Shopping has become a pain due to micro trends

When deciding what to wear to a recent event at her law school, 20-year-old Fiza Faheem pored over the options in her wardrobe.

Many of her recent purchases were already unfashionable, at least by TikTok's volatile standards.

Should she put on the thin glasses characteristic of the “office siren”? Or perhaps she could embody “dark science” with a gothic blazer and black sheer tights? Should she pile up her jewelry and add bows to her sleeves? Or should she go for a “clean girl” look where she slicks her hair back and wears neutral colors?

She felt like her closet was mocking her.

“Maybe I liked something before and then suddenly, even three or four months later, I don't really reach for it in my closet anymore,” said Faheem, a student at the University of York UK. “Then there will be something new, that is trendy.”

While the TikTok and fast fashion mill churns out new trends and micro-trends every day, consumers in the real world seem to be screaming: shopping is no longer fun and personal style feels impossible.

Over the past year, microtrends and coveted aesthetics have become more niche and short-lived, from the resurgence of so-called indie sleaze with Charli Shoppers say they feel disoriented, can't find age-appropriate clothing and nothing stays in style.

They've never owned more clothes, they say, but the fear of being “sassy” in last month's viral article often makes them pause before they even start getting dressed.

Marketing on apps like TikTok and Instagram Experts say the fashion landscape has changed, making clothing more instantly accessible and trends gigantic but fleeting.

“It's lost people,” said Dejeuné Harris, a personal stylist based in Washington, D.C. “If you follow trends, you're going to shop a lot more often than not, and you still won't do everything to wear.”

Normal people don't have the time to keep up like fashion influencers, but social media is constantly trying to create it.

“If you're a normal person and you do your email job during the day and then every time you get a dopamine break on your phone, you think, 'You're not fashionable enough.'” You don't have the cool girl -Clothes. This is what the cool girls wear, it's going to take a toll,” said Alana Martinson, 24, a sustainability and thrift-focused content creator.

Everyone needs too much to keep up

When shopping for clothes, Martinson is almost exclusively a thrifter. If there's a new item she really wants, she gives herself a year to look for it at her local thrift stores before deciding whether to buy it new.

She feels that intention when shopping is almost extinct in her generation. As a result, people no longer really like the way she dresses, she said.

“The things in your closet that took you a long time to buy – you just spent a long time looking for the jeans that fit you and then you finally found them – these are the clothes you need.” I will wear it over and over again,” she said. “If you just go down the instant gratification route, it’s so easy to fall in love with an item.”

But Apple Pay-enabled consumers can't easily resist the temptation and ease of paying.

“It preys on our desire for dopamine hits,” said Dana Thomas, the author of “Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes.” “You used to have to wait in line at the checkout, and sometimes you get there and ask yourself, 'Do I really want this?' Now you just click on it, it comes up and then you're like, 'Oh, did I really want that?'”

Developing a fashion sense no longer means finding a unique piece in a store or taking the time to sniff it out online. If something is trending, you can buy it immediately, one in any color, and with TikTok Shop everyone is a seller.

Chances are, in a month or two the purchase will be obsolete or even pathetic and ridiculed by the same influencers who sold it. Being back on trend means trying, repeating and buying something new.

“People update weekly what they find at Zara and TikTok Shop. Instagram advertising has also encouraged this constant shopping,” said viral fashion commentator Luke Meagher, who has 926,000 followers on the YouTube channel HauteLeMode. “We also largely have no understanding of clothing outside of fast fashion.”

Post-pandemic changes and age differences

People who are not yet in their teens or 20s struggle with similar confusion, but feel on a deeper level that many of the trending styles just don't work for them.

After the isolation of the pandemic, everyone was suddenly older in a reopened world. Many in their 30s and 40s don't want to be office sirens, mafia wives or cool girls, the trending personalities of TikTok.

“There are people my age who are still trying to find themselves,” said Tamika Smith, 39. “I started browsing TikTok, like, 'Let me see some of the looks they're wearing. “It was difficult for me because I was like, 'I don't know if I'm supposed to look like this.'”

“That’s a common question she hears from her customers,” Harris said.

“I don’t have to dress like a 16-year-old because I’m not 16,” she said. “I’m not young, but I’m not old either, but… these things don’t resonate with me.”

Everyone's fashion sense has been shaken post-Covid, Harris said. The office aesthetic had shifted to a more casual atmosphere. TikTok was now judge, jury and executioner of what was cute to wear. Half of her closets were suddenly irrelevant.

“It’s because people don’t know what to do,” Harris said. “They grasp at straws and just throw something at the wall to see what sticks.”

The new shopping center is TikTok Shop

Fast fashion was the first harbinger of the death of personal style, Thomas said.

Instead of designing and releasing collections, companies began quickly designing and producing clothing based on trends that were already current. When the trend was over, this batch was scrapped. It took fashion out of communities, Thomas said, and it took personalization out of shopping.

In a fast-fashion world, nearly 100 billion new items of clothing are produced each year – twice as many as in 2000.

“As a teenager, I went shopping at the mall,” Thomas said. “We came home with maybe a shirt and a skirt. Now, as a teenager in H&M and Zara… you come out with a big bag of clothes and spend as much money as I did in 1980.”

But why should someone buy just one piece or wait to buy when they can have what's trending at the moment at a great price?

The new mall is the TikTok Shop, where after watching your favorite influencer try on, you can immediately purchase the outfit already linked in the video. Like other notorious fast fashion houses like Shein and Temu, TikTok Shop often boasts dollar store prices.

Although TikTok Shop only launched in September 2023, it is now the fourth most popular social commerce platform in the US

Microtrends usually arise because these brands are trying to replicate a specific item rather than a specific genre of item. For example, low-rise jeans are a trend, while duplicates of the viral Skims dress are a microtrend.

According to Thomas, social media is evolving too quickly for real, lasting trends to emerge. This is why short-lived aesthetics like Mob Wife and microtrends have dominated. They should expire quickly, she said. On TikTok, consumers decide what's cool and brands fight to keep up.

It makes it difficult to define personal style. If every brand only designs what's trending online, how could it ever be personal? Even railing against current trends, such as the embrace of vintage and thrift, will eventually be co-opted, with fast fashion houses releasing “worn” styles.

“It's so easy to shop for a look that's identical to your favorite influencer,” Martinson said. “Every aesthetic is there and every aesthetic is attainable at a very affordable price.”

Fashion cannibalizes itself, Thomas said, and can only return to the past. The 90s are back! The 60s are back! But the only direction these cheap fools are going is massive landfills in the global south.

“The average item of clothing is now worn seven times before it is thrown away,” she said. “There are many items of clothing that are simply thrown away without ever being worn.”

Hope for the unfashionable masses who care about sustainability

A glimmer of hope for Thomas lies in a lifestyle like Martinson's: the one spent in thrift stores, picking up each item of clothing and viewing it as part of a larger wardrobe rather than a fleeting indicator of style.

“We’re running out of places to throw away all these clothes,” she said. “Any time we give clothes a longer life, it’s better.”

For those trying to escape the cycle of TikTok purchases or discover their personal style, Harris recommends always starting with a break when shopping. If you want to buy an item of clothing, think of three outfits you can wear it with.

When shopping, shop for quality closet staples that will outlast any fleeting era or aesthetic.

“Focus on basic pieces: T-shirts, jeans, boots, coats, high-end items; and natural materials: 100% cotton, 100% denim,” she said. “Then slowly incorporate some trends that make sense.”

Meagher agreed that there is a place for trends and viral articles, if anything, to introduce people to new styles they've never thought of.

“I think that the vastness of the Internet and its archival qualities make it possible to learn about different stylistic sensibilities and subcultures,” he said. “And that allows you to break out of mainstream trends.”

It happens, said Thomas. People are realizing the harms of fast fashion more than ever. Pre-Industrial Revolution habits of shopping second-hand, mending old clothes, and storing things are returning.

“What I see is so heartwarming is that people are caring again,” she said.