resources/blog/see-now-buy-now
[3]Rabkin, E., 2019. Op-Ed | Instagram & Late Capitalism Are Responsible For Today’s Sorry State of Fashion. [Online]
[4]Nature, C. C., 2018. The price of fast fashion.
Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-017-0058-9#citeas
[5]Rabkin, E., 2019. Op-Ed | Instagram & Late Capitalism Are Responsible For Today’s Sorry State of Fashion
Available at: https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/bad-taste-fashion-late-capitalism/
[6]UNECE, 2018. UN Alliance aims to put fashion on path to sustainability. [Online]
Available at: https://www.unece.org/info/media/presscurrent-press-h/forestry-and-timber/2018/un-alliance-aims-to-put-fashion-on-path-to-sustainability/doc.html
[7] Lipton, G., 2019. Sustainable fashion moving from trend to permanent style.
Available at: https://news.globallandscapesforum.org/32805/sustainable-fashion-moving-from-trend-to-permanent-style/
[8]United, N., 2018. UN Helps Fashion Industry Shift to Low Carbon.
[9]Szokan, N., 2016. The fashion industry tries to take responsibility for its pollution.
Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/the-fashion-industry-tries-to-take-responsibility-for-its-pollution/2016/06/30/11706fa6-3e15-11e6-80bc-d06711fd2125_story.html
[10]Dizik, A., 2016. What’s really going on in your body and brain when you suspend rational thought and get enticed by a sale?.
Available at: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20161123-shopping-a-sale-gives-you-the-same-feeling-as-getting-high
[11]Ro, C., 2020. ashion accounts for around 10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, but there are ways to reduce the impact your wardrobe has on the climate..
Available at: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200310-sustainable-fashion-how-to-buy-clothes-good-for-the-climate