Fashion Today: Is It Broken? Or Did They Fix It?

I’m sure you all remember the fashion faux pas of the past? Such as, you can’t mix prints, you can’t wear black and brown, you can’t wear white after Labor Day, and so on. I remember while growing up, my grandmother would help me coordinate my outfits accordingly, to deter me from committing one of the heinous fashion crimes. As an adult, I can’t help but notice that the rule book seems to have been thrown out the window, ran over a few times, and dragged all over, both nationally and internationally. It is apparent that the fashion industry is undergoing a complete revolution, and only the strong will survive. Everything from design, style, shows, marketing, who wears it, who wants it, it’s all changing- but is it for the better?

Fashion has become fragmented in every sense of the word, and heading in no directed direction, some may say. There are cases, it seems, that consumer demand is at a constant high for the “new new,” which appears to have a short lifespan, and fashion brands can’t catch up. This is where fast fashion companies have stepped in, creating lower cost imitations that are quick and easy to buy. Others may argue that brands are spitting out too much, all at once, so much that consumers aren’t interested. While others state, that the market is too saturated with brands of high cost, leaving consumers too many options to choose from, with not enough money in their piggy banks.

Since there are no official rules everything seems to be fair game, instead of looking to the designers, models, and brands directly for guidance, consumers now turn to a broad and large amount of fashion bloggers and celebrities. These leaders in the game are endorsed by the biggest names in fashion, but the public does not only follow one of these trend setters. Consumers search for a sense of individualism and freedom that allows them to shop, however, wherever, and whenever. There are those who influence, those that lack influence, those who destine to be celebrity carbon copies, and others who like to pick and choose what they want freely. Are consumers responsible for this change in style? I would like to think yes, but this change is just a product of our times and the influence of technology.

However I do not feel that fashion has been broken. I feel that now, more than ever, there are more open doors,for those who are designers, creatives, artists, and in between. Due to the fact that fashion faux pas, are the faux pas. Style has become a personal opinion. The “little black dress” is no longer an A-line silhouette, but it could be if we wanted it to. We have more choices and chances to think freely with fashion/style, this paradigm shift allows for fashion to no longer be for the stuffy elite; it’s for everyone interested in the exploration of the past, present, and future.